Hawatif al-Jinan lil-Kharaiti
- Author died
- 327 AH
- Editions
- Dar al-Basha'ir lil-Tiba'ah wal-Nashr wal-Tawzi'
Hawatif al-Jinan (also titled Hawatif al-Jan wa-Ajib ma Yuhka an al-Kuhhan) is a specialized compilation of hadith and historical accounts by the traditionist Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Jafar al-Kharaiti (d. 327 AH / 939 CE), documenting reports of disembodied voices of the jinn (hawatif) and pronouncements of pre-Islamic diviners and soothsayers (kuhhan) heralding the coming and prophethood of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ .
Title and Subject Matter
The work is recorded under several related titles in manuscript and biographical literature, including Hawatif al-Jinan, Hawatif al-Jan wa-Aja'ib ma Yuhka an al-Kuhhan, and the fuller title Hawatif al-Jan wa-Ajib ma Yuhka an al-Kuhhan mimman Bashshara bi-al-Nabiyy bi-Wadih al-Burhan ("The Voices of the Jinn and the Wonders Related from Soothsayers Who Bore Glad Tidings of the Prophet with Clear Proof") .
The book belongs to the literature of prophetic portents and the proofs of prophethood (dala'il al-nubuwwa), focusing on voices from the unseen heard by pre-Islamic Arabs, messages spoken from idols, encounters with desert spirits, and foretellings attributed to figures such as Satih and Shiqq announcing the advent of the final prophet .
Method and Structure
Al-Kharaiti composed the work as a slender monograph containing twenty-three reports, most of which are extensive, detailed narratives . In keeping with his methodology across his other compilations, he records these accounts using full, continuous chains of transmission (asanid) reaching back to early authorities, Companions, and historical figures .
Transmission and Reception
The book circulated among scholars in Syria with elevated transmissions . Abu Sad al-Samani noted in al-Ansab that the text was transmitted in Damascus via short chains of transmission (‘aliyan), where it had been taught by Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn al-Muslim .
Later historians, biographers, and hadith scholars drew extensively upon al-Kharaiti's narrations in their treatises on the life and miracles of the Prophet, as well as works on the unseen world, including citations by Ibn Kathir and Badr al-Din al-Shibli . At the same time, critics have highlighted that a number of these narratives contain elaborate rhymed prose (saj') and folkloric elements characteristic of pre-Islamic divinatory accounts, occasionally transmitted through suspect or fabricated chains such as those involving Abd Allah ibn Muhammad al-Balawi and Umara ibn Zayd .
Manuscripts and Editions
Manuscript copies of the work are preserved in repositories such as the Zahiriyya Library in Damascus . The book has been edited and published in print, including an edition edited by Ibrahim Salih (Mu’assasat al-Risala, 1407 AH) and an edition edited by Muhammad Ahmad Abd al-Aziz (Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyya, 1409 AH / 1989 CE) .
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