Nuskhat Nabit ibn Shurit
- Author died
- 356 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Kutub al-‘Ilmīyah [within a compilation titled al-Fawā’id by Ibn Mandah]
Nuskhat Nabit ibn Shurit (The Codex of Nabit ibn Shurit) is a hadith compilation transmitted by Abu al-Hasan Ahmad ibn al-Qasim ibn al-Rayyan al-Misri, known as al-Laki (d. 357 AH / 967 CE), through an attributed family chain to the Companion Nabit ibn Shurit al-Ashja'i .
Transmission and Chain of Narration
The text was narrated by al-Laki, who claimed to have received it in Egypt in 272 AH from Abu Ja'far Ahmad ibn Ishaq ibn Ibrahim ibn Nabit ibn Shurit al-Ashja'i . Ahmad ibn Ishaq related the collection from his father, Ishaq ibn Ibrahim, from his father, Ibrahim ibn Nabit, on the authority of his grandfather Nabit ibn Shurit from the Prophet ﷺ .
Al-Laki transmitted the work in Basra at Nahr Dubays in Safar 357 AH, where it was read back to him and heard by traditionists including Abu Nu'aym al-Isbahani . The codex was subsequently preserved through chains stemming from Abu Nu'aym, including transmissions by Abu Ali al-Hasan ibn Ahmad al-Haddad down to later scholars in Damascus and elsewhere . A manuscript copy of the codex is preserved at the Zahiriyyah Library in Damascus (no. 279, ff. 157–167) .
Contents
The collection consists of a single slim volume (juz') of prophetic reports spanning legal, theological, and topical themes . Among the traditions contained in the compilation are:
- A report extolling urban over rural life: فضّل الله أهل المدن على أهل القرى، كفضل أهل السماء على أهل الأرض، من أجل الجمعة والجماعات ("God has favored the people of the cities over the people of the villages, like the favor of the people of heaven over the people of earth, because of the Friday and congregational prayers") .
- Traditions in praise of daughters: أحبوا البنات فأنا أبو البنات ("Love daughters, for I am the father of daughters") .
- Statements on biblical patriarchs: أول من أضاف الأضياف إبراهيم، وأول من لبس السراويل إبراهيم ("The first to host guests was Abraham, and the first to wear trousers was Abraham") .
- Eschatological and divine promises: وعزتي وجلالي لا أعذب أحدًا سمي باسمك بالنار يا محمد ("By My might and majesty, I shall not punish with the Fire anyone named with your name, O Muhammad") .
- Praises of regions: الجيزة روضة من رياض الجنة ومصر خزائن الله في أرضه ("Giza is a garden from the gardens of Paradise, and Egypt is God's treasure-house on His earth") .
- Statements on the Prophet's household: أهل بيتي كالنجوم، بأيهم اقتديتم اهتديتم ("My household are like the stars; whichever of them you follow, you will be guided") .
- A narration describing Ali ibn Abi Talib reciting elegiac verses over the grave of Fatima .
Critical Standing and Authenticity
Hadith scholars and biographical critics have unanimously rejected the collection, classifying it as a fabricated (mawdu') codex despite its elevated chain (uluww) .
Critics identified multiple defects in its transmission line:
- While Nabit ibn Shurit himself was an authentic Companion, his descendant Ahmad ibn Ishaq ibn Ibrahim was deemed an outright fabricator and liar (kadhdhab) . Shams al-Din al-Dhahabi stated that the codex contained "calamities" (balaya), declaring it unlawful to rely upon Ahmad ibn Ishaq as proof, a judgment endorsed by Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani in Lisan al-Mizan .
- The intermediaries in the family chain—Ahmad's father Ishaq and grandfather Ibrahim—lack established biographical records and are considered unknown (majhulan) .
- The transmitter, al-Laki, was declared weak (da'if) by al-Daraqutni and Ibn Makula, while al-Hasan ibn Ali al-Basri noted he was "not pleasing" (laysa bi-l-mardi) . Al-Dhahabi remarked regarding al-Laki's juz' that it contained objectionable narrations (fihi ma yunkar) .
Scholars including Ibn al-Adim, Ibn Abd al-Hadi, and Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti explicitly cited traditions from the codex among collections of fabricated hadiths, with al-Suyuti including selections in his appendix to forged traditions, Dhayl al-La'ali .
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