al-Arbaun al-Wadaniyya al-Mawdua

Al-Arbaun al-Wadaniyya al-Mawdua (The Fabricated Forty Hadiths of Ibn Wadan) is a forty-hadith compilation attributed to the judge Abu Nasr Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Wadan al-Mawsili (d. 494 AH / 1101 CE) al-Jami li-Kutub al-Duafa…+1, consisting of homilies and ascetic admonitions that hadith critics universally classified as spurious al-Jami li-Kutub al-Duafa…+1.

Origin and Composition

Hadith scholars identified the collection as plagiarized from earlier fabrications attributed to Zayd ibn Rifaa al-Hashimi, who is said to have been among the authors of Rasail Ikhwan al-Safa al-Jami li-Kutub al-Duafa…+1. Zayd compiled the material by combining statements attributed to the Prophet with maxims of sages and sayings of Luqman to create extended texts, appending them to well-known sound chains al-Ziyadat ala al-Mawduat+1.

Ibn Wadan appropriated Zayd's collection, removed its original sermon (khutbah), and fabricated new chains of transmission (asānīd) connecting himself through one or two intermediaries to the teachers Zayd had claimed to transmit from al-Jami li-Kutub al-Duafa…+1. Most of these intermediaries were obscure or of doubtful existence al-Jami li-Kutub al-Duafa…+1. Another account suggests that Ibn Wadan's uncle, Abu al-Fath Ahmad ibn Ubayd Allah, first took the text from Zayd, after which Ibn Wadan took it from him al-Jami li-Kutub al-Duafa…+1.

Structure and Contents

In his prologue, Ibn Wadan cited a narration on the virtue of transmitting forty hadiths: من نقل عني إلى من لم يلحقني من أمتي أربعين حديثًا كتب في زمرة العلماء، وحشر في جملة الشهداء ("Whoever transmits forty hadiths from me to those of my community who did not reach me shall be inscribed among the scholars and resurrected among the martyrs") al-Arbaun al-Wadaaniyya l…+1.

The texts consist of lengthy exhortations and moral discourses al-Jami li-Kutub al-Duafa…+1. The first hadith opens with the Prophet addressing the people from atop his camel al-Jada: يا أيها الناس، كأن الموت على غيرنا كتب ("O people, it is as though death were decreed for others besides us") Lisan al-Mizan+1. According to al-Saghani, the collection concludes with a narration regarding the Angel of Death visiting every home five times daily: ما من بيت إلا وملك الموت يقف على بابه خمس مرات Kashf al-Khafa+1.

Transmission and Reception

When Ibn Wadan arrived in Baghdad in 493 AH, Abu Tahir al-Silafi initially attended his sessions and heard the entire forty hadiths from him al-Mashyakha al-Baghdadiy…. Upon examining the manuscript, al-Silafi discovered flagrant confusion and fabricated chains, leading him to denounce Ibn Wadan as a liar and compose a dedicated treatise warning against the collection al-Mashyakha al-Baghdadiy…+1. The hadith scholar Ibn Nasir saw Ibn Wadan in Baghdad but refused to narrate from him due to accusations of mendacity al-Jami li-Kutub al-Duafa…+1.

Despite these condemnations, the work circulated across multiple regions. It was transmitted from Ibn Wadan by Muhammad al-Hadi in Egypt, Abu Abd Allah al-Balkhi in Iraq, Marwan ibn Ali al-Tanzi in Diyar Bakr, and Ismail ibn Muhammad al-Naysaburi in the Hijaz al-Jami li-Kutub al-Duafa…+1. Among the Zaydiyya, the work became known as al-Arbaun al-Saylaqiyya, for which al-Muayyad Billah Yahya ibn Hamza composed a two-volume commentary titled al-Anwar al-Mudiyya al-Ziyadat ala al-Mawduat.

Scholarly Critique

Later hadith authorities reiterated the collection's spurious status. Jamal al-Din al-Mizzi ruled that not a single narration in the collection is authentically established as a prophetic statement in the form and with the chains presented, though a few isolated phrases can be corroborated through known, authentic chains al-Jami li-Kutub al-Duafa…+1. Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti observed that while the collection contains eloquent and beneficial admonitions, righteousness of content does not validate a report as a prophetic hadith, declaring the entire compilation an engineered forgery al-Jami li-Kutub al-Duafa…+1.