Majlis min Hadith Ibn al-Attar
- Author died
- 724 AH
- Editions
- Dar al-Tawhid [within a collection containing four Hadith booklets]
Majlis min Hadith Ibn al-Attar (A Session from the Hadith of Ibn al-Attar), also cited under the title Majlis min 'Awali Ibn al-Attar, is a short hadith tract (juz') containing elevated narrations transmitted by the Damascene Shafi'i jurist and traditionist Ibn al-Attar (654–724 AH / 1256–1324 CE), extracted and compiled for him by the historian and traditionist al-Dhahabi (d. 748 AH / 1348 CE) .
Background and Purpose
In his opening remarks, al-Dhahabi notes that elevated chains of transmission ('uluw al-isnad) possess special merit and sweetness in hadith transmission . Because Ibn al-Attar had studied widely under numerous elderly transmitters and surviving authorities of earlier generations, al-Dhahabi compiled this session to document select narrations in which the chain length between Ibn al-Attar and early hadith compilers or figures was exceptionally short, as though Ibn al-Attar had received them directly from those foundational authorities .
Structure and Contents
The text comprises a single hadith gathering (majlis) containing ten numbered reports and transmissions :
- Prophetic Hadiths and Chains: The collection includes Prophetic reports regarding the reward of attending funeral processions, vows made in anger, the pilgrimage being the striving of the weak, supplications upon going to sleep, fasting while waking up in a state of major ritual impurity (janaba), the prohibition against consuming domestic donkey meat at Khaybar, and the waiting period ('iddah) of Subay'ah al-Aslamiyyah upon giving birth after her husband's demise . For each tradition, al-Dhahabi records the transmission paths through Ibn al-Attar's direct teachers—including Ahmad ibn 'Abd al-Da'im, 'Ali ibn Ahmad ibn 'Abd al-Wahid Ibn al-Bukhari, Ibn Abi al-'Abbas al-Sa'di, Muhammad ibn Musa ibn Abi al-Fath al-Maqdisi, Ahmad ibn Shayban, and Ni'ma ibn Muhammad al-Nabulsi—and compares the chain's height to versions recorded in the canonical collections of al-Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawud, al-Tirmidhi, and al-Nasa'i .
- Narratives and Poetry: The latter section presents an account regarding the death and burial of Abd Allah ibn Abbas in Ta'if, a teaching narrative of Abu Musa al-Ash'ari concerning religious etiquettes and the crescent moon, and concludes with an ethical and ascetical poem composed by Abu al-'Atahiya, transmitted by Ibn al-Attar through his primary mentor al-Nawawi and Sitt al-'Arab bint Yahya back to al-Mubarrad .
Transmission and Publication
The tract was transmitted through an authorization (ijaza) granted simultaneously by both the compiler (al-Dhahabi) and the subject (Ibn al-Attar) to Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Ahmad ibn 'Abd al-Wahid al-Tanukhi . It was subsequently received through audition (sama') by Umm al-Fadl Hajar bint Muhammad al-Qudsi, and transmitted to Abu al-Fadl 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Ahmad Ibn al-Qalqashandi and his son Muhammad . Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani recorded his transmission of the work in al-Mu'jam al-mufahras, and a surviving manuscript text was collated against a copy written in Ibn Hajar's own hand from the transcription of Baha' al-Din Ibn Khalil . The work was later cataloged by Muhammad ibn Sulayman al-Rudani in Silat al-khalaf bi-mawsul al-salaf .
The text was edited and annotated by Jamal 'Azzun and published in a single volume alongside other short treatises by Dar al-Tawhid in 1429 AH (2008 CE) .
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