Ahadith Abi al-Hasan al-Jawbari
- Author died
- 425 AH
- Editions
- Manuscript published in the free Jawāmi‘ al-Kalim program affiliated with the Islamweb website
Ahadith Abi al-Hasan al-Jawbari (The Hadiths of Abu al-Hasan al-Jawbari) is a short hadith compilation (juz’) transmitting a selection of prophetic traditions and narrations preserved by the Damascene traditionist Abu al-Hasan Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad ibn Yahya ibn Yasir al-Jawbari (d. 425 AH / 1034 CE) .
Author and Context
The author, Abu al-Hasan al-Jawbari, was associated with Jawbar, a village situated in the Ghawta of Damascus . He resided in Damascus in the alley of Zuqaq al-Rayyan (also recorded in variant reports as Zuqaq al-Rumman) . Although he could neither read nor write, his father—himself a hadith scholar—had brought him to scholarly circles during his youth, recording and verifying his attendance and audition records (samā‘) across numerous works, including Sahih al-Bukhari . Al-Jawbari was noted for his accurate memorization of hadith texts (mutūn) and was regarded as trustworthy (thiqah) .
Al-Jawbari taught hadith for only a brief period before his death . The hadith scholar Abd al-Aziz al-Kattani recounted that when he visited al-Jawbari to transmit from him, al-Jawbari initially withheld narration until he inquired about al-Kattani's creedal view regarding Mu'awiyah ibn Abi Sufyan; once al-Kattani affirmed that Mu'awiyah was a Companion of the Prophet ﷺ and invoked mercy upon him, al-Jawbari presented all of his father’s books for transmission . Al-Jawbari died in Safar 425 AH (one report specifying the twelfth of Safar) .
Transmission Chain
The preserved tract reached later generations through a recognized chain of transmission (riwāyah):
- It was transmitted from al-Jawbari by the jurist Abu al-Qasim Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Abi al-'Ala' al-Massisi al-Sulami .
- From al-Massisi, it was received by the blind scholar Abu Ali al-Husayn ibn Ali ibn Ashliha al-Misri, through an audition held in late Dhu al-Hijjah 528 AH .
- From Ibn Ashliha, it was transmitted to Abu Tahir Barakat ibn Ibrahim ibn Tahir al-Qurashi al-Khushu'i .
Content and Structure
The text comprises eleven numbered narrations and reports, each cited with its full chain of authorities (isnād) . Al-Jawbari transmits these traditions through several primary teachers:
- Through Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Abd al-Malik ibn Zanjawayh al-Bukhari, he opens with the hadith describing the prayer of glorification (Ṣalāt al-Tasbīḥ) taught by the Prophet ﷺ to al-Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib .
- Through Abu Bakr Yahya ibn Abd Allah ibn al-Harith al-'Afdari (transmitting via Sulayman ibn Ayyub ibn Hadhlam from Yazid ibn Abd Allah ibn Ruzayq from al-Walid ibn Muslim), he records legal and ethical traditions, including rulings on prohibited vessels and intoxicants, the posthumous fulfillment of a mother's vow by Sa'd ibn Ubadah, Hakim ibn Hizam's renunciation of stipends, warnings against worldly excess, the legal restrictions on begging, and charity toward petitioners .
- Through his father, Muhammad ibn Yahya ibn Yasir (from Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Khuraym al-'Uqayli from Ahmad ibn Abi al-Hawari), he transmits the supplication يا مقلب القلوب ثبت قلبي على دينك ("O Turner of hearts, make my heart firm upon Your religion") along with scholarly anecdotes concerning al-Awza'i, Sufyan al-Thawri, and al-Walid ibn Muslim .
Bibliographical Reception
The compilation has been cataloged among the surviving single-part hadith tracts of the fifth Islamic century. It was recorded by Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani in his bibliographical register al-Mu'jam al-mufahras, cited in Fuat Sezgin's Geschichte des arabischen Schrifttums, and preserved in manuscript form at the Zahiriyyah Library in Damascus (Majmu‘ 264, folios 122–125) .
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