by AS Hussain · 2012 · Cited by 2 — Ibn Hajar as a teacher also depended heavily on his memory and in fact showed surprise to others who did not. He. ‘reported as a novel practice that one of his
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1The Nuzhah of Ibn H ajar al-‚Asqal n(d. 852/1449); a translation and critical commentary. By Ather Shahbaz Hussain. Athesis 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
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University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties.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 C opyright 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 legisl ation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder.
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2Abstract. This subject of this thesis is Nuzhat al-naz ar f tawd hNukhbat al-fikar ,a manual written by Ibn H ˆajar al-‚Asqal ˜n (d. 852/1449), outlining the science of prophetic traditions (‚ilm al-h ˘adth). 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 H ˆajar™s work. This commentary will assess the worth of the Nuzhah in many ways; the writings of Ibn H ˆajar 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 H ˆajar. 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.
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3The Nuzhah of Ibn H ajar al-‚Asqal n(d. 852/1449). Contents. 1.0 Introduction to the thesis–––––––––––––––––––––..7 2.0 The life and works of Ibn H 5ajar al-‚Asqal :n;––––––––––––18 3.0 The Nuzhah of Ibn H 5ajar; the Author™s Introduction and the related literature–––––––––––––––––––––––––––32 4.0 The Nuzhah of Ibn H 5ajar––––––––..–––––––––..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 Mutaw ˆtir -the Widespread. 5.4 Mashh ˝r-the Famous and its types. 5.5 ‚Az z-the Scarce. 5.6 Ghar b-the Rare. 5.7 Maqb ˝l&mard ˝d-the division of traditions according to the accepted and rejected. 5.8 Fard -the Solitary. 5.9 Sahh”-the Sound. 5.10 H˘asan -the Fair. 5.11 Shˆdhdh & mah f˝z$-The Preserved and the Anomalous. 5.12 Ma‚r ˝f&munkar -the Familiar and the Unfamiliar. 5.13 Mut ˆbi‚ ,shˆhid & i‚tib ˆr-the Parallelisms, the Attestations and the Analysis. 5.14 Muh “kam -the Clear. 5.15 Mukhtalif al-h ˘adth – the Contradictory Tradition. 5.16 Nˆsikh & mans ˝kh-the Abrogating and the Abrogated. 5.17 Mard ˝d-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 Matr ˝k-the Discarded. 5.26 Munkar -the Unfamiliar. 5.27 Mu‚allal -the Defective. 5.28 Mudraj -the Material Interpolated. 5.29 Maql ˝b-the Mixed-Up. 5.30 Maz df muttas “il al-as ˆnd-the Addition in Cohesive Chains.
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45.31 Mud $t$arib -the Disrupted. 5.32 Mus “ah”h”af & muh “arraf -the Misread and the Misspelling. 5.33 Riw ˆya bi-al-ma‚n ˆ-Transmission by Meaning. 5.34 Sharh “al-ghar b-the Commentary of the Rare Words. 5.35 Jah ˆla-the Unknown. 5.36 Mubham -the Obscure. 5.37 Bid‚a -the Innovation. 5.38 Mukhtalat $-the Merged. 5.39 H˘asan li-ghayrih -the Fair by other. 5.40 Marf ˝‚-the Raised. 5.41 Sahb-the Companions. 5.42 Tˆbi‚ (the Successors) and the Mukhad $ram ˝n.5.43 Marf ˝‚(the Raised), mawq ˝f(the Halted), maqt $˝‚(the Cut-Off) and athar (the Traces). 5.44 Musnad -the Supported. 5.45 ‚Uluww -the Elevated. 5.46 Muw ˆfaqa & badal -the Agreements and Substitutions. 5.47 Mus ˆwˆh&mus fah a-the Equivalent and the Hand-Shaking. 5.48 Aqr ˆn-the Generations. 5.49 Riw ˆyat al-ak ˆbir ‚an al-as ghir -the Narration of the Seniors from the Juniors. 5.50 Riw ˆyat al-abn ˆ™‚an al- .bˆ™-the Narration of the Sons from the Fathers. 5.51 Sˆbiq &lˆhiq-the Preceding and the Reaching. 5.52 Muhmal -The Obscure. 5.53 Man h ˘addatha wa nasiya -The one who narrated and then forgot. 5.54 Musalsal -the Enchained. 5.55 Siyagh al-ad ˆ™-the Words of Delivery. 5.56 Mu‚an‚an -the Continuous ‚an. 5.57 Wij ˆda-the discovery. 5.58 I‚lˆm-the declaration. 5.59 Muttafiq & muftariq -The homogeneous and the non-homogeneous. 5.60 Mu™talif & mukhtalif -the Similar and the Different. 5.61 Mutash ˆbih -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 Mar ˆtib al-jarh wa-al-ta‚d l-the stages of accreditation and dis-accreditation. 5.64 Other rulings relating to jarh &ta‚d l.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 h ˆad th. 5.70 Types of h ˆad th Compilation. 5.71 The reasons behind the h ˆad th. 5.72 Final Supplication.
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56.0 Findings––––––––––––––––––––––––––425 7.0 Conclusion––––––––––––.–––––––––––––.–495 8.0 Appendix A; Ibn H 5ajar™s literary works––––––––––––––.501 9.0 Bibliography––––––––––––––––––––––––..–.505 List of Diagrams. Section 5.8.2. ASummary of reports according to how they reached us .Section 5.16.3. ASummary of the maqb ˝l(accepted reports). Section 5.38.2. ASummary of the rejected traditions.
