Masa'il al-Imam Ahmad riwayat ibnihi Abd Allah
- Author died
- 241 AH
- Editions
- al-Maktab al-Islāmī
Masa'il al-Imam Ahmad riwayat ibnihi Abd Allah (Legal Questions of Imam Ahmad Narrated by His Son Abd Allah) is a collection of legal, doctrinal, and traditional questions and answers transmitted from Ahmad ibn Hanbal (164–241 AH / 780–855 CE) by his son Abd Allah ibn Ahmad ibn Hanbal (213–290 AH / 828–903 CE) .
Method and Structure
Abd Allah arranged the questions according to standard chapters of jurisprudence (abwab al-fiqh), interspersing topics concerning creed (aqida), prophetic biography (siyar), and hadith criticism . In compiling the text, he documented the manner of reception: when posing inquiries directly, he began entries with phrases such as "I asked my father" (sa'altu abi), "I said to my father" (qultu li-abi), or "I read to my father" (qara'tu 'ala abi) . When recording questions submitted by other individuals, he used formulas such as "I heard my father being asked" (sami'tu abi su'ila) or "My father was asked while I was present" (su'ila abi wa-ana hadir) .
To ensure exactness, Abd Allah would question his father, write down the responses, and later read the text back to him to verify the rulings . He also incorporated supplemental narrations (ziyadat) from scholars other than his father to expand on certain topics, as well as hadiths and traditions that he found in his father's records or read to him .
Reception and Transmission
The collection was recognized among Hanbali scholars as a primary source for the legal positions of Ahmad ibn Hanbal. Abu Bakr al-Khallal observed that Abd Allah obtained a vast number of excellent rulings from his father, transmitting unique details in legal judgments that were not found in other narrations . Al-Mardawi later praised the collection at the conclusion of al-Insaf, noting that Abd Allah narrated a substantial number of fine legal issues from his father .
Al-Khallal heard the Masa'il directly from Abd Allah and dispersed them topically throughout his compendium al-Jami' li-'Ulum al-Imam Ahmad . The narrator of the surviving manuscript tradition from Abd Allah is identified by modern researchers as Abu Bakr al-Qati'i, based on dates recorded within the manuscript indicating that the direct transmitter heard the material in Rajab 285 AH .
Manuscripts and Editions
Several manuscript copies of the work have survived:
- A manuscript preserved at the Zahiriyya Library in Damascus (no. 2 Fiqh Hanbali), comprising 203 folios .
- A manuscript in the Ahmad Taymur Pasha collection at the Egyptian National Library (no. 511 Fiqh), comprising 172 folios and copied in 773 AH; this copy lacks the opening section and begins with the chapter on menstruation .
- An incomplete manuscript attached to the end of Masa'il al-Kawsaj at the Egyptian National Library (no. 20755 B), containing 76 folios .
- A later copy at the Egyptian National Library (no. 22660 B), transcribed in 1362 AH by Mahmud Abd al-Latif Fakhr al-Din in 185 folios .
The text was edited and published based on these manuscripts by Ali ibn Sulayman al-Muhanna .
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