al-Arbaun al-Wadaaniyya li-Ibn Wadaan
- Author died
- 494 AH
- Editions
- al-Arbaun al-Wadaaniyya li-Ibn Wadaan
al-Arba'un al-Wada'aniyya (The Wada'anian Forty Hadiths) is a compilation of forty hadiths attributed to the judge Abu Nasr Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Wadan (d. 494 AH / 1101 CE) of Mosul, classified by hadith scholars as a fabricated and plagiarized collection .
Background and Composition
The core material of the collection was originally fabricated by Zayd ibn Rifa'a al-Hashimi, a figure reputed to have taken part in compiling Rasa'il Ikhwan al-Safa . Ibn Rifa'a authored these texts by combining sayings of the Prophet ﷺ with words of wisdom attributed to Luqman and ancient sages, framing them with well-known valid chains of transmission (asānīd) to give them credibility .
Ibn Wad'an subsequently appropriated the work, removed Ibn Rifa'a's opening sermon (khuṭbah), and constructed artificial chains connecting himself to Ibn Rifa'a's teachers by inserting one or two intermediaries, most of whom were unknown (majhūlūn) . According to another report cited by Ibn Nasir and Ibn al-Jawzi, it was Ibn Wad'an's uncle, Abu al-Fath Ahmad ibn 'Ubayd Allah, who first appropriated the text from Ibn Rifa'a and altered its chains, after which Ibn Wad'an transmitted it from him .
Content and Critical Assessment
In its preface, Ibn Wad'an cited the virtue of memorizing and transmitting forty prophetic narrations, quoting: من نقل عني إلى من لم يلحقني من أمتي أربعين حديثًا كتب في زمرة العلماء، وحشر في جملة الشهداء ("Whoever conveys from me forty hadiths to those of my community who did not reach me shall be recorded among the company of scholars and resurrected among the martyrs") . The collection covers moral admonitions, asceticism, and ethical exhortations .
Hadith critics universally rejected the authenticity of the collection's narrations under their attributed chains:
- Jamal al-Din al-Mizzi affirmed that not a single hadith in the collection is authentically established from the Prophet ﷺ in that sequential form and with those specific chains, though isolated phrases within them happen to match genuine wordings found in well-known sources . He noted that while the texts contain eloquent sermons and fine speech, sound content alone does not justify attributing words to the Prophet ﷺ .
- Abu Tahir al-Silafi initially attended Ibn Wad'an's reading of the collection in Baghdad in 493 AH, but upon examining the text, he detected severe manipulation and artificial splicing of chains (tarkīb al-asānīd), subsequently issuing a written leaf warning against the work and declaring Ibn Wad'an untrustworthy .
- Scholars such as al-Dhahabi and Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti listed it among prominent fabrications (al-mawḍūʿāt) .
Transmission, Commentaries, and Editions
Despite its scholarly condemnation, the collection circulated widely in several Islamic regions: it was transmitted on the authority of Ibn Wad'an by Muhammad al-Hadi in Egypt, Abu 'Abd Allah al-Balkhi in Iraq, Marwan ibn 'Ali in Diyar Bakr, and Isma'il ibn Muhammad al-Naysaburi in the Hijaz .
Among the Zaydiyyah, the collection is known as al-Arba'un al-Saylaqiyya (The Saylaqian Forty) . The Zaydi Imam al-Mu'ayyad Billah Yahya ibn Hamzah (d. 749 AH) composed a two-volume commentary on it entitled al-Anwar al-Mudi'a Sharh al-Ahadith al-Nabawiyya 'ala al-Saylaqiyya (The Luminous Lights: Commentary on the Prophetic Hadiths of al-Saylaqiyya) .
In modern scholarship, the book was edited and published by Ali Hasan Abd al-Hamid under the title al-Arba'un al-Wada'aniyya al-Mawdu'ah (published by al-Maktab al-Islami and Dar 'Ammar, 1407 AH) . While manuscript copies preserve the full forged chains of transmission, some printed versions omitted the chains entirely .
Answer updated