Wasaya al-Ulama inda Hudur al-Mawt li-Ibn Zabr al-Rabai
- Author died
- 379 AH
- Editions
- Dār Ibn Kathīr
Wasaya al-Ulama inda Hudur al-Mawt (The Counsels of the Scholars upon the Approach of Death) is a collection of deathbed admonitions and testaments compiled by the Damascene traditionist and historian Abu Sulayman ibn Zabr al-Raba'i (d. 379 AH / 989 CE) .
Subject and Structure
The work gathers the final counsels, spiritual testaments, and deathbed words of figures across early Islamic history . The author organizes the material starting with the testaments of the prophets, followed by those of the Rightly Guided Caliphs and the Companions, and concluding with the counsels of early scholars (salaf) .
The reports are transmitted with their continuous chains of narration (asānīd) . Critical assessment of these chains indicates that weakness is frequent among them, though authentic narrations are also present . The work is also recorded in bibliographical literature under the shortened title Wasaya al-Ulama inda al-Mawt .
Transmission and Manuscripts
The text was transmitted down through scholarly reading sessions in Damascus; for example, Taj al-Din al-Subki documented hearing the work—from the entry on Abu al-Darda to the end of the fascicle—through a chain of Damascene scholars leading back to the original transmission .
Manuscript copies of the treatise have survived in several repositories:
- Al-Zahiriyya Library in Damascus, within composite volumes no. 33 and no. 56 (folios 144–159) .
- The Municipal Library of Alexandria, under manuscript no. 2130 (copied in 720 AH) and class mark 50 Mawāʿiẓ .
- Microfilm copies deposited at the Islamic University of Madinah .
Publication
The book was edited by Salah Muhammad al-Khaymi with Shaykh Abd al-Qadir al-Arna'ut and published by Dar Ibn Kathir in Damascus and Beirut in 1406 AH / 1986 CE .
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