Awali Hisham ibn Urwa wa Ghayrihi li Abi al-Hajjaj al-Dimashqi
- Author died
- 648 AH
- Editions
- al-Dār al-Athariyyah [within the compendium Kitāb Sulūk Ṭarīq al-Salaf wa-Sittat Ajzā’ Ukhrā]
Awali Hisham ibn Urwa wa Ghayrihi (English: High-Isnad Narrations of Hisham ibn Urwa and Others) is a hadith tract (juzʾ) compiled by the Damascene hadith scholar and historian Abu al-Hajjaj Yusuf ibn Khalil al-Dimashqi (555–648 AH / 1160–1250 CE) . The work focuses on short, elevated chains of transmission (ʿuluww al-isnād) centered primarily on the Medinese jurist and hadith authority Hisham ibn Urwa (d. 146 AH / 763 CE), alongside selected additional traditions and historical reports .
Author and Context
The compiler, Shams al-Din Abu al-Hajjaj Yusuf ibn Khalil ibn Qaraja al-Dimashqi al-Hanbali, was born in Damascus and studied hadith extensively, traveling through major learning centers including Baghdad, Isfahan, and Egypt before settling in Aleppo . Renowned for collecting elevated narrations, he assembled several focused collections (ajzāʾ), such as al-Thamaniyyat and compilations dedicated to the elevated narrations of individual masters, including Hisham ibn Urwa, al-A'mash, Abu Hanifa, and Abu Asim .
An audition certificate preserved in the text records that this tract was read aloud to Abu al-Hajjaj on Thursday, 14 Jumada al-Akhira 638 AH, in Aleppo, with Muhammad ibn Abd al-Mun'im ibn Ammar attending as a listener .
Content and Method
The collection brings together forty-one numbered narrations and reports . The predominant core of the work consists of traditions related by Hisham ibn Urwa from his father Urwa ibn al-Zubayr, mostly transmitting from the Mother of the Believers Aisha, alongside chains through Fatima bint al-Mundhir from Asma bint Abi Bakr and through Urwa from Abd Allah ibn Amr ibn al-As .
Abu al-Hajjaj's primary transmission pathways rely heavily on his Isfahan masters—such as Abu al-Hasan Mas'ud ibn Abi Mansur al-Khayyat, Khalil ibn Abi al-Raja' al-Sufi, and Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Nasr al-Saydalani—who narrated from Abu Ali al-Haddad, from the hadith master Abu Nu'aym al-Isbahani . Following several major prophetic traditions, Abu al-Hajjaj provides critical commentary: he identifies parallel chains (turuq) recorded by al-Bukhari in his Sahih al-Bukhari and by Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj in his Sahih Muslim, demonstrating that his own chains achieved a degree of elevation equivalent to hearing the narration directly alongside the authorities who transmitted to the classical compilers .
In addition to legal and theological prophetic traditions (covering topics such as ritual purity, knowledge, charity, and medicine), the latter portion of the tract contains historical, moral, and literary narratives :
- A lengthy address delivered by Aisha praising her father Abu Bakr and Umar ibn al-Khattab .
- Maxims and ascetic sayings transmitted from Bishr al-Hafi .
- Historical anecdotes and verses transmitted through the grammarian Abu al-Abbas Tha'lab, including an account of a courier sent by Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz to Constantinople .
- An anecdote on the scrupulous piety of Ahmad ibn Hanbal narrated via Ali ibn al-Madini .
Manuscripts and Publication
A manuscript of the work is preserved in the Al-Zahiriyya Library in Damascus (Majmuʿ no. 61, folios 179–194) . The text was edited by Abu Abd Allah Hamza al-Jaza'iri and published by al-Dar al-Athariyya in Jordan in 1430 AH / 2009 CE as part of a multi-tract volume titled Kitab Suluk Tariq al-Salaf wa Sab'at Ajza' Ukhra .
Answer updated