Sifat al-Jannah li Abi Nuaym al-Asbahani
- Author died
- 430 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Ma’mūn lil-Turāth
Sifat al-Jannah (The Description of Paradise) is a specialized hadith collection on eschatology compiled by the scholar and hadith master Abu Nuaym al-Asbahani (336–430 AH / 948–1038 CE) . The book compiles prophetic traditions and reports from the early generations describing the nature of Paradise, its gardens, dwellers, and delights .
Transmission and Structure
The text was transmitted from Abu Nuaym by his student Abu Ali al-Hasan ibn Ahmad ibn al-Hasan al-Haddad, who read it back to him in the year 426 AH . Al-Haddad later taught the work in Safar 510 AH, and it passed down through scholars including the judge Abu al-Makarim Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Labban (d. 597 AH) to Fakhr al-Din Ali ibn Ahmad ibn Abd al-Wahid al-Maqdisi in 678 AH .
Abu Nuaym organizes the material thematically under specific topical headings (dhikr), presenting each report with its complete chain of transmission (isnad) . The book opens with the divine exhortation to race toward Paradise, followed by chapters devoted to:
- The nature and distinction of the Gardens of Eden (Jannat 'Adn) and al-Firdaws .
- The land designated by God as an inheritance for the righteous .
- God's creation of Paradise and His commanding it to speak upon creation .
- The gates, dwellings, pavilions, and grounds of Paradise .
- The attributes and physical form of the inhabitants of Paradise, including their entering youthful, beardless, and hairless (jurd murd) without aging, and the description of the hur al-'ayn .
Reception and Editions
Sifat al-Jannah is recognized among the key early works devoted exclusively to the descriptions of Paradise alongside treatises by Ibn Abi al-Dunya and Diya al-Din al-Maqdisi . It served as a primary source for later scholars writing on the afterlife; Diya al-Din al-Maqdisi drew upon it in his own collection of the same title, and Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani frequently cited its narrations in al-Matalib al-Aliyah .
The text has been published in modern print, including an edition prepared by Ali Rida Abd Allah, published by Dar al-Ma'mun lil-Turath in Damascus (first edition 1408 AH / 1988 CE; second edition 1415 AH / 1995 CE) .
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