Ahadith fi Dhamm al-Kalam wa Ahlihi
- Author died
- 454 AH
- Editions
- Dār Aṭlas lil-Nashr wa-al-Tawzī‘
Ahadith fi Dhamm al-Kalam wa Ahlihi (Hadiths in Condemnation of Speculative Theology and Its Proponents) is a theological hadith tract compiled by the Persian hadith scholar and Quran reciter Abu al-Fadl al-Razi (d. 454 AH / 1062 CE) . It gathers early narrations and sayings of the early scholars criticizing speculative theology (kalam) and theological disputation, selected from a larger treatise by his teacher Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami (d. 412 AH / 1021 CE) .
Origin and Composition
The author, Abu al-Fadl Abd al-Rahman ibn Ahmad ibn al-Hasan al-Razi al-Ijli, extracted (intakhaba) these narrations directly from al-Sulami's treatise written in refutation of theological dialecticians (Radd Abi Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami ala Ahl al-Kalam) . The compilation is also known in bibliographical sources as an abridgment of al-Sulami's rebuttal (Mukhtasar fi al-Radd ala Ahl al-Kalam li-l-Sulami) .
Abu al-Fadl al-Razi transmitted the work through his own audition from al-Sulami . Later scholars recorded transmissions from al-Razi; for example, the scholars Abu Mansur Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Isbahani and Abu al-Hammam Abd Allah ibn Abd al-Wahid ibn Ali narrated it from al-Razi in the congregational mosque of Karaj in Muharram 476 AH .
Contents and Method
The work is organized as a collection of reports with their full chains of transmission (isnad) going back to the Prophet ﷺ, the Companions, the Successors, early jurists, and ascetic masters .
Key themes and texts in the collection include:
- Prophetic Hadiths: Narrations forbidding speculative inquiry into the divine essence, such as the hadith of Abu Hurayra: تَفَكَّرُوا فِي خَلْقِ اللَّهِ، وَلا تَفَكَّرُوا فِي اللَّهِ ("Reflect upon the creation of God, and do not reflect upon God") .
- Early Jurists' Sayings: Pronouncements from founding figures of Islamic jurisprudence censuring kalam. These include statements from Abu Hanifa, Abu Yusuf, and Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Shaybani criticizing theological disputation over accidents and bodies (al-a'rad wa-l-ajsam) and warning against Amr ibn Ubayd ; Malik ibn Anas defining innovators as those who speak concerning God's names, attributes, speech, knowledge, and power rather than remaining silent where the Companions and Successors remained silent ; and al-Shafi'i and his disciple al-Muzani forbidding theological rhetoric and stating that theological works cannot be included in bequests of scholarly books .
- Traditionists and Early Sufis: Narrations from Sufyan al-Thawri, Abu Ubayd al-Qasim ibn Sallam, Ibn Surayj, and early ascetics such as Ibrahim al-Khawwas, linking the emergence of heresy and disbelief to disputation, rhetoric, and debate .
Later scholars of theology and hadith, including Ibn Rajab and Ibn Taymiyya, cited al-Sulami's material preserved in this tradition when documenting the early consensus against kalam across legal and Sufi authorities .
Manuscripts and Editions
A medieval manuscript copy of the tract is preserved in the Zahiriyya Library in Damascus (MS 3772 / Majmu' 35, folios 195–212), copied in 511 AH .
The work was edited by Nasir ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Juday' and published in Riyadh by Dar Atlas in 1417 AH / 1996 CE .
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