Islamset - Sources and collections of Sacred Hadith

Hadith

Sources and collections of Sacred Hadith

Sacred Hadith were not treated any differently from Prophetic Hadith in respect of the manner in which they were collected, tested and committed to writing. We thus find that the recognised books of Hadith are the sole sources of both types of Hadith, Sacred and Prophetic, no distinction being made between them and both being included under the classifications chosen by the complier, apart from the particular formulae used in introducing Sacred Hadith and which have been referred to. It would seem that collections of Sacred Hadith as such were compiled only at a much later date. Such collections are not numerous and, to the best of our knowledge, comprise the following:

I. Kitab mishkat al-anwar fima ruwrya can Allahi subhanahu min al-akhbar by Shaykh Muhyddin ibn al- Arabi (died 638 A.H. ). The book contains a hundredand one Sacred Hadith and was printed in 1346 A.H. ( 1927 A.D. ) in Aleppo. It may well be that this is thebook referred to by Ibn Hajar al-Haytami in his Al-Fath al-mubin fir sharh al-Arba in when he says: "The Sacred Hadith

are more than ahundred and have been collected in a large volume" though Ibn al-Arabi's 101 Hadith can scarcely be said to constitute a large volume.

2. In his books Jam al-Jawami, otherwise known as Al-Jami al-Kabir and Al-Jami as-Saghir, Jalalud-din as-Suyut (died 911 A.H.) groups Sacred Hadith sepearately from Prophetic Hadith; this is due to the fact that the contents of the two books are arranged in alphabetical order and that those Sacred Hadith that begin with the phrase qala llahu azza wa jalla appear under the letter "Q" (qaf). Sixty-six Sacred Hadith are given in Al-Jami as-Saghir and a hundred and thirty-three in Jam al-Jawami.

3. Al-Ahadith al-Qudsiyyah al-Arba iniyyah by Mulla Ali Al-Qari (died 1016 A.H.). As its title indicates the book contains forty Sacred Hadith selected by the author; it was printed in Istanbul in 1316 A.H. (1898 A.D) and again in Aleppo in 1346 A.H. (1937 A.D.)

4, Al-Ithafat as-Saniyyah bi-Ahadith al-Qudsiyyah by Abd ar-Rauf al-Munaw (died 1031 A.H.), which contains 272 Hadith arranged in alphabetical order. It has been printed in Cairo several times.

5. Al-Ithafat as-Saniyyah fil-Ahadith al-Qudsiyyah by Muhammad ibn Mahmud at-Tarabzuni al-Madani, the Hanafi jurisprudent who died in the year 1200 A.H. (1795 A.D) and is a different book from that of al-Munawi's al-Ithafat as-Saniyyah. Al-Madani refers to the fact that he had read the collections of both as-Suyuti and al-Munawi and had quoted from them. It appears that the compiler attempted in his collection to bring together all the Sacred Hadith known to him; while his collection includes no less than 863 Hadith, he states that "a thorough search would lay claim to more than this". However, the number contained in the collection includes numerous repetitions owing to the different versions given.

The compiler took the liberty of including in his collection a number of weak Hadith and even some which would be regarded by meticulous scholars as spurious; he does, however, draw attention to such instances.

The collection was printed twice in Hyderabad, in 1323 A.H. (1905 A.D.) and again in 1358 A.H. (1939 A.D.); it was also recently printed in Cairo in 1387 A.H. (1967 A.D.).

6. In 1389 A.H. (1969 A.D.) a large collection of Sacred Hadith appeared in two volumes under the title Al-Ahadith al-Qudsiyyah. Compiled by the Committee of the Qur'an and Hadith of the Higher Council for Islamic Affairs in Egypt, the publication contains all the Sacred Hadith to be found in the six canonical collections and in Malik's al-Muwatta. It is the most complete and reliable collection to date, containing as it does four hundred Sacred Hadith with different variants where they occur.