Hadith Bishr ibn Matar
- Author died
- 262 AH
- Editions
- Manuscript published in the free program 'Jawami' al-Kalim' affiliated with Islamweb
Hadith Bishr ibn Matar (The Transmissions of Bishr ibn Matar) is a hadith tract (juz') preserving the transmissions of the Iraqi hadith scholar Bishr ibn Matar al-Daqqaq (d. 262 AH / 875–876 CE), consisting primarily of narrations received from Sufyan ibn 'Uyaynah and Waki' ibn al-Jarrah .
Transmission and Provenance
The surviving text represents the third part (al-Juz' al-Thalith) of the broader collection of Bishr ibn Matar's transmissions . The text was transmitted from Bishr ibn Matar by Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Ja'far ibn Ahmad al-Sayrafi al-Matiri, and from him by the Quran reader Abu Ahmad 'Ubayd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn al-Faradi . It was subsequently transmitted by Abu Muhammad Ahmad ibn 'Ali ibn al-Hasan ibn Muhammad ibn 'Amr ibn al-Musabb al-Maqdisi, who taught and auditioned the work at the Ruwaym al-Kabir Mosque by Nahr al-Qallayin in western Baghdad on Tuesday, 3 Ramadan 470 AH (1078 CE), with a further reading documented in Jumada al-Ula 471 AH (1078 CE) .
Contents and Structure
The preserved third part contains 46 traditions comprising both prophetic hadiths (marfu') and companion and successor reports (athar), arranged under two principal source divisions :
- Narrations from Sufyan ibn 'Uyaynah: This section forms the bulk of the tract (traditions 1–41) . It features narrations transmitted by Ibn 'Uyaynah from early authorities such as Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri, 'Amr ibn Dinar, Ibn Abi Najih, Ibrahim ibn Maysarah, Mis'ar, Sulayman al-A'mash, and Hisham ibn 'Urwah . The subjects addressed include the waiting period of the widow Subay'ah al-Aslamiyyah, standing for funeral corteges, pilgrimage rituals and prohibitions in the state of ihram, nighttime supplications, the virtues and asceticism of Khabbab ibn al-Aratt, fasting intentions before dawn, and prohibitions issued at Khaybar against temporary marriage (nikah al-mut'ah) and consuming domestic donkey meat .
- Narrations from Waki' ibn al-Jarrah: Introduced under a specific heading (wa-min hadith Bishr 'an Waki' ibn al-Jarrah), this section contains traditions 42–46 . It includes juristic reports transmitted by Waki' from figures such as Sufyan al-Thawri, Abu al-Miqdam, Abu al-'Umays, and al-A'mash, discussing legal acknowledgement of paternity (iqrar) and mutual imprecation (li'an), triple divorce, praying in the Mosque of Kufa, water rights among irrigators, and the number of takbirs recited on the pulpit during Eid .
Author and Transmission Background
The compiler, Abu Ahmad Bishr ibn Matar ibn Thabit al-Daqqaq al-Wasiti, was an Iraqi hadith transmitter originally from Wasit who settled in Samarra (Surra Man Ra'a) and transmitted hadith there and in Baghdad . In addition to Sufyan ibn 'Uyaynah and Waki' ibn al-Jarrah, he narrated from teachers including Muhammad ibn Yazid al-Wasiti, Yazid ibn Harun, and Ishaq al-Azraq .
Among those who transmitted from him were al-Hasan ibn 'Ali al-Ma'mari, Yahya ibn Sa'id, Isma'il ibn al-'Abbas al-Warraq, Yusuf ibn Ya'qub ibn al-Buhlul, Muhammad ibn Makhlad, Abu al-'Abbas al-Athram, and Muhammad ibn Ja'far al-Matiri . In biographical evaluation, Abu Hatim al-Razi characterized him as truthful (saduq), and al-Daraqutni declared him trustworthy (thiqah) . Ibn Hibban included him in al-Thiqat while noting that he sometimes made errors and diverged in transmission (yukhthi'u wa-yukhalif) . Muhammad ibn Makhlad recorded his death in 262 AH (875–876 CE), whereas Ibn Qani' placed it in 259 AH (872–873 CE) .
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