Majlis Imla fi Ruyat Allah Taala li al-Daqqaq
- Author died
- 516 AH
- Editions
- Maktabat al-Rushd, Sharīkat al-Riyāḍ lil-Nashr wal-Tawzīʿ
Majlis Imla fi Ruyat Allah Taala (Dictation Session on the Vision of God Almighty) is a specialized hadith dictation text by the Persian traditionist and hafiz Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahid al-Daqqaq (d. 516 AH / 1122 CE), devoted to the theological affirmation of the Beatific Vision (ru'yat Allah) .
Background and Author
The author, Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahid ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Isfahani al-Daqqaq, was born in the Jarwa'an quarter of Isfahan during the 430s AH . He was known among students as al-Daqqaq, an epithet explained either as deriving from his close friendship with Abu Ali al-Daqqaq or from his saying, "I crush (aduqqu) the heads of innovators" . He began receiving hadith transmissions in 447 AH from prominent scholars of Isfahan, including Abu al-Qasim Abd al-Rahman ibn Mandah, al-Khatib Abd Allah ibn Shabib al-Dabbi, Ahmad ibn al-Fadl al-Batirqani, Said al-Ayyar, and Abu al-Fadl Abd al-Rahman ibn Ahmad al-Razi .
In 466 AH, al-Daqqaq embarked on extensive travels across Khurasan and Transoxiana, studying in Nishapur, Tus, Sarakhs, Merv, Herat, Balkh, Gorgan, Bukhara, Samarkand, and Kirman, though he never entered Iraq . He transcribed hadith from more than one thousand scholars in Isfahan and over another thousand during his travels, hearing from six hundred teachers in Herat and Nishapur alone . He was characterized as a prolific, pious, and strictly adherent Athari traditionist . He died on 6 Shawwal 516 AH .
Subject and Character
The work represents a single dictation gathering (majlis imla'), a standard pedagogic genre in traditional hadith transmission wherein a master recited selected narrations along with their complete chains of transmission (asānīd) to an assembly of scribes and students. Thematically, the text focuses on ru'yat Allah ta'ala—the theological doctrine concerning the believers' vision of God on the Day of Resurrection and in the Hereafter, an issue of longstanding debate between traditionalist hadith scholars and rationalist theological schools .
Transmission and Students
Al-Daqqaq's dictations and transmissions were related by a number of notable 6th-century AH traditionists, including the renowned traveler and bibliophile Abu Tahir al-Silafi, Abu Sa'd Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahid al-Sa'igh, Abu Musa Muhammad ibn Umar al-Madini, and Khalil ibn Badr al-Rarani .
Answer updated