Bahth fi Hadith Muadh ibn Jabal fi Salatihi bi Qawmihi - dimn Athar al-Muallimi
- Author died
- 1386 AH
- Editions
- Dār ‘Ālam al-Fawā’id lil-Nashr wa-al-Tawzī‘
Bahth fi Hadith Muadh ibn Jabal fi Salatihi bi Qawmihi (بحث في حديث معاذ بن جبل في صلاته بقومه; Research on the Hadith of Muadh ibn Jabal Leading His People in Prayer) is a short legal-hadith treatise by the Yemeni scholar Abd al-Rahman al-Muallimi al-Yamani (1306–1386 AH / 1894–1966 CE) . Published as part of his collected works (Athar al-Muallimi), it analyzes the famous narration of Jabir ibn Abd Allah concerning Muadh ibn Jabal leading his people in prayer and evaluates various Hanafi legal interpretations of the report .
Subject Matter and Arguments
The treatise investigates the background and legal implications of the report in which Muadh prayed behind the Prophet ﷺ and then returned to his clan, Banu Salima, to lead them in the same prayer . Al-Muallimi explains that the congregation's complaint against Muadh stemmed from two issues: his delay in arriving to lead them—having already prayed with the Prophet ﷺ—and his lengthy recitation once the prayer began . The Prophet ﷺ instructed him to eliminate this hardship by easing the burden on his people through arriving earlier, shortening his recitation, or stepping down from leading them if he insisted on lengthy prayers .
Al-Muallimi devotes a section of the work to refuting various Hanafi arguments and interpretations regarding the incident . He addresses interpretations discussed by classical scholars such as al-Tahawi, as well as modern South Asian Hanafi figures including Shabbir Ahmad al-Uthmani and Anwar Shah al-Kashmiri . In particular, he critiques the claim that the ruling was abrogated by subsequent general commands concerning following the imam, as well as the hypothesis that Muadh had prayed the Maghrib prayer with the Prophet ﷺ and merely led his clan in the Isha prayer . Al-Muallimi demonstrates that the Prophet's tacit approval affirmed the validity of an imam leading an obligatory prayer while intending a voluntary prayer himself .
Manuscript and Textual Status
The original manuscript of the treatise is preserved within a composite collection (majmu') at the Library of the Holy Mosque in Mecca (shelf mark 4665, folios 6a–8b) . The manuscript exhibits wear around some edges; it is written in a fine script, with portions penned in pencil .
The surviving text appears to be incomplete at both the beginning and the end . It opens abruptly mid-sentence with an analysis referring back to earlier remarks, and later in the text the author mentions points to be discussed subsequently that do not appear in the extant folios . The editors note that related material found in another of al-Muallimi's treatises, I'adat al-Salah (إعادة الصلاة; Repeating the Prayer), may correspond to or supplement what is missing from this text .
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