Muqaddima Tashtamil Ala An Jami al-Rusul Kan Dinuhum al-Islam
- Author died
- 795 AH
- Editions
- al-Fārūq al-Ḥadīthah lil-Ṭibā‘ah wa-al-Nashr
Muqaddima Tashtamil 'Ala An Jami' al-Rusul Kan Dinuhum al-Islam (An Introduction Establishing That the Religion of All Messengers Was Islam) is a doctrinal and methodological treatise by the Hanbali traditionist and jurist Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali (d. 795 AH / 1393 CE) . The work articulates the theological unity of the prophetic messages while serving as an analytical prologue on the purpose of Hadith transmission (riwaya) and its relationship to religious comprehension (diraya) and practice (ri'aya) .
Context and Purpose
Ibn Rajab composed the treatise after receiving an inquiry regarding several prominent masters of Hadith transmission (shuyukh al-riwaya) whom he had encountered in Syria (al-Sham) and Egypt through direct audition (sama') and authorization (ijaza), alongside requests concerning their elevated chains of transmission (riwayatihim al-'aliya) . Rejecting the practice of confining such works merely to lists of chains—a tendency he associated with those content with outward scholarly formalities—he authored this introduction to establish the foundational purpose of transmission as a vehicle for understanding and spiritual obedience .
Summary of Contents
The Unity of the Prophetic Religion
The work begins with the theological principle that God created humankind for His knowledge and worship, dispatching messengers and revealing scriptures because human beings, though endowed with an innate disposition (fitra) toward the truth, depend on revelation to actualize their faith through beneficial knowledge and righteous deeds . Ibn Rajab demonstrates that every prophet—from Noah to Jesus—preached Islam, defined fundamentally as submission (istislam), complete devotion, and pure monotheism (tawhid) directed to God alone .
He clarifies that while the core creed and theology across all prophetic messages were identical, divine laws (shara'i') varied in practical and secondary rulings (furu'), analogous to how abrogation operates within a single dispensation—such as the redirection of the Muslim prayer direction from Jerusalem to Mecca . This sequence culminated in the comprehensive law of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, which preserved the virtues of earlier revelations while instituting unmatched legal and spiritual additions binding upon all humanity .
Bearers of Revelation: Transmission and Comprehension
Because the Muhammadan message is the final dispensation, Ibn Rajab asserts that God guaranteed its eternal preservation through scholars charged with safeguarding both its outer texts and its inner meanings . Citing the prophetic parable comparing divine guidance to rain falling upon different types of land, he categorizes scholars into distinct ranks :
- Scholars of Comprehension (Ahl al-Diraya): Those blessed with memorization, deep jurisprudential acumen, and the capacity to extract principles from revealed texts, exemplified by figures such as the four Rightly Guided Caliphs, Malik ibn Anas, al-Shafi'i, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, as well as ascetic masters like al-Junayd of Baghdad and al-Fudayl ibn 'Iyad .
- Scholars of Transmission (Ahl al-Riwaya): Those specialized in precise memorization, preservation, and literal reporting without engaging in legal deduction, such as al-A'mash, Ghundar, and 'Abd al-Razzaq al-San'ani .
Ibn Rajab notes that in the first three Islamic generations, these branches were unified under comprehensive religious practice, and specialized distinctions between jurists, Hadith scholars, legal theorists, and ascetics only became widespread in later eras .
Historical Evolution and Rules of Transmission
The treatise traces the historical recording of Hadith from oral transmission among the Companions and Successors to early compendia by figures such as Ibn Jurayj, Hammad ibn Salama, and Ibn al-Mubarak, followed by dedicated musnad collections and the authentic compilations (sahihs) of al-Bukhari and Muslim .
Ibn Rajab examines several classical legal debates concerning methods of receiving Hadith (turuq al-tahammul) :
- The validity of recitation before a scholar ('ard) and handing over manuscripts (munawala), detailing divergences between Hijazi scholars who validated them and early Iraqi scholars who restricted them .
- The distinction between testimony (shahada) and Hadith transmission, explaining why scholars adopted greater leniency in transmission than in courtroom testimony .
- General authorizations (al-ijaza al-'amma) and the shift among later Hadith enthusiasts toward seeking high chains ('uluww al-isnad) through figurehead transmitters rather than genuine textual mastery .
Ibn Rajab concludes by citing al-Hasan al-Basri—who remarked that the pursuit of fools is transmission whereas the pursuit of the wise is mindful practice—to reiterate that true scholarly inheritance is grounded in divine reverence (khashya) and practical application .
Transmission and Preservation
The text has been preserved in a manuscript copy housed at the Egyptian National Library (Dar al-Kutub al-Misriyya in Cairo) under shelf mark no. 1379 ('Ilm al-Kalam), spanning nine folios . It has also been edited and published within collections of Ibn Rajab's collected treatises (Majmu' Rasa'il Ibn Rajab) .
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