al-Muntaqa min Musnad Abi Bakr Muhammad ibn Harun al-Ruyani
- Author died
- 307 AH
- Editions
- Dar al-Amal
al-Muntaqa min Musnad Abi Bakr Muhammad ibn Harun al-Ruyani (A Selection from the Musnad of Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Harun al-Ruyani) is a specialized Hadith collection consisting of narrations excerpted from the Musnad of the Persian traditionist Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Harun al-Ruyani (d. 307 AH / 919–920 CE) . The selection was compiled by the Hanbali traditionist Diya' al-Din al-Maqdisi (d. 643 AH / 1245 CE) .
Background and Context
The original Musnad composed by Abu Bakr al-Ruyani was celebrated among traditionists for its elevated chains of transmission (uluww al-isnad) and the rarity of its narrations . However, substantial portions of the complete work were lost early in Islamic history, a deficit documented from the 5th century AH onward . Scholars such as Ibn Nuqtah (d. 629 AH) noted that only fragments of al-Ruyani's Musnad were available in Isfahan and Baghdad, and Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani later recorded that he had access only to parts of the work .
Because the standard printed edition of al-Ruyani's surviving Musnad represents only an incomplete portion of the original work, Diya' al-Din al-Maqdisi's al-Muntaqa preserves chains of transmission and texts that are otherwise missing from that extant text .
Transmission and Content
Diya' al-Din al-Maqdisi received the text in Isfahan by reading it in Jumada al-Akhirah 599 AH to Abu Zur'ah Ubayd Allah ibn Muhammad al-Liftawani at his home . Al-Liftawani had heard it in Rabi' al-Akhir 531 AH from the literary scholar Abu Abd Allah al-Husayn ibn Abd al-Malik al-Khallal, who received it from the Quranic scholar Abu al-Fadl Abd al-Rahman ibn Ahmad al-Razi (371–454 AH) upon his arrival in 451 AH . Abu al-Fadl al-Razi had read it in Dhu al-Qi'dah 380 AH to Abu al-Qasim Ja'far ibn Abd Allah ibn Ya'qub ibn al-Fannaki al-Razi (d. 383 AH), who was the last surviving direct transmitter of al-Ruyani's Musnad .
The selection begins with the narration of Salman al-Farsi detailing the account of his journey to Islam, transmitted through Amr ibn Ali from Abd Allah ibn Harun from his father from Muhammad ibn Ishaq from Asim ibn Umar ibn Qatadah from Mahmud ibn Labid from Abd Allah ibn Abbas . It includes various other traditions transmitted on the authority of Salman al-Farsi regarding ethics, worship, and the virtues of ribat .
Modern Publication
The work was edited and published by Khalid Abd al-Azim al-Huwayni . In its second edition, the editor supplemented the primary text with an appendix containing 21 additional narrations transmitted via al-Ruyani from Abu al-Fadl al-Razi's treatise on the seven variant readings of the Quran (Kitab fi ma'ani qawl al-Nabi unzila al-Qur'an 'ala sab'at ahruf), alongside one narration from Diya' al-Din al-Maqdisi's Juz' muntaqa min al-ahadith al-sihah wa-l-hisan .
Answer updated