al-Jihad - Ibn al-Mubarak
- Author died
- 181 AH
- Editions
- al-Dār al-Tūnisiyyah
Kitab al-Jihad (The Book of Jihad) is an early compilation of hadith and traditions on military expedition, garrison duty, and the virtues of martyrdom by the scholar and hadith master Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak (118–181 AH / 736–797 CE) .
Authorial Background and Context
Ibn al-Mubarak was known for combining extensive travels in search of hadith with regular participation in military campaigns along the Islamic frontiers, maintaining a routine of alternating years between making the pilgrimage (Hajj) and campaigning in battle . Stationed frequently in frontier outposts such as Tarsus, he composed poetry encouraging jihad and censured those ascetics who retreated from the front lines, most notably in a poem he sent in 177 AH to al-Fudayl ibn Iyad in Mecca . He died in the month of Ramadan in 181 AH at the city of Hit along the Euphrates while returning from military engagement .
Transmission and Reception
The text was transmitted from Ibn al-Mubarak primarily through Sa'id ibn Rahmah ibn Nu'aym al-Massisi, who was sole in narrating this specific work directly from him . Although Ibn Hibban entered a critical note against Sa'id in his biographical dictionary of weak narrators (al-Majruhin) concerning his narrations from Muhammad ibn Humayr, hadith critics drew a distinction between the transmission of discrete reports and the transmission of compiled books, accepting the attribution of Kitab al-Jihad to Ibn al-Mubarak without faulting the work on account of Sa'id's transmission .
Modern Publication
The work has been published in modern print, including a critical edition prepared by Nazih Hammad .
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