al-Ahadith al-Warida fi Fadail al-Sahaba
- Author died
- 1439 AH
- Editions
- Deanship of Scientific Research, Islamic University of Madinah, Ministry of Higher Education, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
al-Ahadith al-Warida fi Fadail al-Sahaba (The Hadiths Related Concerning the Virtues of the Companions) is an encyclopedic collection and study of prophetic narrations regarding the merits of the Prophet Muhammad's Companions, compiled by the Saudi hadith scholar Saud bin Eid al-Saidi (d. 1439 AH / 2018 CE). Originally written as a doctoral dissertation in the Department of Fiqh al-Sunnah and Its Sources at the Faculty of Hadith and Islamic Studies at the Islamic University of Madinah, the work represents one of the most extensive contemporary compilations dedicated exclusively to the virtues of the Sahaba.
Scope and Sources
The book encompasses narrations gathered from fourteen primary hadith collections:
- The "Nine Books" (al-Kutub al-Tis'ah): Sahih al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, Sunan Abi Dawud, Jami' al-Tirmidhi, Sunan al-Nasa'i, Sunan Ibn Majah, Muwatta Malik, Musnad Ahmad, and Sunan al-Darimi.
- The Musnad of Abu Bakr al-Bazzar.
- The Musnad of Abu Ya'la al-Mawsili.
- The three Mu'jam dictionaries of Abu al-Qasim al-Tabarani: al-Mu'jam al-Kabir, al-Mu'jam al-Awsat, and al-Mu'jam al-Saghir.
For portions of al-Tabarani's al-Mu'jam al-Kabir and al-Bazzar's Musnad that were missing in available manuscripts, the author supplemented them using Nur al-Din al-Haythami's secondary extraction works, Majma' al-Zawa'id and Kashf al-Astar.
Without counting repeated texts, variant transmission chains (turuq), or corroborating narrations (shawahid), the work gathers 2,022 primary hadiths. It documents the virtues of 343 individual male and female Companions, in addition to containing 72 hadiths that mention unnamed or ambiguous individuals (al-mubhamaat and al-mubhamun).
Structure and Contents
The work is organized into an introduction, a preliminary thematic study (tamhid), three main parts (abwab), and extensive indexes:
- Preliminary Study (al-Tamhid): Addresses foundational scholarly topics concerning the Companions, including definitions of companionship, criteria for establishing it, their generational tiers (tabaqat), and the creed of early Sunni scholarship (al-Salaf al-Salih) regarding them.
- Part One: Examines general virtues across five chapters: the virtue of having faith in the Prophet and accompanying him; the virtue of the Prophet's generation as the best of mankind; the concept that the Prophet's presence was a safeguard for his Companions and their presence a safeguard for the Muslim community; the lifespans of the Companions; and the explicit prohibition against reviling them.
- Part Two: Details collective virtues categorized by historical events, tribes, groups, and locations across three chapters: virtues connected to events (such as the migrations to Abyssinia, the Battle of Badr, and the Pledge of al-Hudaybiyyah); virtues associated with specific tribes and groups; and virtues related to specific lands and regions.
- Part Three: Focuses on individual virtues across four chapters: male Companions; young boys born during the Prophet's lifetime who died then or prior to reaching the age of discernment; female Companions; and young girls born during the Prophet's era.
Publication and Supplements
The first edition of the work was published in 1427 AH (2006 CE) in 12 volumes by the Deanship of Scientific Research at the Islamic University of Madinah (Publication no. 86). A second edition was later issued by the same institution in 1435 AH.
The author continued researching the topic after its publication and compiled subsequent supplements:
- A three-volume Mustadrak (rectification and addition) published through the Islamic University of Madinah.
- A separate supplementary monograph titled Zawa'id al-Ahadith al-Warida fi Fadail al-Sahaba fi Kitab al-Matalib al-'Aliya, published in 1436 AH (2015 CE), which extracted 40 additional hadiths on the virtues of the Companions found in Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani's al-Matalib al-'Aliya that were absent from the original corpus.
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