Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani
al-Imta bil-Arbaeen al-Mutabayinah al-Sama
- Author died
- 852 AH
- Editions
- Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyyah
al-Imta bil-Arbaeen al-Mutabayinah al-Sama (also titled al-Imta bil-Arbaeen al-Mutabayinah bi-Shart al-Sama) is a hadith collection by the Shafi'i hadith scholar Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani (773–852 AH / 1372–1449 CE), containing forty traditions transmitted through completely distinct, directly heard chains of narration.
Composition and Context
Ibn Hajar composed the work in 807 AH (1404–1405 CE) and subsequently delivered it through dictation sessions. According to al-Sakhawi, the compilation was prompted after the Meccan historian and judge Taqi al-Din al-Fasi mentioned that he had spent approximately three years gathering his own collection of forty disparate hadiths without imposing strict conditions of direct hearing; Ibn Hajar completed his manuscript in one week under far more stringent criteria.
Structure and Method
In compiling the forty hadiths, Ibn Hajar adhered to several rigorous structural and methodological stipulations:
- Strict Transmission Condition: He restricted his primary chains of narration exclusively to direct audition (al-sama), explicitly excluding narrations transmitted by written permission (al-ijazah), physical handing-over of manuscripts (al-munawalah), or manuscript discovery (al-wijadah).
- Distinct Chains (al-Tabayun): No narrator appears more than once across the primary chains of the forty hadiths, ensuring completely differentiated transmissions throughout the collection.
- Arrangement: The collection opens with the traditional initial transmission (al-hadith al-musalsal bi-l-awwaliyyah), followed by hadiths narrated by the ten Companions promised Paradise (al-Asharah al-Mubashsharah). The subsequent narrations are arranged alphabetically according to the twenty-eight Arabic letters of the Companions' names, and the text concludes with traditions from Abdullah ibn Abbas and Abdullah ibn Umar to complete narrations from the four prominent Companions named Abdullah (al-Abadilah).
- Scholarly Inclusions and Critique: The chains incorporate narrators from the authors of the Six Books of hadith and the eponyms of the four Sunni legal schools. Ibn Hajar appended critical commentary to each hadith, clarifying hidden textual defects (ilal) and resolving potential weaknesses in the lines of transmission.
Abridgment and Publication
Ibn Hajar prepared an abridgment of the work in 832 AH (1428–1429 CE), entitled Talkhis al-Imta, in which he restricted each entry to a single transmission pathway. The original book was edited by Salah al-Din Maqbul Ahmad and published in Kuwait by al-Dar al-Salafiyyah in 1408 AH (1988 CE).
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