The Nuzhah of Ibn Htranslation and Critical Commentary
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The Nuzhah of Ibn H ajar al-‘Asqaln (d. 852/1449); a translation and critical commentary. By Ather Shahbaz Hussain. A thesis submitted to The University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY. School of Philosophy, Theology & Religion The University of Birmingham May 2012. Student ID; 305611 1 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. Abstract. This subject of this thesis is Nuzhat al-naz ar f tawdīh Nukhbat al-fikar, a manual written by Ibn Hajar al-‘Asqaln (d. 852/1449), outlining the science of prophetic traditions (‘ilm al-hadth). The thesis aims to fulfill two tasks. Firstly, an accurate and accessible translation of the Nuzhah will be presented in English. Secondly, this will be coupled with a detailed and critical commentary of Ibn Hajar’s work. This commentary will assess the worth of the Nuzhah in many ways; the writings of Ibn Hajar will be analysed to learn what it said about the climate of the ninth Islamic century, by comparing it with the works of Muslim scholars before and after Ibn Hajar. Additionally, where the works of modern, non-Muslim scholars such as Schacht and Juynboll are mentioned, it will be with the purpose to show the interaction with their Muslim counterparts. Themes such as the use of technical terms in the discipline, the importance of seniority and the pedagogical nature of the Nuzhah will also be discussed. 2 The Nuzhah of Ibn H ajar al-‘Asqaln (d. 852/1449). Contents. 1.0 Introduction to the thesis………………………………………………………..7 2.0 The life and works of Ibn H5ajar al-‘Asqal:n;………………………………...18 3.0 The Nuzhah of Ibn H5ajar; the Author’s Introduction and the related literature………………………………………………………………………...32 4.0 The Nuzhah of Ibn H5ajar……………………..………………………..............41 5.0 The Main Section; a translation of the Nuzhah, with the commentary and critical analysis………………………………………………....………….51 5.1 Author’s Introduction. 5.2 The division of traditions according to how they reached us. 5.3 Mutawtir- the Widespread. 5.4 Mashhr- the Famous and its types. 5.5 ‘Azz- the Scarce. 5.6 Gharb- the Rare. 5.7 Maqbl & mardd- the division of traditions according to the accepted and rejected. 5.8 Fard- the Solitary. 5.9 Sah"h"- the Sound. 5.10 Hasan- the Fair. 5.11 Shdhdh & mah fz$- The Preserved and the Anomalous. 5.12 Ma‘rf & munkar- the Familiar and the Unfamiliar. 5.13 Mutbi‘, shhid & i‘tibr- the Parallelisms, the Attestations and the Analysis. 5.14 Muh"kam- the Clear. 5.15 Mukhtalif al-hadth - the Contradictory Tradition. 5.16 Nsikh & manskh- the Abrogating and the Abrogated. 5.17 Mardd- the Rejected and the reasons for rejection. 5.18 Mu‘allaq- the Suspended. 5.19 Mursal- the Loose. 5.20 Mu‘d il & munqat i‘- the Problematic and the Interrupted. 5.21 Mudallas- the Misrepresented. 5.22 Mursal khaf- the Hidden Loose. 5.23 Reasons for defamation in the tradition. 5.24 Mawd$‘- the Forged. 5.25 Matrk- the Discarded. 5.26 Munkar- the Unfamiliar. 5.27 Mu‘allal- the Defective. 5.28 Mudraj- the Material Interpolated. 5.29 Maqlb- the Mixed-Up. 5.30 Mazd f muttas"il al-asnd- the Addition in Cohesive Chains. 3 5.31 Mud$t$arib- the Disrupted. 5.32 Mus"ah"h"af & muh"arraf- the Misread and the Misspelling. 5.33 Riwya bi-al-ma‘n- Transmission by Meaning. 5.34 Sharh" al-gharb- the Commentary of the Rare Words. 5.35 Jahla- the Unknown. 5.36 Mubham- the Obscure. 5.37 Bid‘a- the Innovation. 5.38 Mukhtalat$- the Merged. 5.39 Hasan li-ghayrih- the Fair by other. 5.40 Marf‘- the Raised. 5.41 Sah b- the Companions. 5.42 Tbi‘ (the Successors) and the Mukhad$ramn. 5.43 Marf‘ (the Raised), mawqf (the Halted), maqt$‘ (the Cut-Off) and athar (the Traces). 5.44 Musnad- the Supported. 5.45 ‘Uluww- the Elevated. 5.46 Muwfaqa & badal- the Agreements and Substitutions. 5.47 Muswh & mus fah a- the Equivalent and the Hand-Shaking. 5.48 Aqrn- the Generations. 5.49 Riwyat al-akbir ‘an al-as ghir- the Narration of the Seniors from the Juniors. 5.50 Riwyat al-abn’ ‘an al-.b’ - the Narration of the Sons from the Fathers. 5.51 Sbiq & lh iq- the Preceding and the Reaching. 5.52 Muhmal- The Obscure. 5.53 Man haddatha wa nasiya- The one who narrated and then forgot. 