Fawaid Abi Ahmad al-Hakim
- Author died
- 378 AH
- Editions
- Dār Ibn Ḥazm
Fawaid Abi Ahmad al-Hakim (The Hadith Benefits of Abu Ahmad al-Hakim) is a hadith collection compiled by the traditionist Abu Ahmad al-Hakim (285–378 AH / 898–988 CE), gathering select narrations and transmitted reports received from his teachers across various scholarly centers .
Content and Scope
The work belongs to the fawaid genre of hadith literature, in which traditionists assembled selected narrations, noteworthy transmissions, and chains of authority from their teachers. The collection presents prophetic traditions and companion reports documented with full chains of transmission (isnad) from authorities in regions the compiler visited, including Baghdad, Harran, Aleppo, Wasit, and Damascus . The narrated texts cover legal rulings, theological issues such as divine decree, moral conduct, and virtues of good deeds .
Transmission and Extant Parts
The original compilation spanned multiple individual notebooks or fascicles (ajza'). Medieval scholars recorded receiving and transmitting various sections of the work:
- Salah al-Din al-Ala'i recorded holding chains of transmission for four parts of the collection—the fourth, fifth, tenth, and eleventh parts .
- Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani cited his transmission of the fourth part in his catalog al-Mu'jam al-Mufahras .
- Al-Suyuti listed the work and its transmission chain in Anshab al-Kathab fi Ansab al-Kutub .
A central transmission route for these parts passed from Abu Ahmad al-Hakim to his student Abu Sa'd Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Kanjarudhi, then to Zahir ibn Tahir al-Shahhami, and subsequently to Zaynab bint Abd al-Rahman al-Sha'ri .
The surviving tenth and eleventh parts were edited and published under the title Ma Ittasala Ilayna min Fawaid Abi Ahmad al-Hakim by Ahmad ibn Faris al-Sallum, issued in a single volume by Dar Ibn Hazm in 1425 AH / 2004 CE . The manuscript transmission of the surviving eleventh part was derived from a copy transcribed in the hand of the Damascene traditionist al-Birzali .
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