Zawaid al-Ahadith al-Warida fi Fadail al-Sahaba
- Author died
- 1439 AH
- Editions
- Deanship of Scientific Research - Islamic University of Madinah
Zawaid al-Ahadith al-Warida fi Fadail al-Sahaba (Additional Hadiths on the Virtues of the Companions) is a specialized hadith work by the Saudi scholar Saud bin Eid al-Saidi (d. 1439 AH / 2018 CE), cataloging and evaluating the unique narrations concerning the virtues of the Prophet's Companions recorded in al-Matalib al-Aliya by Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani (d. 852 AH).
Background and Scope
The book serves as a supplementary addendum to al-Saidi's larger doctoral study, al-Ahadith al-Warida fi Fadail al-Sahaba, in which he gathered and analyzed 2,022 hadiths regarding the Companions across the nine major hadith compendia (al-Kutub al-Tis'a), the Musnads of al-Bazzar and Abu Ya'la al-Mawsili, and the three Ma'ajim of al-Tabarani. After later compiling a supplement (mustadrak) of 51 overlooked narrations, al-Saidi surveyed Ibn Hajar's al-Matalib al-Aliya bi-Zawaid al-Masanid al-Thamaniyah to extract additional narrations on the subject.
Ibn Hajar's work contains approximately 372 hadiths in its chapter on virtues (Kitab al-Manaqib) and around 74 others scattered across other sections. Al-Saidi identified 40 hadiths in al-Matalib al-Aliya that constituted zawaid (narrations not included in his primary work or its initial supplement) and organized them for detailed transmission and textual analysis.
Structure
The work is organized into an introduction, four main chapters, a conclusion, and analytical indexes:
- Chapter One: Covers narrations regarding the general virtue of believing in the Prophet ﷺ and accompanying him.
- Chapter Two: Examines virtues by tribes and groups across five sub-sections: the Prophet's kin and household (Ahl al-Bayt), the Muhajirun and the Ansar collectively, the Ansar specifically, the tribe of Bakr ibn Wa'il, and the tribe of Muzaynah.
- Chapter Three: Dedicated to male Companions across two sections: shared virtues among groups of male Companions, and individual virtues. The individual entries treat twenty-one named Companions—including the four Rightly Guided Caliphs, Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf, Ja'far ibn Abi Talib, Abu Dharr al-Ghifari, Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman, al-Hasan and al-Husayn, Khuzaymah ibn Thabit, Salman al-Farsi, Abd Allah ibn al-Arqam, Abd Allah ibn Salam, Abd Allah ibn Qays, Abd Allah ibn Mas'ud, Amr ibn al-As, Abu al-Darda', Mu'awiyah ibn Abi Sufyan, and al-Nabighah al-Ja'di—followed by entries for unnamed individuals (such as a youth from Yemen and an unnamed paralyzed man).
- Chapter Four: Focuses on female Companions, including shared virtues of Khadijah bint Khuwaylid and Fatimah al-Zahra', followed by individual entries for Aisha bint Abi Bakr and Fatimah.
The book concludes with eight thematic indexes covering Quranic verses, hadiths, poetic verses, uncommon vocabulary, biographical figures, tribes, sources, and subjects.
Methodology and Findings
Al-Saidi relied primarily on the edition of Ibn Hajar's al-Matalib al-Aliya edited by Ayman Abu Yamani and Ashraf Salah (published in 1418 AH). His critical procedure included:
- Tracing the chain of transmission (isnad) recorded by Ibn Hajar, gathering supporting transmission lines and corroborating reports (shawahid) from other hadith collections, and comparing variant wordings.
- Providing biographical notices for disputed or weak narrators using primary works of al-Jarh wa-al-Ta'dil, drawing particularly on evaluations by al-Dhahabi and Ibn Hajar.
- Quoting early critical assessments and determining final verdicts on both the chains and the texts according to the rules of mainstream hadith scholars.
In his critical assessment of the 40 additional hadiths examined, al-Saidi graded 1 as authentic (sahih), 4 as good through corroboration (hasan li-ghayrihi), 11 as weak (da'if), 7 as very weak (da'if jiddan), 9 as denounced (munkar), and 8 as fabricated (mawdu').
Publication
The work was published in a single volume by the Deanship of Scientific Research at the Islamic University of Madinah (publication no. 183; Refereed Books and Research Series no. 29) in its first edition in 1436 AH / 2015 CE.
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