Hadith al-Musafaha lil-Salafi
- Author died
- 576 AH
- Editions
- Maktabat al-Ubaykan
Hadith al-Musafaha (The Hadith of the Handshake) is a short hadith tract (juz') compiled by the scholar and hadith master Abu Tahir al-Silafi (d. 576 AH / 1180 CE), transmitting a continuous, action-based (musalsal) narration concerning the physical handshake with the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ .
Content and Chain of Transmission
The booklet revolves around a single musalsal hadith where each transmitter in turn reports having shaken hands with his predecessor in the chain . The text traces back to the Companion Anas ibn Malik, who said: صافحت رسول الله ﷺ، فلم أر خزا، ولا قزا كان ألين من كف رسول الله ﷺ ("I shook hands with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and I never saw silk floss or raw silk softer than the palm of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ") .
The chain recorded by al-Silafi proceeds as follows:
- Thabit al-Bunani from Anas ibn Malik .
- Aban al-Attar from Thabit al-Bunani .
- Muhammad ibn Kamil al-Ammani (in Amman, in the region of al-Balqa in the Levant) from Aban al-Attar .
- Abu Ghanim Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Zakariyya (from the villages of Najd) from Muhammad ibn Kamil .
- Abu al-Abbas al-Hasan ibn Sa'id ibn Ja'far al-Muqri' al-Mutatwwi'i (in Firuzabad) from Abu Ghanim .
- Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Abd Allah ibn Bakuwayh al-Shirazi (in Nishapur, in the year 428 AH) from Abu al-Abbas .
- Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Zangawayh al-Zanjawi (in Zanjan) from Ibn Bakuwayh .
- Abu Tahir al-Silafi from al-Zanjawi .
Later transmission documentation records that Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Abd al-Samad al-Sakhawi and Abu al-Fadl Ja'far ibn Ali ibn Abi al-Barakat al-Hamadani heard and received the handshake from al-Silafi, and were both heard in Rajab 635 AH by Abu Hamid Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Mahmud al-Mahmudi al-Sabuni, who shook hands with both of them .
Publication
The tract was edited by Muhammad Ziyad Umar Tuklah and published in Riyadh by Maktabat al-Ubaykan (first edition, 1421 AH / 2001 CE) as part of a collective compilation of nineteen traditional hadith treatises titled Jamharat al-Ajza' al-Hadithiyya .
Answer updated