5.54 Musalsal- the Enchained. 5.55 S iyagh al-ad’- the Words of Delivery. 5.56 Mu‘an‘an- the Continuous ‘an. 5.57 Wijda- the discovery. 5.58 I‘lm- the declaration. 5.59 Muttafiq & muftariq- The homogeneous and the non-homogeneous. 5.60 Mu’talif & mukhtalif- the Similar and the Different. 5.61 Mutashbih -The Similar. 5.62 Conclusion: Knowing the generations of reporters, their birth-dates, their death- dates and their places of origins and travels. 5.63 Martib al-jarh wa-al-ta‘dl- the stages of accreditation and dis-accreditation. 5.64 Other rulings relating to jarh & ta‘dl. 5.65 Knowing the paidonymics of the reporters and other related matters. 5.66 Knowing the etiquettes of the shaykh and disciple. 5.67 The age of hearing and delivering reports, and the reports of a non-Muslim and a Muslim wrong-doer. 5.68 Knowing the method of writing and recording. 5.69 Travelling in pursuit of had th. 5.70 Types of had th Compilation. 5.71 The reasons behind the had th. 5.72 Final Supplication. 4 6.0 Findings………………...…………………………………………………...…425 7.0 Conclusion……………………………….………………………………….…495 8.0 Appendix A; Ibn H5ajar’s literary works…………………………………….501 9.0 Bibliography………………………………………………………………..….505 List of Diagrams. Section 5.8.2. A Summary of reports according to how they reached us. Section 5.16.3. A Summary of the maqbl (accepted reports). Section 5.38.2. A Summary of the rejected traditions. 5 Transliteration Table. Consonants. DI ض A ا TI ط B ب ZI ظ C ت A‘ ع Th ث Gh غ J ج F ف H ح Q ق Kh خ K ك D د L ل Dh ذ M م R ر N ن Z ز S b H س W و Sh ش Y ي SI ص .t in the construct state, -a in the non-construct state- ة Vowels. Short. Fathia: a Kasra: i DIamma: u k : و : ي : Long. j .preceded by a DIamma: aw و .Dipthongs .preceded by a Fathia: ay ي Arabic broken plurals have been translated into English. So, for example, I have written hadths rather than ahād th. 6 The Nuzhah of Ibn H ajar al-‘Asqaln (d. 852/1449); a translation and critical commentary. 1.1. Introduction to the Thesis. Nuzhat al-naz ar f tawdīh nukhbat al-fikar is one of the most famous and respected manuals in the discipline of ‘ilm al-hadth. Written by Ibn Hajar al-‘Asqaln (d. 852 A.H./1449 C.E.)1, it was one of the last major works on the subject, aimed at consolidating the vast array of literature that preceded it. The work is still revered today and continues to be taught in seminaries throughout the Muslim world. Nuzhat al-naz ar is actually a detailed commentary of a much shorter treatise written by Ibn Hajar, Nukhbat al-fikar f mustalah al-athar. The latter consists of only a few pages. In his introduction to Nuzhat al-naz ar, Ibn Hajar explains that his contemporaries asked him to offer a brief overview of ‘ilm al-hadth. Ibn Hajar duly obliged in the form of Nukhbat al-fikar, but he was then later asked to expand on this work. The result was Nuzhat al-naz ar f tawdīh nukhbat al-fikar. Though in reality the Nuzhah is two separate works (Nuzhat al-naz ar and Nukhbat al-fikar), Ibn Hajar wrote his final piece in an amalgamated style.2 The result is that it can be read as if it is one piece of work. As it will be shown in chapter three, the Nuzhah is only a small reflection of Ibn Hajar’s knowledge and academic contribution to the discipline of ‘ilm al-hadth. He wrote 1 A.H. denotes ‘After Hijra’, the date from which the Muslim calendar commenced. C.E. denotes ‘Common Era’. All corresponding dates in this thesis have been taken from The Muslim & Christian Calendars. G.S.P. Freeman-Grenville. Oxford University Press: London, 1963. 2 What this means is that when Ibn Hajar embarked on writing the Nuzhah, he did not delete anything from the Nukhbah. Rather, he added the commentary in between. 7 individual treatises on countless areas in this field. But the accessibility of the Nuzhah is just one reason why the work has remained in the public domain for such a long period of time. The work strikes a perfect balance between being a sound appreciation of ‘ilm al- hadth, but without deviation and without stretching into volumes of work. It offers an excellent overview of the main terminologies used in the field, a simple and systematic presentation of the division of traditions and an invaluable insight into Ibn Hajar’s own methodology.