Hadith Khalid ibn Mirdas al-Sarraj
- Author died
- 231 AH
- Editions
- Manuscript published in the free program Jawāmiʿ al-Kalim affiliated with Islamweb
Hadith Khalid ibn Mirdas al-Sarraj (Juz' min Hadith Abi al-Haytham Khalid ibn Mirdas al-Sarraj) is a classical collection of Prophetic traditions and historical reports transmitted by the Baghdadi hadith scholar Khalid ibn Mirdas (d. 231 AH / 845–846 CE) .
Transmission and Authorship
The collection compiles traditions narrated by the traditionist Abu al-Haytham Khalid ibn Mirdas al-Sarraj, who lived in Baghdad and was deemed a trustworthy transmitter (thiqah) . He died in Baghdad in 231 AH, with some sources specifying the month of Sha'ban .
The primary surviving line of transmission of the text is preserved through:
- Abu al-Qasim al-Baghawi (d. 317 AH), who received the material directly from Khalid ibn Mirdas
- Isa ibn Ali ibn al-Jarrah
- Ibn al-Naqqur (Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad, d. 467 AH)
- Abu al-Fath al-Baydawi (Abd Allah ibn Muhammad, who read it in 532 AH)
- Taj al-Din Abu al-Yumn al-Kindi (Zayd ibn al-Hasan, who transmitted it in 598 AH)
Contents and Structure
The Juz' contains thirty-one numbered traditions and reports narrated through Khalid ibn Mirdas's teachers, notably Isma'il ibn 'Ayyash, Khalid ibn 'Abd Allah al-Wasiti, Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak, al-Mu'alla ibn Hilal, and al-Hakam ibn 'Umar al-Ru'ayni .
The material spans several genres and subjects:
- Legal and Ritual Traditions: Hadiths concerning prayer etiquette (such as lowering one's voice during recitation to avoid distracting other worshippers), the two voluntary units before the dawn prayer, purification, fasting, and commercial insolvency .
- Ethics and Exhortations: Prophetic sayings encouraging spreading the greeting of peace (salam), equal treatment among children in gifting, modesty, and kindness toward the disabled .
- Biographical Reports on Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz: The latter portion of the work consists of firsthand eyewitness accounts transmitted by al-Hakam ibn 'Umar al-Ru'ayni describing the Umayyad caliph Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz . These reports detail his administrative decrees, postal directives, modest attire, prayer habits, judicial rulings, letters to governors, and allocations of aid for the blind, disabled, and orphans .
Manuscripts
The text survives in manuscript form within the Majami' 'Umariyya collections held at the Zahiriyya Library in Damascus :
- Juz' min Hadith Abi al-Haytham Khalid ibn Mirdas al-Sarraj (Zahiriyya Majmu' 24, ff. 54–64, dated 577 AH) .
- An abridged selection titled Muntaqa min Hadith Khalid ibn Mirdas al-Sarraj (Zahiriyya Majmu' 85, ff. 29–35) .
Facsimiles of these manuscripts are preserved in collections including the Manuscript Library of Kuwait and Umm al-Qura University in Mecca .
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