Sahifat Hammam ibn Munabbih

Sahifat Hammam ibn Munabbih (Arabic: صحيفة همام بن منبه), also titled al-Sahifah al-Sahiha (الصحيفة الصحيحة, "The Sound Booklet"), is an early collection of hadith compiled by the Yemenite Successor Hammam ibn Munabbih (d. 131 AH / 748–749 CE; also reported as 132 AH or 101/102 AH) from the Companion Abu Hurayrah (d. 58 AH) al-Mufassal fi Tarikh al-…+1. Containing approximately 140 narrations transmitted under a single chain of transmission, it is recognized as one of the earliest surviving written records of Prophetic traditions Musnad Ahmad+1.

Composition and Transmission

Hammam ibn Munabbih recorded the collection directly while sitting with Abu Hurayrah in Medina Sharh al-Mawqizah li al-D…+1. The title al-Sahifah al-Sahiha was used by Hammam, likely formulated in parallel to al-Sahifah al-Sadiqa compiled by Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-As al-Mufassal fi Tarikh al-…+1.

The entire collection was transmitted through a single chain: Abd al-Razzaq al-San'ani from Ma'mar ibn Rashid from Hammam ibn Munabbih from Abu Hurayrah from the Prophet ﷺ Musnad Ahmad+1. According to Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Ma'mar encountered Hammam in his old age when his eyebrows drooped over his eyes; Hammam read the booklet to Ma'mar until he became fatigued, after which Ma'mar read the remainder back to him al-Jami li-Ulum al-Imam A….

Structure and Content

The work consists of 138 narrations—reported in some sources as around 140 al-Bahr al-Muhit al-Thajj…+1. It opens with an overarching header: «هذا ما حدثنا به أبو هريرة عن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم» ("This is what Abu Hurayrah narrated to us from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ") Musnad Ahmad+1.

Its opening hadith begins: نحن الآخرون الأولون يوم القيامة ("We are the last [to come in this world], but the first on the Day of Resurrection") Sharh Sunan Abi Dawud lil…+1. Subsequent narrations are introduced sequentially with the transitional formula: «وقال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم» ("And the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said") al-Bahr al-Muhit al-Thajj…+1.

Classical Preservation and Reception

The text was incorporated in full into early comprehensive compendia. Ahmad ibn Hanbal transcribed the entire collection in one continuous block in his Musnad under its single isnad Musnad Ahmad+1.

Major compilers, including al-Bukhari and Muslim, selected numerous individual traditions from the booklet, dispersing them topically across various chapters of their canonical collections rather than citing the work in a single chapter al-Sunna qabl al-Tadwin+1.

Modern Recovery and Editions

The collection was recovered in manuscript form and edited by Muhammad Hamidullah al-Sunna qabl al-Tadwin+1. Hamidullah located two manuscripts: an early copy preserved in the al-Zahiriyya Library in Damascus and a later, incomplete manuscript held at the State Library in Berlin al-Sunna qabl al-Tadwin+1.

He published the text collated against Ahmad's Musnad across three installments in the Journal of the Arab Scientific Academy in Damascus in 1953, followed by a revised standalone print issued by the Academy al-Mufassal fi Tarikh al-…+1. A later edition, accompanied by an extensive study and legal and textual commentary, was published in a single volume by Rif'at Fawzi 'Abd al-Muttalib al-Madkhal fi Tarikh al-S….