Hadith al-Ifk li Abd al-Ghani al-Maqdisi
- Author died
- 600 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Bashā’ir
Hadith al-Ifk (The Narrative of the Slander) is a specialized hadith monograph (juz' hadithi) compiled by the Hanbali traditionist Abd al-Ghani al-Maqdisi (541–600 AH / 1146–1203 CE), gathering the transmission paths and text variants of the narration concerning the slander against Aisha bint Abi Bakr .
Subject and Contents
The monograph focuses on Hadith al-Ifk, one of the lengthy and prominent narrative reports in the prophetic tradition, which recounts the false accusation leveled against Aisha during a military campaign and her subsequent exoneration through Quranic revelation . Dedicated treatises on this narration were part of a broader genre of single-hadith monographs, with earlier works composed on the same event by scholars such as al-Dayraquli (d. 278 AH) and Abu Bakr al-Ajurri (d. 360 AH) . A manuscript witness records that al-Maqdisi designated the work as an endowment (waqf) for all Muslims .
Method and Transmission
Al-Maqdisi compiled the report through his own chains of transmission (asānīd) across multiple routes (ṭuruq), presenting varied wordings (alfāẓ) and textual additions (ziyādāt) preserved across different lines of transmission . Among the primary transmission lines in the treatise are:
- The combined narration of Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri from Urwa ibn al-Zubayr, Sa'id ibn al-Musayyab, Alqama ibn Waqqas, and Ubayd Allah ibn Abd Allah ibn Utba from Aisha .
- The transmission of Hisham ibn Urwa from his father from Aisha .
- The transmission through Miqsam from Aisha, recorded via al-Tabarani .
Alongside the chains, al-Maqdisi provides critical commentary on the narrations, grading reports as sound (ṣaḥīḥ), identifying parallel transmissions in the compilations of al-Bukhari and Muslim, and listing other traditionists who transmitted the report from key authorities .
Editions
The work has been published in modern editions:
- Edited by Hisham al-Saqqa, published by 'Alam al-Kutub in Riyadh (1405 AH / 1985 CE, 80 pages), featuring supplementary chapters on variants from al-Dayraquli's treatise and analytical commentary extracted from scholars such as Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, al-Iraqi, and Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani .
- Edited by Ibrahim Salih, published by Dar al-Basha'ir in Damascus (1994 CE) as part of the Nawadir al-Rasa'il series (nos. 9–10), issued together in one volume with al-Maqdisi's Min Manaqib al-Nisa' al-Sahabiyyat .
Answer updated