Juz Ibn Nujayd
- Author died
- 366 AH
- Editions
- Dar al-Ilmiyya · t Jarrar
Juz Ibn Nujayd (Juzʾ Ibn Nujayd) is a specialized hadith compilation (juzʾ) compiled by the Khurasanian scholar and Sufi ascetic Abu Amr Ismail ibn Nujayd al-Sulami (272–365 AH / 885–976 CE; another report gives 366 AH / 977 CE) . It gathers a selection of prophetic traditions narrated through his personal teachers, and it achieved prominence in traditional hadith circles due to its short and elevated chains of transmission (ʿuluww al-isnad) .
Author and Content
The author, Abu Amr Ismail ibn Nujayd ibn Ahmad ibn Yusuf ibn Khalid al-Sulami al-Naysaburi, was a resident of Nishapur who spent his wealth supporting scholars and ascetics and died in Mecca (or Nishapur) at the age of ninety-three . He was also the maternal grandfather of the Sufi biographer Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami .
In this collection, Ibn Nujayd assembled hadiths that he personally heard from prominent third-century AH traditionists in Iraq and Khurasan . His direct authorities in the work include:
- Abu Muslim al-Kajji
- Abd Allah ibn Ahmad ibn Hanbal
- Muhammad ibn Ayyub al-Razi (Ibn Durays)
- Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Bushanji
- Ibrahim ibn Abi Talib
- Ibn Khuzaymah
- Yusuf ibn Ya'qub al-Qadi
- Ali ibn al-Husayn ibn al-Junayd al-Razi
The texts encompass varied subjects of legal and moral import, such as prayer, fasting, pilgrimage rituals, etiquette, and ethical teachings .
Transmission and Reception
The entire collection was preserved through a single direct student of Ibn Nujayd, the ascetic and transmitter Abu Hafs Umar ibn Ahmad ibn Masrur al-Naysaburi (358–448 AH) . Following Ibn Masrur's death, transmission branched through three main students in Khurasan:
- Muhammad ibn al-Fadl al-Farawi (d. 530 AH), who transmitted it to al-Mu'ayyad ibn Muhammad al-Tusi (d. 617 AH) .
- Abu Muhammad Ismail ibn Abi al-Qasim al-Qari (d. 531 AH), who transmitted it to the female scholar Zaynab bint Abd al-Rahman al-Sha'ri (d. 615 AH) .
- Tamim ibn Abi Sa'id al-Jurjani (d. 531 AH), who transmitted it to Abu Rawh Abd al-Mu'izz ibn Muhammad al-Harawi (d. 618 AH) .
Due to these concise lines of transmission reaching back through late-living centenarians, the work was regularly sought after by later hadith masters seeking elevated transmission chains . Al-Dhahabi remarked regarding the text: "He has a juzʾ that is among the most elevated of what we heard" (وله جزء من أعلى ما سمعناه) . Al-Tujibi described it in his catalogue (Barnamaj) as "a fine part, exceedingly elevated" (جزء حسن عال بمرة) . The transmission of the work is documented in major biographical dictionaries and transmission indexes, including Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani's al-Mu'jam al-mufahras and al-Majma' al-mu'assas, Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti's Ansab al-kutub, al-Wadi Ashi's Barnamaj, and Ibn Tulun's al-Fihrist al-awsat .
Manuscripts and Publication
Manuscript copies of the work have survived in several collections, including:
- Köprülü Library, Istanbul (MS 1584/3, fols. 26–30) .
- Şehid Ali Pasha Library, Istanbul (MS 546/10, fols. 137–144) .
- Egyptian National Library and Archives (Dar al-Kutub al-Misriyya), Cairo (Hadith MS 1558, fols. 235–246) .
The work was critically edited by Nabil Sa'd al-Din Jarrar and published as part of a collection of hadith treatises (Majami' al-ajza' al-hadithiyyah) by Dar Arwiqa in Amman .
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