al-Ari'un al-Madaniyya
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- al-Ari'un al-Madaniyya
al-Arba'un al-Madaniyya (Arabic: الأربعون المدنية, lit. 'The Forty [Hadiths] on Medina') is a thematic forty-hadith collection compiled by Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Amari, focusing on the virtues, rulings, and sanctity of the city of Medina.
Author and Purpose
The compiler, Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Amari, served as a member of da'wah and guidance in the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Endowments, Da'wah, and Guidance in Saudi Arabia. The book was published as the first hadith text in a primer series for beginners (Silsilat Mutun al-Mubtadi'in). Al-Amari compiled the work for Muslims in general and for the inhabitants of Medina in particular, intending it to serve as a memorization syllabus that can be completed across forty days at a rate of one hadith per day, twenty days at two hadiths per day, or ten days at four hadiths per day.
Source Material and Structure
The collection comprises forty prophetic traditions drawn primarily from the two canonical Sahih compilations:
- 16 agreed-upon hadiths recorded by both al-Bukhari and Muslim.
- 19 hadiths recorded by Muslim alone.
- 2 hadiths recorded by al-Bukhari alone.
- 3 sound hadiths recorded in other collections.
The book is organized under topical chapter and section headings under the overarching heading "The Book of Medina" (Kitab al-Madina):
- Names of Medina: Covering traditions regarding its names, including Tabah, Taybah, Yathrib, and al-Madina.
- Virtues of Medina: Covering the angelic protection of its mountain passes from the plague and the Dajjal; its expulsion of evil elements, disbelievers, and hypocrites; the divine threat against anyone intending harm to its inhabitants; and the Prophet's supplication that God endear the city to believers.
- Sanctity and Boundaries of the Sanctuary: Traditions detailing the boundaries of the Medinan sanctuary (haram) between Mount 'Ayr and Mount Thawr and between its two lava tracts (al-labatayn); prohibitions on hunting its game, cutting its thorny trees, bearing arms for combat, and shedding blood within it; and rulings on warning resident snakes for three days before killing them, alongside the exceptions for certain venomous kinds.
- Supplication for Blessings and Residence: The Prophet's prayers for multiplied blessings in Medina's measures (sa' and mudd); encouragement to reside in the city and remain patient amidst its hardships; and the recommendation for dwellers to reside within the sanctuary limits.
- The Prophet's Mosque and Quba Mosque: Traditions on the virtue of prayer in the Prophet's Mosque; its status as the mosque founded upon piety; the merit of the area between the Prophet's house and his pulpit as a garden (rawdah) of Paradise; and the virtue of visiting and praying in Quba Mosque, equating a prayer therein to an 'umrah pilgrimage.
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