Tarkat al-Nabi
- Author died
- 267 AH
- Editions
- Dr. Akram Ḍiyā’ al-‘Umarī
Tarkat al-Nabi (full title: Tarkat al-Nabī wa-al-subul allatī wajjahahā fīhā) is a specialized hadith and legal monograph by the Iraqi Maliki jurist and judge Hammad ibn Ishaq (d. 267 AH / 880 CE) documenting the estate left by the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and its legal status under Islamic law.
Content and Legal Argument
The treatise focuses on the material estate left behind after the death of the Prophet ﷺ, including landed properties, revenues from spoils (fayʾ), garments, weapons, mounts, and household items. Hammad ibn Ishaq explains the jurisprudence governing these items in light of the prophetic tradition ما تركنا فهو صدقة ("What we leave behind is charity"), arguing that none of these belongings were distributed as inherited wealth among family members. Instead, agricultural yields and revenues were allocated for public welfare and charitable causes in accordance with prophetic precedent, whereas physical personal effects—such as weapons, mounts, and garments—were retained as charitable endowments (waqf) for community use and veneration.
Method and Transmission
The work is compiled using classical hadith methodology, providing full chains of narration (asānīd) for reports detailing prophetic asceticism, divine choices offered to the Prophet ﷺ between worldly reign and servitude, and interactions regarding prophetic property involving figures such as Abu Bakr, 'Ali ibn Abi Talib, and Fatimah.
The text was transmitted directly from the author through his son, Ibrahim ibn Hammad ibn Ishaq, and subsequently preserved through a chain of Iraqi and Syrian transmitters including Abu Tahir al-Mukhlis, Abu Sa'd ibn Abi 'Allana, and Abu Ghalib Ahmad ibn al-Hasan ibn al-Banna.
Manuscripts and Publication
Tarkat al-Nabi is the sole surviving work of Hammad ibn Ishaq, whose other treatises (such as al-Muhadanah and al-Radd 'ala al-Shafi'i) have been lost. Manuscript copies of the text are preserved in Damascus at the Zahiriyya Library (notably MS 1447 and MS 3970 / Majmu' 54).
The work was edited and published by modern scholar Akram Diya' al-'Umari, who published an edition through the Islamic University of Madinah in 1401 AH / 1981 CE, followed by a first general edition in 1404 AH / 1984 CE in Beirut.
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