al-Arbaun li-Muhammad ibn Aslam al-Tusi
- Author died
- 242 AH
- Editions
- Dār Ibn Ḥazm
al-Arbaʿūn (Arabic: الأربعون, lit. 'The Forty [Hadiths]') is an early collection of forty prophetic traditions compiled by the traditionist and ascetic Abu al-Hasan Muhammad ibn Aslam al-Tusi (d. 242 AH / 856 CE; another report gives 245 AH) .
Historical Standing and Transmission
The work is recognized by classical scholars as one of the earliest dedicated forty-hadith compilations in Islamic literature. In the introduction to his own famous collection, Abu Zakariyya Yahya ibn Sharaf al-Nawawi lists Muhammad ibn Aslam al-Tusi as the earliest compiler in the forty-hadith genre immediately after Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak . Similarly, in his bibliographical register al-Muʿjam al-mufahras, Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani arranged his section on forty-hadith collections chronologically from the earliest to the latest, opening it with Muhammad ibn Aslam al-Tusi’s work .
The collection was transmitted from the author primarily through his student Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Wakiʿ al-Tusi , and another line is recorded from Abu Ali al-Tusi . It circulated widely among hadith scholars and was cataloged in major transmission compendia, including the Fahrasah of Ibn Khayr al-Ishbili , the Tadwīn of Abd al-Karim ibn Muhammad al-Rafi'i , and Kashf al-zunun by Haji Khalifa . Shams al-Din al-Dhahabi noted having received and studied the work through an elevated chain of narration (al-ʿuluww) .
Modern Editions
The work was edited by Mishʿal ibn Bānī al-Muṭayrī and published by Dār Ibn Ḥazm in Beirut (first edition, 1421 AH / 2000 CE), where it was printed alongside al-Arbaʿūn of Abu al-Qasim al-Thaqafi .
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