The Dictations of al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar: Their Types and Characteristics, with “The Forty Distinct Dictations with the Condition of Auditory Transmission” as a Case Study

Abstract

Abstract:

Al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar is regarded as one of the most prolific scholars in the tradition of dictation, with his dictation sessions exceeding one thousand gatherings. This study explores significant aspects of his dictation sessions, including their origins, classifications, benefits, and distinctive features. Ibn Ḥajar began his dictations in the year 808 AH at the age of 35, and continued holding these sessions until his death in 852 AH.

His first dictated work was ʿUshāriyyāt al-Ṣaḥābah (The Ten-Narration Collections of the Companions), and his final dictated work was Natāʾij al-Afkār fī Takhrīj al-Adhkār (The Outcomes of Thought in the Source Analysis of al-Adhkār). He delivered dictations at several schools in Cairo, including the Baybarsiyya, the Kāmiliyya, and the Shaykhūniyya, as well as in his own home. Additionally, he conducted sessions in Damascus at the Umayyad Mosque and in Aleppo at the Great Mosque.

The total number of dictation sessions he held reached 1,064. His dictations are notable for their inclusion of valuable hadith insights and technical terminological rules. These include determining the rank of hadiths along with their source analysis, organizing supporting narrations from strongest to weakest, evaluating transmitters with respect to reliability and criticism, interpreting rare expressions, clarifying problematic narrations, and reconciling apparently contradictory hadiths.

One of the key benefits of his dictations is that they serve as a practical application of hadith source analysis and isnād (chain of transmission) studies. They thus offer researchers valuable training and expertise in the critical methods of hadith scholarship.