al-Arbaun lil-Nasawi
- Author died
- 303 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Bashā'ir al-Islāmiyyah
al-Arbaun lil-Nasawi (The Forty [Hadiths] by al-Nasawi) is an early compilation of forty prophetic traditions compiled by the hadith master Abu al-Abbas al-Hasan ibn Sufyan al-Nasawi (d. 303 AH / 915–916 CE) .
Context and Significance
The work belongs to the forty-hadith genre (al-arba‘iniyyat) and stands among the earliest and most notable surviving works composed on this pattern, alongside early collections by scholars such as Muhammad ibn Aslam al-Tusi (d. 242 AH), Abu Bakr al-Ajurri (d. 360 AH), and Abu Bakr Ibn al-Muqri' (d. 381 AH) . Al-Nasawi, who was widely known as the author of both al-Musnad and al-Arbaun, gathered these narrations with his own chains of transmission connecting directly to earlier authorities and the Prophet ﷺ .
Transmission and Reception
The collection was preserved and transmitted through continuous chains of hadith scholars over successive generations . Among its primary transmitters from al-Nasawi was Abu 'Amr Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Hamdan al-Hiri, through whom it reached Abd al-Ghafir ibn Muhammad al-Farsi, and subsequently later figures such as Fatima bint Abi al-Hasan ibn Zaghbal, al-Mu'ayyad ibn Muhammad al-Tusi (d. 617 AH), and Zaynab bint Abd al-Rahman al-Sha'ri .
Later traditionists documented and utilized the work in their transmissions and compilations:
- Sadr al-Din al-Bakri (d. 656 AH) drew directly upon al-Nasawi's collection for his compilation al-Arbaun min Arba'in .
- It is recorded in Andalusian transmission curricula, including the Barnamaj of al-Wadi Ashi .
- Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti cited his transmission chain for the text in Inshab al-Kathab fi Ansab al-Kutub .
Publication
The book has been edited by Muhammad ibn Nasir al-Ajami and published by Dar al-Basha'ir al-Islamiyyah in Beirut (first edition, 1414 AH / 1993–1994 CE) .
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