Isbal al-Kalam ala Hadith Ibn Abbas fi al-Qiyam
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Isbal al-Kalam ala Hadith Ibn Abbas fi al-Qiyam (Pouring Forth Discourse on the Hadith of Ibn Abbas Regarding the Night Prayer) is a monograph by Ahmad al-Zuman dedicated to the exhaustive critical and jurisprudential study of the hadith narrated by Abdullah ibn Abbas concerning the Prophet's night vigil (Tahajjud) .
Background and Purpose
The book centers on the famous account in which Ibn Abbas stayed the night at the home of his maternal aunt Maymunah bint al-Harith to observe the Prophet’s night prayer . The author notes that although more than twenty transmitters narrated the incident from Ibn Abbas—with vast numbers transmitting from them in turn—their wordings diverge significantly across numerous details, including the manner of Ibn Abbas's arrival, the Prophet's ablution, the number of rak'ahs, the recitation, and the sleep intervals during the night vigil . Citing Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani's assessment that the overnight stay was a single event requiring reconciliation across variant transmissions, al-Zuman composed the work to resolve long-standing difficulties concerning reports of the Prophet sleeping during tahajjud .
The work follows the established scholarly tradition of dedicating independent treatises to single hadiths (ifrad hadith bi-l-sharh), such as works by Ibn al-Qas, al-Qadi Iyad, Salah al-Din al-Ala'i, Ibn Taymiyyah, and Muhammad ibn Ali al-Shawkani . The author derived the title metaphorically from al-sabal (pouring rain or tears), signifying copious discourse dedicated to the tradition . Al-Zuman completed the manuscript on Wednesday evening, 11 Rabi' al-Thani 1440 AH, in Buraydah in al-Qasim .
Structure and Method
The work is organized into eleven main chapters (abwab) and published in a single volume :
- Chapter 1: Documents the transmission lines (riwayat) reported from Ibn Abbas by over twenty direct narrators—including his freedman Kurayb, Sa'id ibn Jubayr, Amir al-Sha'bi, Ata ibn Abi Rabah, Mujahid ibn Jabr, and others—arranged in order of authenticity .
- Chapter 2: Provides a critical examination of conflicting reports, applying the methodology of classical hadith critics to evaluate textual variants, harmonize apparent contradictions (al-jam'), or weigh preferable readings (al-tarjih) when harmonization is not possible .
- Chapters 3 to 10: Analyze the various scholarly and legal issues (al-masa'il al-'ilmiyyah) derived from the text, including ablution practices, Quranic recitation, congregational positioning, and prayer rulings .
- Chapter 11: Gathers the broader jurisprudential, moral, and practical benefits (fawa'id) extracted from the hadith .
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