Nuskhat al-Zubayr ibn Adi
- Author died
- 131 AH
- Editions
- Manuscript published in the free program 'Jawami' al-Kalim' affiliated with Islamweb
Nuskhat al-Zubayr ibn Adi (The Hadith Notebook of al-Zubayr ibn Adi) is a collection of hadiths attributed to the Kufan Successor al-Zubayr ibn Adi (d. 131 AH / 748–749 CE) on the authority of the Companion Anas ibn Malik, transmitted through the narrator Bishr ibn al-Husayn al-Isbahani .
Transmission and Contents
The work is organized as a single-chain hadith notebook (nuskha) containing between 100 and over 150 reports related by Bishr ibn al-Husayn from al-Zubayr ibn Adi from Anas ibn Malik . It was transmitted from Bishr by narrators such as Hajjaj ibn Yusuf ibn Qutayba, Amir ibn Ibrahim, and Isa ibn Ibrahim .
The collection covers diverse topics, including devotional ethics, trade, ritual purity, and Quranic recitation . Among the reports preserved in the text are:
- A prohibition against omens and superstitious reminders: من حول خاتمه أو عمامته أو علق خيطا ليذكره فقد أشرك بالله، إن الله هو يذكر الحاجات ("Whoever turns his ring or his turban, or ties a thread to remind himself of something, has associated partners with Allah; indeed, Allah brings needs to remembrance") .
- Praise of completing the Quran: خير الأعمال الحل والرحلة... افتتاح القرآن وختمه ("The best of deeds is al-hall wa-l-rihla [the alighting and departing]... opening the Quran and completing it") .
- Admonition for craftsmen and merchants: ويل للتاجر يحلف بالنهار ويحاسب نفسه بالليل! ويل للصانع من غد وبعد غد ("Woe to the merchant who swears by day and reckons with himself by night! Woe to the craftsman from [promising] tomorrow and after tomorrow!") .
- A ruling regarding ritual purification: غسل الجمعة واجب على كل مسلم إلا امرأة حائضا أو مريضا ("The Friday bath is obligatory for every Muslim, except a menstruating woman or a sick person") .
Scholarly Evaluation and Authenticity
Classical hadith critics categorized Nuskhat al-Zubayr ibn Adi as a forged compilation (nuskha mawdu'a), concluding that its defect originated entirely with Bishr ibn al-Husayn, while al-Zubayr ibn Adi himself was a trustworthy (thiqah) transmitter .
Ibn Adi stated that the compilation contains nearly one hundred reports, none of which are authentic, noting that al-Zubayr's genuine narrations transmitted through figures like Sufyan al-Thawri are upright (mustaqima) and do not exceed roughly ten hadiths . Ibn Hibban described the collection as an invented text of approximately 150 hadiths, adding that Bishr's narrations from al-Zubayr should only be looked at in astonishment . Al-Daraqutni classified Bishr as abandoned (matruk), asserting that he transmitted falsehoods (bawateel) on the authority of al-Zubayr and that the entire manuscript is fabricated . Abu Hatim al-Razi accused Bishr of lying against al-Zubayr and maintained that al-Zubayr only related four or five genuine hadiths from Anas . Abu Dawud al-Tayalisi similarly rejected Bishr's narrations, stating that scholars only recognized a single hadith transmitted by al-Zubayr from Anas .
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