al-Muwatta by Ibn Wahb - part of it
- Author died
- 197 AH
- Editions
- tahqiq al-Sini
al-Muwatta (part of it) is an early hadith collection compiled by the Egyptian jurist and traditionist Abd Allah ibn Wahb (125–197 AH / 743–812 CE), containing prophetic traditions and legal narrations arranged according to jurisprudential chapters .
Background and Characteristics
Ibn Wahb authored two compilations bearing this title: a major version (al-Muwatta al-Kabir) and a minor one (al-Muwatta al-Saghir) . Unlike the standard Muwatta of his teacher Malik ibn Anas—which incorporated discretionary rulings and opinions of the Successors—Ibn Wahb focused primarily on transmitted reports (athar) and hadiths, stripping away non-narrative juristic deductions .
In addition to narrations received from Malik, Ibn Wahb included chains of transmission from several of his other prominent teachers, such as Amr ibn al-Harith, Yunus ibn Yazid, and Ibn Jurayj . Abu Ya'la al-Khalili observed that Ibn Wahb's Muwatta contained transmissions beyond what was found in other recensions of Malik's Muwatta .
Scholarly Reception and Transmission
The work was an essential reference for early authorities:
- Sahnun relied on narrations from Ibn Wahb's Muwatta to provide evidentiary support for legal issues in al-Mudawwana .
- Extensive citations from it appear in major hadith collections, including Ahmad ibn Hanbal's al-Musnad (which incorporates scores of its narrations), al-Tahawi's Mushkil al-Athar, and al-Bayhaqi's al-Sunan al-Kubra, where over 130 reports match Ibn Wahb's chains and texts .
- Later scholars such as Ibn Abd al-Barr and Ibn Hazm documented and cited the text among the foundational early compilations .
Extant Text and Modern Editions
A surviving manuscript fragment of al-Muwatta al-Saghir preserves portions of the work across various legal chapters, including prayer, fasting, and beverages . The text was prepared and edited in modern times in two sections: the first part, spanning from the beginning through the chapter on fasting (Kitab al-Sawm), was edited by Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Amin al-Shinqiti, while the subsequent part, covering the prayer chapters (Kitab al-Salah) to the end of the manuscript, was edited by Dr. Muhammad al-Amin ibn al-Husayn al-Shinqiti .
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