al-Masail wal-Ajwiba li-Ibn Qutayba
- Author died
- 276 AH
- Editions
- Dār Ibn Kathīr lil-Ṭibā‘ah wal-Nashr wal-Tawzī‘
al-Masail wal-Ajwiba (The Questions and Answers) is a compilation of answers provided by the Abbasid scholar Ibn Qutayba (213–276 AH / 828–889 CE) to various inquiries concerning hadith, Quranic exegesis, lexicography, and related sciences.
Title and Composition
The book appears in historical bibliographies under slightly varying titles:
- al-Masail wal-Ajwiba, recorded by al-Suyuti and al-Dawudi.
- al-Masail wal-Jawabat, recorded by Ibn al-Nadim, Ibn Khallikan, and al-Qifti.
- Kitab al-Masail, used by Ibn Khayr, al-Dhahabi, and Ibn al-Sid al-Batalyawsi, as well as on a manuscript preserved at Dar al-Kutub al-Misriyya.
Ibn Qutayba himself refers to the work as Kitab al-Masail in the course of answering question 158. Another manuscript carries the title Kitab al-Masail fi al-Hadith wal-Tafsir, while an early Cairo print bore the title al-Masail wal-Ajwiba fi al-Hadith wal-Lugha.
The text does not state the date or place of its compilation. It appears to be among Ibn Qutayba's last writings, as he does not reference it in his other works, whereas within it he explicitly refers to several of his earlier compositions, including Tafsir Khata Abi Ubayd, Mushkil al-Quran, Kitab al-Qiraat, Gharib al-Hadith, Gharib al-Quran, and Mukhtalif al-Hadith.
Structure and Contents
The complete work contains 190 questions (mas'ala) submitted to Ibn Qutayba. Most entries begin with the standard phrasing "You asked about..." (sa'alta 'an), while others open with "A questioner asked me..." (sa'alani sa'il). Although names and locations of the questioners are generally omitted, several entries specify their origin or context:
- Question 67 answers a written letter from an inquirer in Herat.
- Question 72 responds to a letter from a man from Samarkand named Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Qamar.
- Question 103 gathers inquiries sent by people from Egypt.
- Question 143 addresses questions posed by Abu Kabir.
- Question 84 serves as a direct supplement to Ibn Qutayba's Gharib al-Hadith, responding to an inquirer regarding rare hadith expressions missing from that book.
Across the 190 questions, the subject distribution is as follows:
- 46 on rare or obscure vocabulary (gharib) in prophetic hadith.
- 20 on the meaning and interpretation of prophetic hadiths outside obscure vocabulary.
- 52 on rare vocabulary in reports (athar) transmitted from the Companions, Successors, and later generations.
- 3 on the interpretation of non-prophetic reports outside rare vocabulary.
- 5 combining rare vocabulary from both hadith and non-prophetic reports.
- 33 on interpreting and resolving apparent contradictions in Quranic verses.
- 15 on Arabic lexicography and linguistics.
- 5 on jurisprudence (fiqh).
- 4 on Quranic variant readings (qira'at).
- 2 on Arabic grammar (nahw).
- 1 on history.
- 1 on hadith terminology regarding the technical distinction between haddathana and akhbarana.
Transmission and Editions
The text was transmitted from Ibn Qutayba through his student Abu Muhammad Ubayd Allah ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Sukkari (d. 323 AH), and from him by Abu Umar Muhammad ibn al-Abbas ibn Hayyawayh (d. 382 AH). It was subsequently passed down through scholars including Ali ibn Umar al-Harbi al-Qazwini (d. 442 AH), Abu al-Fadl ibn Nasir (d. 550 AH), Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Abd al-Wahid al-Dinawari (d. 521 AH), and Ibn al-Jawzi (d. 597 AH) in Baghdad.
Manuscripts of the text are preserved in libraries including the Forschungsbibliothek Gotha (MS 636, copied in 778 AH), the Reisülküttap collection in Istanbul (MS 879/1), and Dar al-Kutub al-Misriyya in Cairo. An abridged or partial version of 28 pages was printed in Cairo in 1349 AH (1930 CE) by Maktabat al-Qudsi under the title al-Masail wal-Ajwiba fi al-Hadith wal-Lugha. A complete critical edition comprising all 190 questions was edited by Marwan al-Atiyyah and Muhsin Kharabah and published by Dar Ibn Kathir in Damascus and Beirut in 1410 AH (1990 CE) under the title Kitab al-Masail wal-Ajwiba fi al-Hadith wal-Tafsir.
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