al-Sifat li al-Daraqutni
- Author died
- 385 AH
- Editions
- t al-Faqihi · tahqiq al-Ghunayman
al-Sifat (Arabic: كتاب الصفات, lit. 'The Book of Divine Attributes') is a theological hadith treatise compiled by the Baghdadi hadith scholar al-Daraqutni (306–385 AH / 918–995 CE), gathering prophetic narrations and early reports concerning the divine attributes.
Scope and Methodology
The work is a concise compilation comprising sixty-eight narrations and traditions (athar) according to one description, or around sixty hadiths in ten pages. Most of the prophetic narrations it contains are also recorded in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim.
al-Daraqutni compiled the text without thematic chapter headings, though narrations addressing specific attributes are clustered together sequentially—such as hadiths on the divine descent (al-nuzul), followed by narrations affirming the two hands (al-yadayn), the fingers (al-asabi), laughter (al-dahik), speech (al-kalam), generosity, and mercy. In documenting the traditions, the author occasionally notes whether a hadith was narrated by Abu Dawud, al-Nasa'i, or in the Sahihayn. He records the texts with their chains of transmission without commenting on their authenticity or weakness, and refrains from theological interpretation (ta'wil) or legal analysis, leaving the deduction to the jurist.
Transmission and Manuscripts
The primary surviving chain of transmission for the book runs from al-Daraqutni through his student Abu Talib al-Ushari (Muhammad ibn Ali ibn al-Fath), and from him through Abu al-Izz Ahmad ibn Ubayd Allah ibn Kadish al-Ukbari, then Abu Muhammad Abd al-Khaliq ibn Abd al-Wahhab al-Sabuni, to Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Ma'ali al-Rusafi, with recorded auditions (sama'at) for scholars including Abd Allah ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Muqaddami.
Manuscript copies of the treatise have survived in several collections:
- A copy in Dar al-Kutub al-Misriyyah in Cairo (MS 23314b, fols. 103–115), preserving classical audition notes.
- A five-folio copy transcribed in 1084 AH, preserved within a manuscript codex in Istanbul (Reyhan Kiosk, MS 5/510).
- A copy preserved in the Zahiriyya Library in Damascus.
Printed Editions
The treatise has been published in multiple critical editions, including:
- An edition edited by Abd Allah al-Ghunayman (published by Maktabat al-Dar, Medina, 1403 AH / 1983 CE).
- An edition edited by Dr. Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Nasir al-Faqihi.
- Additional editions issued in Cairo by Dar Ihya' al-Sunnah and in Syria by Dar al-Thaqafah (1414 AH).
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