Bahth fi Waqt Tashri wa Nuzul Ayat Salat al-Khawf - dimn Athar al-Muallimi
- Author died
- 1386 AH
- Editions
- Dar Alam al-Fawa'id lil-Nashr wa-al-Tawzi'
Bahth fi Waqt Tashri wa Nuzul Ayat Salat al-Khawf ("An Inquiry into the Time of the Legislation and Revelation of the Verse on the Fear Prayer") is a short hadith treatise by the Yemeni scholar Abd al-Rahman al-Muallimi al-Yamani (d. 1386 AH / 1966 CE) examining the historical timing and circumstances of the Quranic revelation and prophetic legislation regarding the fear prayer (صلاة الخوف) .
Context and Scope
The treatise functions as an apparent continuation of al-Muallimi's earlier critique of the narration transmitted by Qatadah from Sulayman ibn Qays on the authority of Jabir ibn Abd Allah concerning the shortening of the prayer during fear, which is recorded in the Tafsir of al-Tabari . The apparent sense of that report indicates the initial occasion of the revelation of verse 101 of Surah al-Nisa: وَإِذَا ضَرَبْتُمْ فِي الْأَرْضِ فَلَيْسَ عَلَيْكُمْ جُنَاحٌ أَنْ تَقْصُرُوا مِنَ الصَّلَاةِ إِنْ خِفْتُمْ أَنْ يَفْتِنَكُمُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا ("And when you travel throughout the land, there is no blame upon you for shortening the prayer, if you fear that those who disbelieve may disrupt you") . Al-Muallimi previously addressed this issue at length in his treatise I'adat al-Salah ("Re-performing the Prayer"), detailing the conflicting reports on the subject and noting there that no single view stood out as definitively preponderant to him .
Method and Content
Al-Muallimi analyzes the apparent contradiction between the report of Jabir and the hadith of Abu Ayyash al-Zuraqi, which states that the verse regarding the fear prayer was revealed at Usfan between the Zuhr and Asr prayers . He examines the various routes and wordings of Abu Ayyash's narration found in the collections of Abu Dawud, al-Hakim, al-Bayhaqi, al-Nasa'i, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, and Abu Dawud al-Tayalisi .
He subsequently discusses additional reports in the chapter:
- A narration attributed to Ibn Abbas via al-Nadr Abu Umar (al-Nadr ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Khazzaz), whom al-Muallimi notes is unanimously declared weak, despite al-Hakim and al-Dhahabi grading the chain authentic .
- Two transmissions from Abu Hurayrah: one via Saeed ibn Ubayd al-Huna'i describing the encampment between Dajnan and Usfan, and another through Urwah ibn al-Zubayr from Marwan ibn al-Hakam placing the prayer in the year of the expedition to Najd .
- A narration cited in Fath al-Bari from al-Waqidi traced to Khalid ibn al-Walid at Usfan during the journey to al-Hudaybiyyah, upon which al-Muallimi remarks that al-Waqidi is not someone to be relied upon .
Through these comparisons, the author highlights the differences in how the prayer's description is depicted across the various accounts .
Transmission and Publication
The text survived in a single manuscript preserved within collective volume no. 4665 (folios 8b–9a) . It was published as the eleventh treatise within the sixteenth volume of al-Muallimi's collected works, Athar Abd al-Rahman ibn Yahya al-Muallimi al-Yamani .
Answer updated