Majlis min Amali Abi al-Fath al-Maqdisi_1
- Author died
- 490 AH
- Editions
- Manuscript published in the free program Jawāmiʿ al-Kalim affiliated with Islamweb
Majlis min Amali Abi al-Fath al-Maqdisi (A Dictation Session from the Amali of Abu al-Fath al-Maqdisi) is a short hadith treatise (juz') containing prophetic traditions dictated in Jerusalem by the jurist and ascetic Abu al-Fath Nasr ibn Ibrahim al-Maqdisi (d. 490 AH / 1096–1097 CE).
Transmission
The text records a single dictation session delivered by Abu al-Fath Nasr ibn Ibrahim ibn Nasr ibn Dawud al-Maqdisi in Jerusalem (Bayt al-Maqdis). It was preserved through the transmission of Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Asakir ibn Surur al-Maqdisi al-Khashshab, who heard it directly from al-Maqdisi. From him, it was transmitted to Abu al-Qasim al-Husayn ibn Hibat Allah ibn Mahfuz ibn Sasra al-Taghlibi—who heard it on Friday, the 1st of Safar 552 AH, and had it read back to him on 17 Jumada al-Akhira 624 AH—and subsequently passed on in written form (kitabatan) to Abu al-Abbas Ahmad ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Mu'min. A manuscript copy of the work is preserved at the al-Zahiriyya Library in Damascus within a collective volume (Majami' al-'Umariyya).
Contents
The tract comprises sixteen numbered reports with their full chains of narration (isnad), along with concluding poetic verses. Al-Maqdisi transmits these traditions from several of his teachers, including Abu al-Husayn Ahmad ibn Abd al-Karim al-Salusi, Sulaym ibn Ayyub al-Razi, Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Anmati, and Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Ja'far al-Miyasi in Ascalon.
The material primarily focuses on seasonal devotions, particularly the month of Ramadan, its concluding days, and the festival of Eid al-Fitr:
- General Virtues and Preordainment: Opening narrations address divine response to nocturnal supplications, the predetermination of decrees fifty thousand years before the creation of the heavens and earth, and the virtue of reviving four sacred nights (the nights of Tarwiya, Arafah, Eid al-Adha, and Eid al-Fitr).
- Rules and Rites of Eid: Traditions prohibiting fasting on both Eid days, detailing the replacement of pre-Islamic festivities with Eid al-Adha and Eid al-Fitr, recommending ritual bathing (ghusl) on these occasions, performing takbir on the morning of Eid al-Fitr, and reciting Surah Qaf and Surah al-Qamar in the Eid prayer.
- Zakat al-Fitr: Traditions specifying the obligation, eligible recipients, and measures (one sa' of dates, barley, or wheat) for the charity of Eid al-Fitr, describing it as a purification for the fasting person.
- Ramadan and Laylat al-Qadr: A lengthy hadith outlining the adornment of Paradise during Ramadan, divine emancipation from the Hellfire, the descent of Gabriel and the angels on Laylat al-Qadr, and the divine pardon granted to worshippers on the morning of Eid (Laylat al-Ja'izah), excluding unrepentant alcoholics, those disobedient to parents, severers of kinship ties, and those harboring malice (mushahin).
- Voluntary Fasting and Reflection: Narrations regarding the virtue of following Ramadan with six days of fasting in Shawwal, a report attributed to Ibn Mas'ud reflecting on those accepted versus deprived at the end of Ramadan, and closing poetic verses extolling contentment and virtuous deeds.
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