Majlis li Abi Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami
- Author died
- 412 AH
- Editions
- Manuscript published in the free Jawāmiʿ al-Kalim program affiliated with Islamweb
Majlis li-Abi Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami (A Dictation Session of Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami) is a short hadith compilation (juz') dictated by the Nishapuri Sufi and hadith scholar Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami (d. 412 AH / 1021 CE) .
Composition and Transmission
The compilation records a single hadith dictation session (imla') held by al-Sulami in his residence in Nishapur on the first of Rajab, 410 AH .
The primary transmission of the text stems from his student Abu Abd Allah al-Qasim ibn al-Fadl al-Thaqafi, who taught it through recitation in Rabi al-Awwal, 488 AH . It was subsequently transmitted by the hadith master Abu Tahir al-Silafi (d. 576 AH) to Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Mahmud al-Sabuni al-Mahmudi, and handed down through later scholars, including Abu Hurayrah Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad al-Dhahabi . Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani recorded his chain of transmission for the session in his bibliography al-Mu'jam al-mufahras .
Content and Structure
The work consists of eighteen numbered traditions and narrations recorded with complete chains of transmission (isnad) . The main body of the dictation concludes at the sixteenth report, followed by additional narrations read back to al-Sulami .
The traditions in the collection cover varied legal, theological, and historical topics, including:
- A military expedition dispatched by the Prophet ﷺ to Najd and the distribution of war booty .
- The incident involving the people of Urayna .
- Multiple chains for the prophetic supplication: نضر الله امرأ سمع منا حديثا ("May Allah gladden a person who hears a hadith from us and conveys it") .
- Prohibitions against selling or gifting contractual patronage (al-wala'), and the ruling regarding collateral pledges (al-rahn) .
- Narrations recounting the story of the three men trapped in the cave (qissat al-ghar) .
- The hadiths affirming that seeking knowledge is obligatory upon every Muslim, the manner of Bilal's call to prayer (adhan and iqamah), and the narrative of al-Jassasah .
- A description of the four engraved signet rings of Ali ibn Abi Talib .
- The reason for the revelation of verse 4:65 following a legal dispute between al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam and another man .
Answer updated