al-Jawhara fi Nasab al-Nabi wa Ashabihi al-Ashara
- Author died
- 646 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Rifā‘ī lil-Nashr wal-Ṭibā‘ah wal-Tawzī‘
al-Jawhara fi Nasab al-Nabi wa Ashabihi al-Ashara (The Jewel on the Lineage of the Prophet and His Ten Companions) is a genealogical and biographical treatise by the Andalusian-Maghrebi scholar Muhammad al-Barri (d. after 646 AH / 1248 CE), detailing the ancestry of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and the lineages and merits of the ten companions promised Paradise .
Composition and Context
The author, Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr ibn Abd Allah ibn Musa al-Ansari al-Tilimsani, known as al-Barri, began compiling the original material for the work while held in captivity on the island of Menorca to provide himself with solace during his imprisonment . Following his release from enemy hands through the intervention of the local ruler, the chieftain Abu Uthman Sa'id ibn Hakam al-Qurashi, al-Barri reviewed, expanded, and corrected the draft .
He dedicated the final composition to the royal library of Sa'id ibn Hakam in Menorca, completing the authorial text on the morning of Friday, 25 Dhu al-Hijjah 644 AH, and concluding his own handwritten fair copy on the morning of Saturday, 8 Dhu al-Hijjah 645 AH at the frontier outpost of Menorca .
Structure and Contents
The book opens with an introduction setting out the author's circumstances and praise for his patron, followed by two primary thematic divisions :
- Prophetic Lineage and Relatives: The genealogy of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ tracing back through the Adnanite line, his ancestors such as Abd al-Muttalib, maternal connections, and the various clans and figures related to him in the pre-Islamic era and early Islam .
- The Ten Promised Paradise: Individual genealogical and biographical accounts of the ten companions promised Paradise (Abu Bakr, Umar ibn al-Khattab, Uthman ibn Affan, Ali ibn Abi Talib, Talha ibn Ubayd Allah, al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam, Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, Sa'id ibn Zayd, Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf, and Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah), recording their descent, convergence with the Prophetic line, virtues, and reports concerning their roles in early Islamic history .
Al-Barri stated that he enriched the work with clarifications on hadith transmitters and historical personalities, extracting reports from reliable biographical and historical chronicles without unnecessary prolongation .
Transmission and Editions
In his bibliographical dictionary Kashf al-Zunun, Hajji Khalifa recorded a title matching al-Jawhara fi Nasab al-Nabi wa Ashabihi al-Ashara, but erroneously attributed it to the earlier grammarian Ibn al-Anbari (d. 577 AH / 1181 CE) . The text by al-Barri was published in a modern critical edition prepared by Muhammad al-Tunji and issued by Dar al-Rifa'i in Riyadh .
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