al-Fawaid wal-Akhbar li-Ibn Hamkan
- Author died
- 405 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Bashā'ir al-Islāmiyyah
al-Fawa’id wa-al-Akhbar (Arabic: الفوائد والأخبار, full title: al-Fawāʾid wa-al-akhbār wa-al-ḥikāyāt ʿan al-Shāfiʿī wa-Ḥātim al-Aṣamm wa-Maʿrūf al-Karkhī wa-ghayrihim) is a short hadith compilation and collection of historical anecdotes and moral reports by the Shafi'i jurist and hadith scholar Abu Ali al-Hasan ibn al-Husayn ibn Hamkan (d. 405 AH / 1014 CE) .
Transmission and Structure
The work is organized as a single traditional hadith tract (juzʾ), preserved through an unbroken chain of transmission from the author . It was transmitted from Ibn Hamkan by Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Muhammad al-Muqri (known as Ibn al-Khayyat), then through Abu Muhammad Yahya ibn Ali ibn al-Tarrah, Umar ibn Muhammad ibn Tabarzad, and Ali ibn Ahmad ibn Abd al-Wahid al-Maqdisi, with surviving audition records noting the attendance of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Mun‘im ibn Ghazi al-Maqdisi .
Content and Themes
The tract brings together prophetic traditions, reports, and wise sayings narrated with their chains of transmission, centering on ethical counsel, asceticism, and pious conduct . Key subjects covered in the text include:
- Anecdotes and virtues of scholars: The devotion and generosity of al-Shafi'i, including his completion of sixty full recitations of the Qur'an during Ramadan outside of ritual prayer, his willingness to accept truth from opponents, and his aphorisms on learning .
- Early ascetic and ethical counsels: Sayings on knowledge and humility from figures such as Hatim al-Asamm, Ma'ruf al-Karkhi, and Qasim al-Ju'i, the latter recorded advising anonymity, patience under injustice, and restraint when praised or blamed .
- Supplications and prophetic teachings: A comprehensive morning and evening supplication attributed to Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, as well as traditions clarifying the rejection of monastic asceticism (tarahhub) in favor of communal prayer, fasting, and family provision .
- Aphorisms on knowledge: Literary and scholarly advice passed down through figures such as Yahya ibn Khalid al-Barmaki and al-Khalil ibn Ahmad regarding the retention, recording, and communication of knowledge .
Manuscript and Publication
A manuscript of the work is preserved at the Zahiriyya Library in Damascus (no. 3830 / Majmūʿ 94, part 1, fols. 156–169) . The text was edited by Amir Hasan Sabri and published in a single volume by Dar al-Basha'ir al-Islamiyyah in Beirut (1422 AH / 2001 CE) as the seventeenth entry in their series Silsilat al-Ajzāʾ wa-al-Kutub al-Ḥadīthiyyah .
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