Akhbar al-Thuqala lil-Khallal
- Author died
- 439 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Bashā'ir al-Islāmiyyah
Akhbar al-Thuqala (Arabic: أخبار الثقلاء, lit. 'Reports Concerning Tedious Companions') is a short monograph compiled by the Baghdadi traditionist Abu Muhammad al-Hasan ibn Muhammad al-Khallal (352–439 AH / 963–1047 CE), recording anecdotes, witty remarks, and transmitted traditions about tiresome and burdensome company .
Method and Contents
The bibliographer Hajji Khalifa characterized the work as a concise treatise composed according to the method of the hadith scholars (risala 'ala tariqat al-muhaddithin) . Al-Khallal assembled a succession of individual narrations furnished with full chains of transmission (isnads) documenting the experiences, quips, and coping strategies of early figures when confronted with overbearing or tiresome individuals (al-thuqala') .
The material encompasses reports, poetic lines, and aphorisms involving prominent early authorities, including:
- A supplication reported from Abu Hurayra when finding someone burdensome: "O Allah, forgive us and him, and relieve us of him" .
- Sayings and interactions involving scholars such as al-A'mash, Sufyan al-Thawri, Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak, Abu 'Amr ibn al-'Ala', and Hammad ibn Abi Sulayman .
- Anecdotes citing physicians and literary figures regarding the physical and psychological weariness caused by unwelcome company, including the statement attributed to a physician in Syria that keeping company with a tedious person is the "fever of the soul" (humma al-ruh) .
Transmission and Publication
The text was transmitted through a chain of classical scholars, notably from al-Khallal to Ja'far ibn Ahmad al-Sarraj, and subsequently through al-Silafi and Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr al-Balkhi to 'Abdullah ibn al-Husayn ibn Abi al-Thabit al-Ansari . It was transmitted to Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalani via a reading before Fatima and 'A'isha, the two daughters of Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Hadi .
The treatise was edited by Nizam Muhammad Salih Ya'qubi and published in Beirut by Dar al-Basha'ir al-Islamiyyah in 1427 AH / 2006 CE as part of the series Liqa' al-'Ashr al-Awakhir bi-al-Masjid al-Haram (no. 87) .
Answer updated