Hadithan Ahaduhuma fi Fadl Rajab li Abi Mashar al-Tabari
- Author died
- 478 AH
- Editions
- Mu’assasat al-Rayyān
Hadithan Ahaduhuma fi Fadl Rajab (A Tract Containing Two Hadiths, One of Them on the Virtue of Rajab) is a short hadith treatise transmitted on the authority of the Shafi'i Quranic reciter Abu Ma'shar al-Tabari (d. 478 AH / 1085 CE), recording two distinct prophetic traditions with their complete chains of transmission.
Transmission
The tract preserves the transmission of Abu Ma'shar 'Abd al-Karim ibn 'Abd al-Samad al-Tabari, who dictated these narrations in Amul in 428 AH. It was transmitted from him by Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn 'Ali ibn al-Husayn al-Turaythithi, to whom it was read by Abu Bakr ibn al-Khadibah in the month of Rajab in 483 AH while Abu 'Abd Allah al-Husayn ibn 'Ali al-Shalanji al-Khayyat listened. From al-Shalanji, the tract was transmitted by Abu al-Yumn al-Kindi, with an audition (sama') noted for Isma'il ibn 'Abd Allah Ibn al-Anmati.
Contents
The collection contains two hadiths with full isnads:
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The Virtue of Rajab and Salat al-Ragha'ib: Transmitted through the chain of 'Ali ibn 'Abd Allah ibn Jahdam al-Hamadani from 'Ali ibn Sa'id al-Basri, from his father, from Khalaf ibn 'Ubayd Allah al-San'ani, from Humayd al-Tawil, from Anas ibn Malik. The text opens with the Prophet's statement: رَجَبُ شَهْرُ اللَّهِ وَشَعْبَانُ شَهْرِي وَرَمَضَانُ شَهْرُ أُمَّتِي ("Rajab is the month of Allah, Sha'ban is my month, and Ramadan is the month of my community"). It details the sanctity of Rajab, the preservation of blood, and the repentance of prophets therein, and describes the nocturnal prayer known as Salat al-Ragha'ib on the first night of the month. The report specifies its invocations in prostration, such as repeating seventy times: رَبِّ اغْفِرْ وَارْحَمْ وَتَجَاوَزْ عَمَّا تَعْلَمُ فإِنَّكَ أَنْتَ العلي الأَعْظَمُ ("My Lord, forgive, have mercy, and overlook that which You know, for You are the Exalted, the Greatest"). It promises comprehensive forgiveness of sins, intercession for seven hundred relatives destined for Hellfire, and describes the personified reward of the prayer consoling the worshiper in the grave until the Day of Resurrection.
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The Virtues of Friday and Expiation of Sins: Transmitted by Abu Ma'shar from al-Hasan ibn al-Ash'ath al-Manbiji in Manbij, from 'Uthman ibn Ibrahim al-Tarsusi in Ma'arrat al-Nu'man, from a reading to Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Sallam al-Tarsusi in 336 AH, from 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad ibn Sallam, from Bashir ibn Zadhan, from 'Umar ibn Subayh, from Abu Hashim al-Wasiti, from Abu Raja' al-'Utaridi, from Abu Bakr al-Siddiq. In this report, a man inquires about the five daily prayers and Friday prayer serving as expiations for minor sins between them when major sins are avoided. The Prophet affirms this and adds that ritual washing (ghusl) and walking to Friday prayer serve as expiations, stating that every step is equivalent to two hundred years of night prayer and daytime fasting, and that performing the Friday prayer according to the Sunnah earns the reward of two hundred years of worship.
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