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7The Nuzhah of Ibn H ajar al-‚Asqal n(d. 852/1449); a translation and critical commentary. 1.1. Introduction to the Thesis. Nuzhat al-naz ar f tawd hnukhbat al-fikar is one of the most famous and respected manuals in the discipline of ‚ilm al-h ˘adth.Written by Ibn H ˆajar al-‚Asqal ˜n (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 H ˆajar, Nukhbat al-fikar f mus talah al-athar .The latter consists of only a few pages. In his introduction to Nuzhat al-naz ar,Ibn H ˆajar explains that his contemporaries asked him to offer a brief overview of ‚ilm al-h ˘adth.Ibn H ˆajar 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 tawd hnukhbat al-fikar .Though in reality the Nuzhah is two separate works ( Nuzhat al-naz ar and Nukhbat al-fikar ), Ibn H ˆajar wrote his final piece in an amalgamated style. 2The 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 H ˆajar™s knowledge and academic contribution to the discipline of ‚ilm al-h ˘adth.He wrote 1A.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. 2What this means is that when Ibn H ˆajar embarked on writing the Nuzhah ,he did not delete anything from the Nukhbah .Rather, he added the commentary in between.
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8individual 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- h˘adth,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 H ˆajar™s own methodology. In short, the importance of this work should not be overestimated and this is why an appreciation of it is required. 1.2. The Objectives of the Thesis. The primary aim of this thesis is: a. to offer an English translation of the Nuzhah .b. to couple this with a critical analysis and an evaluation of the work, through the means of an innovative commentary. 1.2.1. The translation. This work will present an accurate yet easily-accessible English rendition of Nuzhat al- naz ar f tawd hnukhbat al-fikar .The actual text of the Nuzhah will be presented in bold font throughout the chapter. In the Nuzhah ,I have tried to keep the translation as literal as possible. In places, this is difficult not least because the Nuzhah itself is an amalgamation of two works. Therefore there are places where I have added words in square brackets that are not to be found in the original Nuzhah. This is for the sake of easier reading in English. Additionally I have sometimes added words in round brackets that are usually
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9the translation of certain terminologies that Ibn H ˆajar employs. Admittedly, there are places where the English translation of the Nuzhah does not flow as well as one could hope for, but as much as possible, I wanted the English to resemble the original Arabic. In translation terminology, there is a distinction between dynamic equivalence (which attempts to capture the thought and meaning at the expense of word order and grammatical features) and formal equivalence (which attempts literal fidelity at the expense of readability or even understanding). In practice translation tends to be a mixture of the two, and I think the same could be said for my translation of the Nuzhah .For the translation, I have depended upon the copy published by Mu™assasat Man ˜hil al- ‚Irf ˜n, in Beirut, Lebanon (1990). This version has been edited by Muh iammad ‚Abb ˜sal- SIabb ˜gh. 31.2.2. The Commentary. Athesis at this stage of academia needs to display an original contribution to knowledge. Certainly the translation of the Nuzhah into English will fulfil this aim, as this is, to my knowledge, the first time the Nuzhah has been translated in full into English at PhD level. 4But it is in the commentary of the Nuzhah where I hope to display a unique understanding of the discipline, as well as show a degree of independent, critical and analytical skills. I intend to do this with the following points in mind: 3Unfortunately, I did not come across any information regarding the Nuzhah in original, manuscript form. Informally, I was told that it can be found at the al-Azhar University manuscript archives, in Cairo. 4Ihave not come across a full English translation of the Nuzhah .The shorter Nukhbah has been translated into English by Musa Furber in the appendix to G.F. Haddad™s work, Sunna Notes – Studies in Hadith & Doctrine Volume I; Hadith History & Principles. (Aqsa Publications: UK. 2005)
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10mMuslim scholars after Ibn H ˆajar showed their admiration for the Nuzhah by penning detailed commentaries on it, of which several are in circulation today. Many of these works, such as al-Mun ˜w ™s contribution, provided an unreserved and uncompromising explanation running into volumes of work. However, the nature of these existing works on the Nuzhah has followed a routine pattern. For most part, they have commented on the Nuzhah ,not necessarily critically assessed and evaluated it. The technical terms in the commentaries have been explained, but the wider implication of them has not been outlined. These works tell us little about the academic and social climate of the ninth Islamic century. Certainly, the likes of al-Q ˜r and al-Mun ˜w have not asked what the Nuzhah said about the development of ‚ilm al-h ˘adth as a whole. This is precisely where I hope to contribute with a fresh input and show true originality. My purpose is not to comment on the Nuzhah for the sake of it. As much as possible and wherever appropriate, I will ask what the writings of Ibn H ˆajar tell us about his era and the nature of h ˆad th academia at the time. If there are areas in the Nuzhah that received more attention Œ areas such as mutaw ˆtir ,bid‚a and marf ˝‚for example Œ then the possible reasons behind this will be assessed. Similarly, the emphasis will not be on what aparticular technical term means, but more on what purpose it served in the discipline. mThe thesis is centred on a work written over five centuries ago. Yet there will be places where I will refer to recent, relevant literature stemming from non-Muslim, Western academics such as Burton (1994), Brown (1999), Goldziher, Guillaume (1924), Juynboll (1983, 1996), Muir (1858) and Schacht (1959). Wherever appropriate, I will compare the writings of Ibn H ˆajar with what non-Muslim academics have had to say. For instance, in
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