al-Ghuraba lil-Ajurri
- Author died
- 360 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Khulafā’ lil-Kitāb al-Islāmī
Kitab al-Ghuraba (The Book of Strangers), also recorded under the fuller title Sifat al-ghuraba min al-mu'minin (The Description of the Strangers Among the Believers), is a short theological and ethical treatise by the Baghdadi traditionist and jurist Abu Bakr al-Ajurri (d. 360 AH / 970 CE) . The work focuses on explaining the concept of spiritual estrangement (ghurba) in Islam and defining the attributes and virtues of pious believers who remain steadfast upon the Sunnah during times of prevailing corruption .
Theme and Structure
The book is structured around prophetic traditions regarding the "strangers," primarily the hadith: إن الإسلام بدأ غريباً وسيعود كما بدأ غريباً فطوبى للغرباء ("Islam began as something strange and will return as something strange as it began, so glad tidings to the strangers") . The text contains distinct thematic chapters, including:
- Dhikr al-ghuraba min al-mu'minin wa-awsafihim fi al-dunya ("Mention of the Strangers Among the Believers and Their Characteristics in the World") .
- Bab al-hathth 'ala bulugh maratib al-ghuraba ("Chapter on Urging One to Attain the Ranks of the Strangers") .
In the introductory sections, al-Ajurri presents various narrations defining the "strangers," including the variant: الذين يصلحون إذا فسد الناس ("those who set things right when people have become corrupt"), as well as the description of them as النزاع من القبائل ("those who separate from tribes") and أناس صالحون قليل في ناس سوء كثير ("a small number of righteous people among many wicked people") .
Content and Method
Al-Ajurri combines traditional hadith transmission through complete chains of narration (isnad) with theological and ethical exposition, interspersing poetic verses and aphorisms of early scholars . He explains that at the advent of Islam, early converts experienced alienation because they abandoned the surrounding idolatry and prevailing creeds of their tribes . In later periods, estrangement recurs when widespread ignorance, misleading desires, and religious innovations cause those who strictly adhere to the Qur'an and Sunnah to become isolated minorities among their peers and kin .
The text quotes statements from early authorities, such as al-Hasan al-Basri, describing the believer as a stranger in this life who neither despairs over worldly humiliation nor competes for worldly honor . Al-Ajurri expounds upon the counsel given to Abdullah ibn Umar— كن في الدنيا كأنك غريب أو عابر سبيل ("Be in this world as if you were a stranger or a traveler passing by")—drawing an analogy to a traveler bearing hardships and minimal provisions until safely returning home . He emphasizes that striving for the rank of the strangers requires patience over the estrangement of family and society, bearing hardships in this transient world in hope of the eternal reward described in passages such as يُسْقَوْنَ مِن رَّحِيقٍ مَّخْتُومٍ .
Transmission and Reception
Kitab al-Ghuraba is listed among al-Ajurri's authentic compositions in classical bibliographic indices, including the Fihrist of Ibn Khayr al-Ishbili and the transmission catalog of Ibn Bashkuwal . The text was transmitted through Baghdadi scholars such as Abu al-Qasim 'Abd al-Malik ibn Muhammad ibn Bishran . The historian al-Sam'ani recorded that he read Kitab al-Ghuraba under the merchant and traditionist Ali ibn Abi Yasir al-Hallabi when the latter visited Merv . Later scholars cited al-Ajurri's specific narrations and phrasings from the book, including Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali in his treatise Kashf al-kurbah fi wasf hal ahl al-ghurbah and al-Murtada al-Zabidi . Manuscript copies of the treatise have been preserved in collections including the Zahiriyyah Library in Damascus and the Islamic University of Madinah .
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