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Abd al-Rahman al-Muallimi al-Yamani

Siyam Sittat Ayyam min Shawwal - dimn Athar al-Muallimi

Author died
1386 AH
Editions
Dar Alam al-Fawa'id lil-Nashr wa-al-Tawzi'

Siyam Sittat Ayyam min Shawwal (Fasting Six Days of Shawwal) is a jurisprudential and hadith treatise by the Yemeni scholar Abd al-Rahman al-Muallimi al-Yamani (1313–1386 AH / 1895–1966 CE) examining the legal status, transmission chains, and textual proofs concerning the voluntary fasting of six days during the Islamic month of Shawwal .

Background and Purpose

The treatise was written in response to an inquiry regarding an opinion held by a pious contemporary figure who asserted that fasting the six days of Shawwal was an innovation (bid'ah) and that the supporting prophetic hadith was fabricated (mawdu'), arguing that it rested solely on the solitary transmission of Sa'd ibn Sa'id al-Ansari, who faced criticism from hadith critics .

Al-Mu'allimi refuted both claims, stating that the allegation of innovation was disproven by the authenticity of the tradition, the documented practice of several Companions and Successors, and the consensus across the major schools of jurisprudence (madhahib) regarding its recommendation (istihbab) . He likewise rejected the claim of fabrication as untenable for anyone versed in hadith criticism, setting out to clarify the reliability of Sa'd ibn Sa'id and demonstrate the multitude of supporting transmission lines .

Structure and Contents

Al-Mu'allimi established that the hadith was narrated by ten Companions of the Prophet and structured his study into ten chapters (fusul) :

  1. Chapter 1: The hadith of Abu Ayyub al-Ansari .
  2. Chapter 2: The legal and critical ruling on the hadith (hukm al-hadith) .
  3. Chapter 3: The corroborating routes and parallel chains (al-mutaba'at) .
  4. Chapter 4: The hadith of Thawban .
  5. Chapter 5: The hadith of Abu Hurayrah .
  6. Chapter 6: The hadith of Jabir .
  7. Chapter 7: The remaining narrations from other Companions .
  8. Chapter 8: The non-prophetic traditions and reports (al-athar) .
  9. Chapter 9: The rulings and viewpoints of the jurists (madhahib al-fuqaha') .
  10. Chapter 10: The interpretation and legal import of the hadith (ma'na al-hadith) .

Although earlier scholars had authored monographs on the subject—including Ibn Qutlubugha and Abd al-Ghani al-Dimyati (both titled Tahrir al-Aqwal fi Sawm al-Sitt min Shawwal), Khalil ibn Kaykaldi al-Ala'i (Raf' al-Ishkal 'an Siyam Sittat min Shawwal), Ibn Tulun al-Salihi (Takmil al-A'mal bi-Itba' Ramadan bi-Sawm Sitt min Shawwal), and Murtada al-Zabidi (al-Ihtifal bi-Sawm al-Sitt min Shawwal), alongside compilations of its transmission paths by Ibn al-Mulaqqin and Zayn al-Din al-Iraqi—al-Mu'allimi did not access these earlier specialized monographs and composed his treatise through direct investigation of primary hadith, biographical evaluation (rijal), and legal references .

Manuscript and Publication

The unique holograph manuscript of the work is preserved at the Grand Mosque Library in Mecca (Maktabat al-Haram al-Makki, ms. 4911), consisting of fifteen tall folios containing marginal notes, revisions, cancellations, and addenda, with the author's own pagination allowing the restoration of its original reading order . The work remained unpublished during the author's lifetime and was later edited by Muhammad 'Uzayr Shams as part of Majmu' Rasa'il al-Fiqh within the multi-volume Athar al-Mu'allimi project .

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