al-Baath wa al-Nushur lil-Bayhaqi
- Author died
- 458 AH
- Editions
- t Haydar · t. al-Shawami
al-Baath wa al-Nushur (Resurrection and Revivification) is an eschatological hadith work compiled by the Shafi'i scholar and hadith master Abu Bakr al-Bayhaqi (384–458 AH / 994–1066 CE), dedicated to the events of the afterlife and the Day of Judgment.
Scope and Structure
The book is one of al-Bayhaqi's most extensive monographs devoted to a single subject, second in length only to his Shu'ab al-Iman (The Branches of Faith). It encompasses the primary theological and narrative themes concerning the end of time and eschatology:
- Faith in the Last Day and Portents of the Hour: It begins with establishing belief in the Last Day, citing authentic chains to demonstrate that denying it constitutes disbelief, followed by the portents of the Hour (ashrat al-sa'ah), which occupy roughly one-quarter of the hadiths in the work.
- The Resurrection and Standing before God: It addresses the end of the world, the blowing of the Trumpet (al-nafkh fi al-sur), the bodily resurrection and gathering (al-hashr wa-l-nashr), standing before God, the length of the Day of Judgment, and extensive exegetical traditions (tafsir musnad) clarifying relevant Quranic verses.
- Reckoning and Intercession: It details the Balance (al-mizan), divine retribution (al-qisas), the crossing of the Bridge (al-sirat), the conditions of believers and disbelievers, and the doctrine of intercession (al-shafa'ah) according to the Sunni tradition.
- Eschatological Details, Paradise, and Hell: It examines specific complex topics, such as the ransom of believers by disbelievers (fida' al-mu'min bi-l-kafir), the Prophet's Basin (al-hawd) and its description, the state of the People of the Heights (ashab al-a'raf), and belief in the created nature of Paradise and Hell and their descriptions, concluding with the lengthy Trumpet hadith (hadith al-sur al-tawil).
Methodology
Al-Bayhaqi organizes the work topically, heading each section with relevant Quranic verses before citing reports with full chains of transmission (asānīd). He frequently presents his own chains reaching narrations found in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, noting points of convergence and extracting the narrations accordingly. Consistent with his general approach across his doctrinal and legal writings, he aims to restrict his citations to sound reports or explicitly distinguish sound transmissions from defective ones, providing a reliable textual basis for Sunni doctrine. Ibn Taymiyyah observed that al-Bayhaqi filters traditions and discriminates between sound and defective reports more rigorously than al-Tahawi.
Reception and Influence
Al-Bayhaqi cross-referenced al-Baath wa al-Nushur in several of his other compositions, including Shu'ab al-Iman, al-I'tiqad (The Creed), and Hayat al-Anbiya' ba'd Wafatihim (The Life of the Prophets After Their Death). Biographers and bibliographers listed the book under this title or simply as Kitab al-Ba'th, such as al-Dhahabi—who recorded it as a single volume—as well as Taj al-Din al-Subki and Katip Celebi. Subki praised al-Bayhaqi's works as uniquely refined, well-ordered, and beneficial.
The text served as a primary source for eschatological traditions quoted by subsequent authorities, preserving narrations from earlier sources such as the Tafsir of Mujahid ibn Jabr and the Musnad of Abu Dawud al-Tayalisi. Scholars drawing upon it include al-Nawawi in Sharh Sahih Muslim, Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali in his commentary on al-Bukhari, Ibn al-Mulaqqin in al-Tawdih and al-Badr al-Munir, al-Tibi in al-Kashif, Ibn Kathir in al-Bidaya wa-l-Nihaya, al-Zayla'i in Takhrij Ahadith al-Kashshaf, Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani in Fath al-Bari and Taghliq al-Ta'liq, Badr al-Din al-Ayni in Umdat al-Qari, al-Qastallani in Irshad al-Sari, and al-Suyuti in al-Durr al-Manthur and Nawahid al-Abkar.
Transmission and Editions
The work was preserved across multiple manuscript collections. An early edition edited by 'Amir Ahmad Haydar was published in 1406 AH / 1986 CE. Earlier printed versions were incomplete, lacking roughly half the text because they relied on a manuscript where the copyist had abridged the work by stripping away the isnads. A complete edition collated from five manuscripts was later edited by Abu 'Asim al-Shawami al-Athari and published in Riyadh in 1436 AH.
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