Fadail al-Quran - Abu Ubayd
- Author died
- 224 AH
- Editions
- Dār Ibn Kathīr
Fada'il al-Qur'an (The Merits of the Qur'an) by Abu Ubayd al-Qasim ibn Sallam (d. 224 AH / 838 CE) is an early classical compendium devoted to the virtues, recitations, and disciplines of the Qur'an.
Scope and Structure
Although titled around the virtues of scripture, the work functions as a broader treatise on Qur'anic sciences (ulum al-Qur'an). Abu Ubayd arranges the material into thematic sections that address:
- Virtues of the Qur'an and its Reciters: Opening with the merits of learning, teaching, reciting, adhering to, and honoring the Qur'an, as well as the virtues of specific chapters and verses (fada'il al-suwar wa-l-ayat).
- Etiquette and Legal Rulings: Covering rules of recitation (ahkam al-qira'ah), traveling with the Qur'an, forgetting memorized portions, using recitation for financial gain (al-ta'akkul bihi), pedantry (al-tanattu'), and legal rulings governing codices (ahkam al-masahif).
- Textual History and Revelation: Discussing the compilation of the Qur'an (ta'lif al-Qur'an), reading variants (huruf al-qira'at), abrogation (al-nasikh wa-l-mansukh), Meccan and Medinan revelations (al-Makki wa-l-Madani), and the first and last revealed verses.
- Hermeneutics: Addressing interpretation based purely on personal opinion (al-ta'wil bi-l-ra'y) and citing stern warnings against it.
The text opens through the chain of Hajjaj ibn Muhammad from Shu'bah ibn al-Hajjaj from Alqamah ibn Marthad from Sa'd ibn Ubaydah from Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami from Uthman ibn Affan that the Prophet ﷺ said: إن أفضلكم من تعلم القرآن وعلمه ("The best among you is the one who learns the Qur'an and teaches it").
Transmission and Manuscripts
The book was primarily transmitted from Abu Ubayd by his direct pupil Ali ibn Abd al-Aziz al-Baghawi (al-Makki). It was recorded across classical transmission indices (faharis) and bibliographical works—such as those of Ibn Khayr al-Ishbili, Salah al-Din al-Ala'i (who described it as comprising four parts), and Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani—through lines descending from Ali ibn Abd al-Aziz.
A notable surviving manuscript copy is preserved in the Zahiriyya Library in Damascus (MS 7615). This manuscript was transcribed facing the Kaaba in Mecca on Sunday, 15 Ramadan 689 AH, by Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Uthman al-Shafi'i, copied from an earlier exemplar dated 484 AH. In modern times, the work has been edited and published, including an edition prepared by Muhammad Tijani Jawhari.
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