al-Arbaun fi Shuyukh al-Sufiya lil-Malini
- Author died
- 412 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Bashāʾir al-Islāmiyyah
al-Arbaun fi Shuyukh al-Sufiya (The Forty [Hadiths] on Sufi Shaykhs) is a hadith compilation by the Shafi'i traditionist and Sufi Abu Sa'd al-Malini (d. 412 AH / 1022 CE; another report gives 409 AH / 1021 CE), collecting forty prophetic traditions transmitted through forty Sufi teachers.
Content and Method
The work belongs to the genre of forty-hadith collections (al-arba'iniyyat), designed specifically around the chains of transmission of Sufi scholars. In the book, al-Malini—who was known by the epithet Tawus al-Fuqara' (the Peacock of the Poor)—narrates forty separate hadiths, dedicating each entry to a specific Sufi master and recording a narration received through him with its chain of transmission. In certain instances, he appends critical remarks on individual chains, such as noting sole transmissions.
Transmission and Reception
Al-Malini arrived in Nishapur in 406 AH and taught his narrations there, where contemporaries and subsequent traditionists received his forty-hadith collection. It was later transmitted through chains documented by traditionists such as al-Suyuti, tracing back to al-Malini through figures including Abu Ghalib Ahmad ibn al-Hasan ibn al-Banna and Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Badhshah al-Isbahani.
Later hadith critics evaluated various narrations found within the collection; for example, Nasir al-Din al-Albani examined several chains recorded in the work and classified certain paths as severely rejected (munkar jiddan) or fabricated (mawdu').
Manuscripts and Editions
Manuscript copies of the work are preserved in the Zahiriyya Library in Damascus, bearing audition certificates (sama'at) dated 606 AH, 612 AH, and 629 AH.
The text has been published in modern scholarly editions:
- Edited and annotated by Amir Hasan Sabri, published by Dar al-Basha'ir al-Islamiyya in Beirut (1st ed., 1417 AH / 1997 CE).
- Edited by Falih al-Bakkur, published by al-Sharika al-Alamiyya in Beirut.
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