Arbaun Hadithan li Ali ibn al-Mufaddal al-Maqdisi
- Author died
- 611 AH
- Editions
- Arbaun Hadithan li Ali ibn al-Mufaddal al-Maqdisi
Arbaun Hadithan li Ali ibn al-Mufaddal al-Maqdisi (Forty Hadiths by Ali ibn al-Mufaddal al-Maqdisi) is a hadith compilation compiled by the Maliki scholar and hadith master Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn al-Mufaddal al-Maqdisi (d. 611 AH / 1214 CE) .
Background and Purpose
The work belongs to the forty-hadith genre and begins with an opening narration tracing to Ali ibn Abi Talib stating: من حفظ على أمتي أربعين حديثا ينتفعون بها بعثه الله يوم القيامة فقيها عالما ("Whoever preserves for my community forty hadiths by which they benefit, God will resurrect him on the Day of Resurrection as a jurist and a scholar") . Ibn al-Mufaddal explains in his introduction that he resolved to compile a collection of forty sacred hadiths (ahadith qudsiyyah) whose chains of transmission continuously link the Prophet ﷺ to Allah, a specific thematic compilation he had not previously encountered among earlier collections .
Method and Structure
Ibn al-Mufaddal initially gathered forty narrations from among the hadiths he personally heard from his teachers without restricting himself to stringent verification . He subsequently resolved that reliability could only be assured by selecting narrations transmitted by upright authorities whose authenticity was universally recognized . Consequently, he anchored the narrations to the two canonical collections of al-Bukhari and Muslim, harmonizing his own chains of transmission with theirs (muwafaqat) .
At the conclusion of each hadith, the author identifies who recorded it between al-Bukhari and Muslim, explicitly detailing the point where his own chain of transmission converges with theirs . The collection includes famous sacred hadiths, opening with the narration أَنَا عِنْدَ ظَنِّ عَبْدِي بِي وَأَنَا مَعَهُ حِينَ يَذْكُرُنِي ("I am as My servant thinks of Me, and I am with him when he remembers Me") transmitted through his teacher Abu Tahir al-Silafi, and followed by the narration concerning the sanctity of God's allies (hadith al-wali) .
Transmission
The work is also referenced in bibliographic traditions and transmission indexes under related titles, including al-Arbaun al-Musalsalah al-Musnadah al-Muttaṣilah and al-Musalsalat al-Arbainiyyah . An extant manuscript of the work bears an endowment note indicating that it was placed as a religious endowment (waqf) for students of sacred knowledge by al-Sayyid Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Mahruqi .
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