Rih al-Nasrin fiman Asha min al-Sahaba Mi'a wa Ishrin
- Author died
- 911 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Wafā’
Rih al-Nasrin fiman 'Asha min al-Sahaba Mi'a wa 'Ishrin (The Fragrance of Eglantine Concerning the Companions Who Lived One Hundred and Twenty [Years]) is a biographical hadith treatise by the Egyptian scholar al-Jalal al-Suyuti (d. 911 AH / 1505 CE) documenting the longevity of the Prophet Muhammad's Companions (Sahaba) and contemporaneous figures (Mukhadramun) who reached approximately 120 years of age .
Background and Composition
The work is an abridgment (juz' mukhtasar) of an earlier compilation on centenarian Companions by the hadith scholar Abu Zakariyya Ibn Mandah . Al-Suyuti composed it as a specialized monograph within biographical evaluation (ilm al-rijal) and hadith transmission, listing individuals whose lifespans frequently spanned sixty years in the pre-Islamic era (Jahiliyyah) and sixty years in Islam . In catalog records, the treatise is also recorded under the descriptive title Rih al-Nasrin fi dhikr al-mukhadramin alladhina 'ashu mi'a wa 'ishrin min al-sahaba al-tahirin .
Content and Entries
The treatise consists of brief biographical entries highlighting longevity and key historical details:
- Hassan ibn Thabit, the poet of the Prophet ﷺ, who lived for 120 years (sixty in Jahiliyyah and sixty in Islam); his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather likewise each lived 120 years, a lineage of four successive generations unmatched among the Arabs .
- Hakim ibn Hizam, who was born inside the Ka'ba, embraced Islam at the conquest of Mecca at age sixty-three, lived 120 years (sixty in Jahiliyyah and sixty in Islam), manumitted one hundred slaves in Jahiliyyah and another hundred in Islam, and died in Medina in 54 or 58 AH .
- Hamnan ibn 'Awf, the brother of 'Abd al-Rahman ibn 'Awf, who lived 120 years and transmitted only three hadiths from the Prophet ﷺ .
- Huwaytib ibn 'Abd al-'Uzza, who accepted Islam at the conquest of Mecca, lived 120 years (sixty in Jahiliyyah and sixty in Islam), and died in 54 AH .
- Sa'id ibn Yarbuh, who lived 120 years (sixty in Jahiliyyah and sixty in Islam) and died in 54 AH .
- Sa'd ibn Iyas al-Shaybani (Abu 'Amr al-Shaybani), Sa'd ibn Junadah al-'Awfi al-Ansari, Abu Shaddad al-Dhimari al-'Umani, and 'Asim ibn 'Adi .
- 'Abd Khayr ibn Yazid al-Kufi, al-Lajlaj al-Ghatafani (who converted to Islam at age fifty and died at 120), Makhrama ibn Nawfal (who converted at the conquest of Mecca and died in 54 AH at age 120 or 125), and Nafi' ibn Sulayman al-'Abdi .
- Other figures discussed include Labid ibn Rabi'a, Aws ibn Maghra' al-Sa'di, 'Adi ibn Hatim al-Ta'i, and Nawfal ibn Mu'awiya .
In the entry on the poet al-Nabigha al-Ja'di, al-Suyuti notes that al-Qadi 'Iyad in al-Shifa bi-Ta'rif Huquq al-Mustafa stated that al-Nabigha lived 120 years; al-Suyuti regards this as an oversight (wahm), citing Ibn Qutayba and Kitab al-Aghani to argue that his actual lifespan reached 220 years, though he acknowledges that al-Hafiz al-Sarifini also held the 120-year figure .
Manuscripts and Publication
The tract is very short, occupying approximately one and a half to two folios in manuscript copies . Multiple manuscript copies survive in international libraries, including the Zahiriyya Library in Damascus (MS 1145 Hadith), Dar al-Kutub al-Misriyya in Cairo (MSS Majami' 521, 530, and 4364 j), the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin (MSS 5112, 5491), the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies in Riyadh, the General Library in Rabat, El Escorial, and Kuwait University .
The text has been printed in an edition verified and edited by Adnan Ahmad Majjud .
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