Balaghat Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri wa Idrajatuhu fi al-Kutub al-Sitta
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- Balaghat Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri wa Idrajatuhu fi al-Kutub al-Sitta
Balaghat Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri wa Idrajatuhu fi al-Kutub al-Sitta (The Unconnected Reports and Textual Interpolations of Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri in the Six Books) is a contemporary hadith study by Abd al-Hamid Shaykhun (completed 1438 AH / 2017 CE), examining the reports transmitted without full chains (balaghat) and the textual insertions (idrajat) attributed to Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri in the Six Books of hadith .
Background and Purpose
The work was originally prepared as a doctoral dissertation in Islamic Studies in the Department of Arabic Language and Literature at the Faculty of Arts, Alexandria University, under the supervision of Nahed Ahmad al-Sha'rawi and Majida Ahmad Sulayman .
Shaykhun sought to compile, document, and analyze the narrations where al-Zuhri used phrases denoting unconnected transmission—such as "it reached me" (balaghani) or "it was mentioned to me" (dhukira li)—as well as instances of explanatory commentary or narrative additions inserted into prophetic hadiths . The author's stated objectives were to distinguish the speech of the Prophet ﷺ from al-Zuhri's own words in the Six Books, trace connected chains of transmission (wasl) for those balaghat where available, clarify the causes behind al-Zuhri's omission of links (irsal), and identify his motives for interpolating text into narrations . In his review of prior literature, Shaykhun noted an earlier article by Samiha Hasan al-Aswad on al-Zuhri's balaghat and idrajat limited to Sahih al-Bukhari, which he evaluated and expanded upon by encompassing the entire corpus of the Six Books with comprehensive sourcing and authentication .
Structure and Contents
The study consists of an introduction, a preparatory chapter, four core chapters, a conclusion outlining its primary findings, and various indices :
- Preparatory Chapter: Introduces technical definitions and principles governing balaghat and interpolated hadiths (al-hadith al-mudraj) .
- Chapter One: A biographical study of Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri spanning four sections: his life narrative, his creed, his scholarly status, and an examination of his mursal narrations alongside the claim of tadlis (obfuscation of transmission) attributed to him .
- Chapter Two: Al-Zuhri's balaghat across six sections dedicated respectively to Sahih al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, Sunan Abi Dawud, Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Sunan al-Nasa'i, and Sunan Ibn Majah . The author notes that he found no balaghat by al-Zuhri in Sunan Ibn Majah .
- Chapter Three: Al-Zuhri's idrajat across six sections covering each of the Six Books in the same order .
- Chapter Four: A two-part analysis of the reasons for irsal and the motives for idraj in al-Zuhri's narrations .
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