al-Umda min al-Fawaid wal-Athar al-Sihah fi Mashyakhat Shahda
- Author died
- 574 AH
- Editions
- Maktabat al-Khanji
al-ʿUmda min al-Fawāʾid wa-l-Āthār al-Ṣiḥāḥ fī Mashyakhat Shuhda (The Pillar of Sound Benefits and Traditions in the Mashyakha of Shuhda) is a hadith compendium documenting the teachers and narrations of the renowned Baghdadi female traditionist Shuhda bint Ahmad al-Dinawari (d. 574 AH / 1178 CE), compiled during her lifetime by the hadith master Ibn al-Akhdar (d. 602 AH / 1205 CE) .
Composition and Scope
The work represents the complete mashyakha (scholarly register of authorities) of Shuhda bint Ahmad ibn al-Faraj al-Dinawari al-Ibari, known by the honorific title Fakhr al-Nisaʾ . The texts were extracted (takhrīj) and compiled by her student, the hadith master Abu Muhammad ʿAbd al-ʿAziz ibn Mahmud ibn al-Akhdar . The compilation was read directly to Shuhda by Ibn al-Akhdar in Jumada al-Ula 573 AH at her residence in Rahbat al-Jamiʿ in Baghdad .
Structure and Methodology
The work contains a total of 114 texts transmitted by Shuhda through chains reaching back to the Prophet ﷺ or earlier authorities . These narrations are arranged under twenty-seven of her prominent teachers, including figures such as Tirad ibn Muhammad al-Zaynabi, Thabit ibn Bundar al-Dinawari, Jaʿfar ibn al-Husayn al-Sarraj, and Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Shashi .
For each shaykh, the compiler presents one or several narrations transmitted via Shuhda's chain of transmission, followed by notes identifying which major hadith authorities documented the tradition in their canonical collections, along with occasional assessments of the narration's authenticity and the elevated status (ʿuluww) of the chain .
Reception and Transmission
The collection was widely sought after by subsequent generations of hadith scholars aiming to obtain elevated chains of narration through Shuhda . It was transmitted through well-documented hearing certificates (samāʿāt); among those who transmitted it from Shuhda's session with Ibn al-Akhdar was ʿAfif al-Din ʿAbd al-ʿAziz ibn Dulaf al-Baghdadi, through whom later traditionists, including Ibn al-Najjar and Siraj al-Din al-Qazwini, received the work .
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