al-Zuhd wal-Raqa'iq lil-Khatib al-Baghdadi
- Author died
- 463 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Bashā'ir al-Islāmiyyah
al-Zuhd wal-Raqa'iq (Asceticism and Heart-Softening Traditions), preserved in transmission as al-Muntakhab min Kitab al-Zuhd wal-Raqa'iq and also titled Kitab al-Zuhd, is a compilation of hadith and ascetic reports by the Baghdadi traditionist and historian al-Khatib al-Baghdadi (392–463 AH / 1002–1071 CE).
Transmission and Content
Al-Khatib dictated the text from memory and personal transmission in Baghdad during Muharram 447 AH, as recorded by his student al-Qadi Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Baqi al-Ansari. The work was transmitted down through Baghdadi lines including Abu Mansur 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad al-Qazzaz and recorded in subsequent bibliographic and hadith compendia by scholars such as Ibn al-Jawzi and Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalani.
The compilation presents narrated reports supplied with full chains of transmission (isnad). Its contents encompass:
- Hadith qudsi and Prophetic sayings concerning the remembrance of God, worldly detachment, and moderation.
- Exhortations and spiritual maxims from early ascetics and mystics, including Ibrahim ibn Adham, Yahya ibn Mu'adh al-Razi, Sahl al-Tustari, and Bishr al-Hafi.
- Critical evaluations by al-Khatib on individual transmissions, noting inauthentic (la yasihh) or rejected (munkar) narrations and highlighting defects in their transmitters.
Publication
The extant abridgment of the work was edited by 'Amir Hasan Sabri under the title al-Muntakhab min Kitab al-Zuhd wal-Raqa'iq and published in a single volume by Dar al-Basha'ir al-Islamiyyah in Beirut in 1420 AH (2000 CE).
Answer updated