al-Ahadith al-Ashara al-Ashariya al-Ikhtiyariya li-Ibn Hajar
- Author died
- 852 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Bashāʾir al-Islāmiyyah
al-Ahadith al-Ashara al-Ashariya al-Ikhtiyariya (The Ten Selected Hadiths with Ten-Link Chains of Transmission) is a short hadith compilation (juz') by the Shafi'i scholar and hadith master Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani (773–852 AH / 1372–1449 CE) focusing on ten elevated narrations transmitted through ten-tiered chains of transmission (asanid ashariya).
Composition and Purpose
In his opening remarks, Ibn Hajar stated that he culled these ten narrations from his personal auditions and transmissions because a ten-link chain represented the highest degree of elevation (uluww) generally attainable for the majority of teachers from whom he received hadith. Out of nearly one thousand narrations he had collected from his teachers, he selected this set of ten reports specifically to showcase these short transmission pathways.
Ibn Hajar acknowledged that although these narrations fall short of the rank of sound (sahih) hadiths, he exerted his effort in curating them from his total corpus and made it his objective to follow each narration with an explanation of its hidden defect (illa) and a critical evaluation of its transmission line.
Method and Content
The work is organized around ten individual hadiths, each recorded with its full isnad leading back to the Prophet ﷺ. After quoting each report, Ibn Hajar provides a detailed critical commentary (takhrij) assessing the reliability of the narrators, identifying whether the chain contains dropped transmitters or anomalies, and discussing earlier scholarship on the narration. In these commentaries, he frequently engages with, cites, or critiques the evaluations of earlier scholars and his own teachers, including Ibn Abd al-Barr, al-Dhahabi, Diya al-Din al-Maqdisi, and his principal hadith teacher Abu al-Fadl al-Iraqi in his al-Arba'un al-Ashariya.
Ibn Hajar cross-referenced the compilation in his major biographical dictionary al-Isaba fi Tamyiz al-Sahaba, and his student al-Sakhawi recorded it under the title al-Ashara al-Ashariya in his biographical work al-Jawahir wa-al-Durar.
Editions
The text was edited by Firas Muhammad and published in Beirut by Dar al-Basha'ir al-Islamiyya in 1424 AH / 2003 CE.
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