Sittat Majalis li Abi Yala al-Farra
- Author died
- 458 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Bashāʾir - Dār al-Ṣiddīq
Sittat Majalis li Abi Ya'la al-Farra (Six Sessions from the Dictations of Abu Ya'la al-Farra) is a hadith dictation booklet (amali) by the Hanbali jurist and scholar al-Qadi Abu Ya'la Ibn al-Farra (d. 458 AH / 1066 CE), preserving six scholarly sessions of prophetic traditions transmitted through his teachers .
Transmission and Reception
The text represents dictation sessions delivered by Abu Ya'la and transmitted after him through well-documented chains of transmission (isnad) . It was transmitted directly from him by the judge Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Abd al-Baqi al-Ansari, and from the latter by Umar ibn Tabarzadh through both direct audition and authorization (ijazah) . It was subsequently passed down through Syrian scholars, including the Chief Judge Shams al-Din Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad ibn Qudamah and Fakhr al-Din Ali ibn Ahmad ibn Abd al-Wahid al-Maqdisi, to its owner Ali ibn Mas'ud ibn Nafis al-Mawsili .
The work circulated among prominent traditionists; Abu Tahir al-Silafi cited multiple narrations transmitted in the text . Later traditionists also held reading sessions of its parts; the historian al-Birzali recorded attending a session where Taqi al-Din Ibn Taymiyyah read the third session (al-majlis al-thalith) of the work to the female scholar Sitt al-Arab al-Kindiyyah in Damascus .
Contents and Publication
The booklet consists of six distinct sessions containing hadiths and narrations dictated with their continuous isnads connecting Abu Ya'la to early authorities . The material reflects Abu Ya'la's early studies under leading teachers in Baghdad, including:
- Uthman ibn Amr ibn al-Muntab, from whom Abu Ya'la first began hearing hadith in 385 AH .
- His father, al-Husayn ibn Muhammad al-Farra .
- His grandfather, Ubayd Allah ibn Uthman ibn Yahya, from whom he received narrations from his original manuscript in 388 AH .
- Other prominent scholars of his era, such as Abu Tahir al-Mukhallis, Abu al-Husayn Muhammad ibn Abd Allah ibn Akhi Mimi al-Daqqaq, Abu al-Qasim Isa ibn Ali al-Wazir, and Musa ibn Isa al-Sarraj .
The narrations cover diverse topics, including the beatific vision of God, the virtues of the first ten days of Dhu al-Hijjah, general conduct, truthfulness, and religious supplications .
The text survived in manuscript form in Damascus within the Umariyyah Madrasah collection (now preserved at the Al-Zahiriyyah Library) . It was edited by Muhammad ibn Nasir al-Ajami and published by Dar al-Basha'ir al-Islamiyyah in Beirut (1425 AH / 2004 CE) under the title Juz' fihi Sittat Majalis min Amali al-Qadi Abi Ya'la Ibn al-Farra .
Answer updated