Fadail al-Quran li-Ibn al-Durays
- Author died
- 294 AH
- Editions
- Dar al-Fikr
Fada'il al-Qur'an (The Virtues of the Quran) is a third-century AH hadith treatise on the merits and sciences of the Quran by the Persian hadith scholar Ibn al-Durays (d. 294 AH / 906 CE) .
Title and Authorship
The work is commonly cited as Fada'il al-Qur'an, and appears in manuscript copies and scholarly citations under expanded descriptive titles, including Fada'il al-Qur'an wa-ma unzila min al-Qur'an bi-Makkah wa-ma nazala bi-l-Madinah (The Virtues of the Quran, What of the Quran Was Revealed in Mecca, and What Was Revealed in Medina) and Kitab Fada'il al-Qur'an wa-ma nazala bi-Makkah wa-l-Madinah wa-ma li-qari'ihi min al-thawab . Its author, Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Ayyub ibn Yahya ibn al-Durays al-Bajali al-Razi, was a prominent traditionist from Rayy who studied under classical masters such as Muslim ibn Ibrahim and Abu al-Walid al-Tayalisi . Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti counted Ibn al-Durays among the foundational early authors who dedicated separate monographs to the virtues of the Quran alongside Abu Ubayd al-Qasim ibn Sallam, Abu Bakr ibn Abi Shayba, and al-Nasa'i .
Contents and Methodology
The work is organized as a collection of narrated traditions (ahadith) and companion reports (athar) transmitted with complete chains of narration (asānīd), encompassing both the devotional merits of reciting the Quran and broader Quranic sciences .
Its subjects include:
- Upright adherence and contemplation: The duty of upholding the limits and injunctions of the Quran (iqamat hudud al-Qur'an), pondering its verses (tadabbur), and what an unlettered person recites .
- Chronology and locations of revelation: Identifying Meccan and Medinan suras, the first and last revealed passages, and the sequential order of revelation . Ibn al-Durays transmits a key report from Ibn Abbas detailing the chronological descent of eighty-six Meccan suras followed by twenty-eight Medinan suras .
- Virtues of specific chapters and verses: Narrations on the merits of individual suras and passages, such as Surat al-Fatihah, Ayat al-Kursi, Surat al-Ikhlas, Surat al-Mulk, and Surat al-Sajdah .
- Reciters and scribal practices: The standing of skilled reciters (al-mahir bi-l-Qur'an) and memorizers, the merits of reciting individual letters and verses, rulings regarding scribal markings such as ten-verse divisions (al-ta'shir) in codices, and supplications upon concluding the recitation of the Quran (khatm al-Qur'an) .
Transmission and Manuscripts
The book originally comprised three parts (ajzāʾ) and circulated through hadith transmission networks via Ibn al-Durays's student Ahmad ibn Ishaq ibn Nikhāb al-Tibi, through whom later transmitters such as Abd al-Malik ibn Muhammad ibn Bishran conveyed it .
A primary manuscript is preserved at the Zahiriyya Library in Damascus (MS 3814 / Majmu' 78) . This copy contains the first and third parts, while the second part is missing . The first part was copied in 573 AH by Abd al-Rahman ibn Ibrahim ibn Ahmad al-Maqdisi, and bears auditory certificates (samāʿāt) from the late sixth and seventh centuries AH .
Editions
The work has been published in modern scholarly editions, including:
- An edition edited by Misfar Sa'id Damas al-Ghamidi, published by Dar Hafiz in Jeddah (1408 AH / 1988 CE) .
- An edition edited by Ghazwa Budayr, published by Dar al-Fikr in Damascus .
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