Ahadith Awali wa Fawaid Muntaqa wa Inshadat

Ahadith Awali wa Fawaid Muntaqa wa Inshadat (Arabic: أحاديث عوالي وفوائد منتقاة وإنشادات عن الشيوخ الثقات, lit. 'Elevated Hadiths, Selected Scholarly Benefits, and Poetic Recitations from Trustworthy Shaykhs') is a hadith booklet (juz') transmitted by the scholar and hadith master Ibn al-Adhlani (Abu al-Qasim ‘Ali ibn Muhammad ibn ‘Ali al-Taymi al-Kufi al-Naysaburi, d. 470 AH / 1077–1078 CE) Ahadith Awali wa Fawaid M…+1.

Contents and Structure

The work comprises forty-five numbered traditions and thematic transmissions interspersed with poetic verses and biographical anecdotes Ahadith Awali wa Fawaid M…+1. The narrated material covers Prophetic traditions on varied topics of faith, ethics, legal rulings, and religious virtues, accompanied by their chains of narration (asānīd) Ahadith Awali wa Fawaid M…+1.

The text opens with a hadith regarding the righteousness of the pilgrimage:

مَا بِرُّ الْحَجِّ؟ قَالَ: «إِطْعَامُ الطَّعَامِ وَطَيِّبُ الْكَلامِ» "What is the righteousness of Hajj? He said: 'Feeding food and speaking pleasant words.'" Ahadith Awali wa Fawaid M…+1

In addition to elevated hadith narrations (‘awālī), the collection incorporates poetic and prose selections recited to or transmitted by the compiler:

• Lines of ascetic poetry by Abu Bakr ibn Bashshar, and verses related by Zayd ibn Muhammad al-‘Ammani Ahadith Awali wa Fawaid M….
• A dialogue between al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf and Khuraym al-Na‘im concerning the definition of comfortable living, followed by verses composed by Ibn al-Mu'tazz Ahadith Awali wa Fawaid M….
• The concluding report records the poetic admonition sent by ‘Abd Allah ibn al-Mubarak to Ibn 'Ulayyah when the latter took charge of the charity administration (ṣadaqāt) in Basra, along with Ibn ‘Ulayyah’s repentant response concluding with the line:

  تَطْلُبُ مَا سَاءَهَا لِتُرْضِينِي "Seeking what displeased it in order to satisfy me." Ahadith Awali wa Fawaid M…+1

Sources and Transmission

Ibn al-Adhlani transmitted the material from a broad range of teachers whom he met across different centers of learning:

• In Nishapur, from teachers such as his father, Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn al-Husayn al-Hiri, Abu Sa‘id Muhammad ibn al-Fadl al-Sayrafi, and Abu ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami Ahadith Awali wa Fawaid M…+1.
• In Rayy, from Abu al-Hasan Ahmad ibn al-Husayn ibn Yazid al-Qazwini Ahadith Awali wa Fawaid M…+1.
• In Sidon, where he heard transmissions read before the judge Abu Mas‘ud Salih ibn Ahmad ibn al-Qasim al-Miyanji at the Mosque of the Persians in 425 AH Ahadith Awali wa Fawaid M….
• In Palestine, at the residence of Abu al-Qasim ‘Abd Allah ibn Mas‘ud al-Darimi Ahadith Awali wa Fawaid M….

The tract was transmitted through later generations of notable scholars. It was read to Abu al-Barakat Isma‘il ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Sufi al-Naysaburi in 533 AH from his direct audition before Ibn al-Adhlani in Baghdad Ahadith Awali wa Fawaid M…. Further chains of transmission run through Izz al-Din ibn 'Abd al-Salam, Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, Jamal al-Din Abu al-Fath Ibrahim al-Qalqashandi, and Burhan al-Din Ibrahim ibn Abi Sharif al-Shafi‘i Ahadith Awali wa Fawaid M…+1. The historian Burhan al-Din al-Biqa'i recorded reading parts of this collection through chains linking back to Ibn al-Adhlani Unwan al-Zaman bi-Tarajim….