Jawab Bad al-Khadam li-Ahl al-Niam an Tashif Hadith Ihtajam
- Author died
- 909 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Bashāʼir al-Islāmīyah
Jawab Bad al-Khadam li-Ahl al-Niam an Tashif Hadith Ihtajam (Arabic: جواب بعض الخدم لأهل النعم عن تصحيف حديث احتجم, lit. 'The Response of Some Servants to the People of Grace Concerning the Misreading of the Hadith "He was Cupped"') is a specialized hadith monograph by the Damascene Hanbali scholar Ibn al-Mubarrad (840/841–909 AH / 1436–1503 CE) devoted to refuting and analyzing a famous textual misreading (taṣḥīf) occurring in a prophetic tradition .
Subject Matter and Critical Analysis
The treatise addresses a narration transmitted through Abd Allah ibn Lahi'a claiming that the Prophet ﷺ "was cupped in the mosque" (iḥtajama fī al-masjid) . Ibn al-Mubarrad demonstrates that hadith authorities explicitly identified this text as a grave misreading of the text (taṣḥīf al-mutūn) involving letters that should not be readily confused (taṣḥīf mā lā yashtabih) . He clarifies that the correct wording is that the Prophet ﷺ "partitioned off an enclosure in the mosque" (iḥtajara fī al-masjid) using a mat to pray in .
The work details how the distortion originated when Ibn Lahi'a received the narration from the written book of Musa ibn 'Uqba without direct oral audition or verification . In addition to the textual distortion in the wording, Ibn al-Mubarrad analyzes the chain of transmission (isnād), showing that Ibn Lahi'a omitted Salim Abu al-Nadr from between Musa ibn 'Uqba and Busr ibn Sa'id . To establish the correct reading, the author traces sound transmission lines reported by reliable transmitters, including paths through Wuhayb ibn Khalid, Abd al-Aziz ibn Mukhtar, and Abd Allah ibn Sa'id ibn Abi Hind from Zayd ibn Thabit .
Manuscripts and Publication
An autograph manuscript copied in Ibn al-Mubarrad's own hand, dated 890 AH and comprising around 11 folios, is preserved in the Zahiriyya Library in Damascus (within compendium MS 3776/1, also cataloged as Majmu' 39) . The text was edited by Muhammad Sabah Mansur and published by Dar al-Basha'ir al-Islamiyyah in Beirut in 1424 AH (2003 CE) in a 49-page volume .
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