Kitab fi ilm al-hadith lil-Dani
- Author died
- 444 AH
- Editions
- Manuscript published in the free Jawami al-Kalim program affiliated with the Islamweb website
Kitab fi ilm al-hadith lil-Dani (A Book on the Science of Hadith by al-Dani), also titled Juz' fi ulum al-hadith fi bayan al-muttasil wal-mursal wal-mawquf wal-munqati', is a concise treatise on hadith terminology and classification by the Andalusian scholar Abu Amr al-Dani (371–444 AH / 981–1053 CE) .
Purpose and Composition
Al-Dani composed the treatise in response to students and inquirers who requested an explanation of the methods of transmitting traditions (tariq naql al-athar) and the technical distinctions between connected (musnad muttasil), hurried or interrupted (mursal), halted (mawquf), and broken (munqati') reports . The work was intended to provide students with the foundational criteria needed to understand narrations appearing in compilations such as Malik ibn Anas's al-Muwatta' and other hadith collections . Al-Dani adopted an abridged method (ikhtisar), providing concrete illustrative examples with his own chains of transmission for each category, and appended a detailed classification of the types and ranks of narrators who practiced concealment (tadlis) .
Contents and Structure
The book is arranged into sequential thematic chapters:
- Connected Reports (al-Masanid min al-athar wa-taqsimiha): Defines the fully connected report (musnad muttasil) as a narration transmitted by a narrator from a teacher from whom audition is established at a viable age, continuing through the chain up to the Companion and the Prophet ﷺ . It clarifies transmission formulas (haddathana, akhbarana, anba'ana, sami'na) and terms that disrupt continuity (such as ukhbirtu 'an or balaghani 'an) . It treats mu'an'an chains (narrated with 'an) as connected by scholarly consensus if contemporary meeting is established and the transmitter is free of tadlis . Statements by Companions indicating established practice—such as "we used to do" or "we were commanded"—as well as Companion statements concerning matters of the unseen that cannot be derived by personal reasoning (ra'y), are classified as connected reports with the ruling of prophetic attribution .
- Hurried Reports (al-Mursal min al-athar wa-tafsilih): Outlines reports where a Successor cites the Prophet ﷺ directly without naming the intermediate Companion, noting differences between the general Kufan terminology and scholars such as Ali ibn al-Madini, who designated narrations omitted by the followers of the Successors as mu'dal . It distinguishes between manifest mursal and hidden mursal, where an isnad appears outwardly connected but contains unstated gaps between figures who did not hear from one another .
- Halted Reports (al-Mawquf fi al-athar wa-anwa'ih): Details statements and actions attributed to Companions, dividing them into clear and subtle forms . It discusses Companion interpretations of the Qur'an, noting that while general interpretations are counted as mawquf, narrations stating specific occasions of revelation (asbab al-nuzul) carry the status of musnad . It also analyzes reports that are mursal prior to the Companion, and mawquf chains that other transmitters successfully elevated to prophetic attribution .
- Severed and Broken Reports (al-Maqtu' / al-Munqati' min al-athar wa-tamthilih): Treats statements of Successors and isnads containing unnamed intermediaries (rajul), noting cases where one transmitter leaves a narrator anonymous while another identifies him by name, thereby restoring its connectivity .
- Concealment in Narration (Ahwal al-mudallisin): Cites early criticisms of tadlis from figures such as Shu'bah ibn al-Hajjaj and Yazid ibn Zuray', and classifies tadlis into six distinct categories: concealing from trustworthy figures; narrating without explicit hearing from teachers one has met; narrating from unknown individuals; altering the names and agnomens of discredited narrators to disguise them; concealing narrations missed from a shaykh from whom one otherwise heard extensively; and narrating from figures one never met or heard from . Al-Dani notes that tadlis was absent among the scholars of the Hijaz, Egypt, Khurasan, Isfahan, the Maghrib, Qayrawan, and al-Andalus, occurring primarily among Kufan transmitters and a few in Basra, while none of Baghdad's scholars practiced it except for what was reported regarding Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Sulayman al-Baghandi .
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