Hadith Abi al-Qasim Afiya wa Ghayrihi li Abi Bakr ibn al-Muhandis
- Author died
- 385 AH
- Editions
- Hadith Abi al-Qasim Afiya wa Ghayrihi li Abi Bakr ibn al-Muhandis
Hadith Abi al-Qasim Afiya wa Ghayrihi (Hadith of Abu al-Qasim Afiya and Others) is a hadith notebook (juz') compiled by the Egyptian traditionist Abu Bakr Ibn al-Muhandis (d. 385 AH / 995 CE), preserving chains of transmission and prophetic narrations received from several of his teachers.
Author and Context
The compiler was Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Isma'il ibn al-Faraj al-Misri, known as Ibn al-Muhandis and also referred to as Ibn al-Banna. He was regarded as a prominent, reliable authority of transmission (musnid) in Egypt. The title page of the manuscript attributes his death to 385 AH, a date also affirmed by the hadith scholar Abu al-Qasim al-Hadrami, who described him as trustworthy and rigorous (thiqah thabt), while other biographical records note differing historical assertions regarding his dates.
Structure and Scope
The collection compiles narrations transmitted by Ibn al-Muhandis from five distinct teachers specified on the title page:
- Abu al-Qasim Afiya ibn Muhammad ibn Uthman ibn Sa'id al-Imam (d. 310 AH)
- Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn Marwan ibn Muhammad al-Maliki (d. 340 AH)
- Abu Ya'la Hamza ibn Ibrahim ibn Ayyub al-Abbasi (d. 309 AH)
- Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Abi Adi
- Abu Abd Allah al-Husayn ibn Ali al-Alawi (d. 312 AH)
The text is organized into numbered dictation sessions (majalis), including sessions dictated on Fridays following the prayer. The preserved material records traditions from Afiya ibn Muhammad, who received them from earlier Egyptian and regional scholars such as Muhammad ibn Ramh, Abu al-Tahir Ahmad ibn Amr ibn al-Sarh, Yunus ibn Abd al-A'la, al-Rabi' ibn Sulayman al-Muradi, Salama ibn Shabib, and Isa ibn Hammad Zughbah. Through these intermediaries, the chains link back to foundational authorities such as Sufyan ibn Uyaynah, al-Layth ibn Sa'd, and Malik ibn Anas.
The traditions encompass a wide range of legal and theological topics, including the rites of Hajj, obligations of ritual prayer, rules of fasting, commercial ethics, and eschatological and prophetic descriptions.
Transmission and Manuscript Tradition
The manuscript records the chain of transmission from Ibn al-Muhandis through Abu al-Hasan Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Nasr al-Warraq, known as al-Hakimi, who read the work aloud on Saturday, 28 Rabi' al-Awwal 440 AH. It includes an audition certificate (sama') documenting the hearing of Sahl ibn Bishr ibn Ahmad al-Isfarayini.
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