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Abu Hafs an-Nasafi’s contribution to the science of Hadiths
It is true that Abu Hafs an-Nasafi was one of the leading scholars and estimated experts in the science of Hadiths. He attended and took an active part in the lessons on Hadiths delivered by leading specialists in this field. As he writes, he cited Hadiths from more than 550 sheikhs of his time. In his book “Ti’dad ash-shuyukh li-Umar mustatrif ala-l-huruf mustatir” (The number of Umar’s teachers given in an alphabetical order), he counted the number of sheikhs one by one who had taught him different fields of science. It is a great pity that this rare book which was mentioned by a number of scholars as a precious manual did not reach us. However, relying on the information provided in his masterpiece, we can mention three of his main teachers who were well-known experts in the field of Hadiths. They were:
- Abu Ali al-Hasan ibn Abd al-Malik ibn Ali ibn Musa ibn
Israfil an-Nasafi (the llth-12th centuries); - Umar ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn ash-Shabib ash-Shabibi ad-Dizaki (died in 1117-1118);
- Abu Muhammad Abdullah ibn Ahmad an-Nafila (died in 1109-1110).
In the book “Kitab al-qand” written by Abu Hafs an-Nasafi, the first of the above-mentioned teachers, i.e. al-Hasan ibn Abd al-Malik an-Nasafi’s name is mentioned in 135 places of the book. I’mm this teacher the author cited the traditions of Abu-l-Abbas il Mustaghfiri who was one of the greatest specialists in the science of Hadiths and deeply interested in “ilm al-jarh va-t-adil’. The results of his investigations in this field were collected in the book “Tarikhi Nasaf”. Abu Sa’d as-Sam’ani characterizes this book as “a big source consisting of two volumes”. Thus, Abu Hafs an-Nasafi described the traditions of al-Mustaghfiri through one person.
Abu Hafs an-Nasafi’s second teacher Umar ibn Ahmad ash-Shabibi ad-Dizaki gave the second manuscript to Abu Hafs an-Nasafi through Umar ibn Ahmad al-Farisi (died in 1062-1063). It was a book written by Abu Sad Abd ar-Rahman ibn Muhammad al-Idrisi (died in 1015). Abu Sa’d Abd ar-Rahman ibn Muhammad al-Idrisi was the author of two famous books dealing with the historical biography — “Tarikhi Astrabad” (The History of Astra-bad) and “Kitab al-Kamal fi ma’rifat ar-rijal bi-Samarqand” (A Perfect Book on the Experts in Hadiths from Samarkand). There is some information about the second book in “Kitab al-qand”. “Kitab al-Kamol” served as a main written source for Abu Hafs an-Nasafi.
Abu Hafs an-Nasafi cited a huge amount of information (45 times) from his third teacher Abu Muhammad Abdullah ibn Ahmad an-Nafila as-Samarqandi (died in 1109-1110). However, Abu Hafs an-Nasafi left a very little information about this expert. He mentions that he was a grandson of a well-known expert in Hadiths Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Abdullah an-Najjar.
From the fact that Abu Hafs an-Nasafi mentioned a great number of names presenting his teachers and masters he seems to have been seriously engaged in studying this science since his very childhood. Among his teachers and masters, we can see experts and specialists from Nasaf and Samarkand. The fact that he was given a title “Al-Hafiz” means that he had a high level of status in the fields of Hadiths. It was common to give the title of “Al-Hafiz” to the experts who had learnt more than 20000 Hadiths by heart.
The books he wrote in this field prove the fact that he was one of the leading specialists in the field of Hadiths. For instance, having commented on Imam al-Bukhari’s book “Al-Jami’ as-Sahih”, he wrote his own book “An-Najah fi sharh akhbar kitab as-Sihah” (Successes in Commenting on the Book “as-Sihah”). His another book titled as “Matla’ an-nujum va majma’ al-ulum” is also related with the science of Hadiths and admonitions. A copy of its manu-scri pt is preserved in the scientific library of the Institute of Oriental Studies named after Abu Rayhan Beruni of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
This manuscript was copied from the other origin in 1364. The original version of the book was recorded during the lessons delivered by Abu Hafs an-Nasafi. This complex includes 57 works and some of them were commented by Abu Hafs an-Nasafi. The other works belong to different authors.
The first two books are devoted to the science of kalam. The third book is related to the characteristic features of the parties in religion. The 4th-7th books are related to morality. The 8th-llth books deal with Qur’anic sciences. The 12th one is about the styles in law. The 13th-19th are related to the Hanafian law (a part consisting of 120 pages). The 28th-29th books deal with the rules of compiling documents and the rest of the works have something to do with philology, mathematics and other natural sciences. The 20th-24th works are of great importance for the science of Hadiths. I he 20th book titled as “Kitab at-tavarikh va-l-ansab” is devoted to the description of the history of births and deaths and some characteristic features of the acknowledged and estimated specialists in the field of Hadiths. The 21st book presents the names of sahabas in the alphabetical order (Part B, pp.181-196). The 22nd book titled as “Al-Khulafa ar-rashidun” is devoted to the history of caliphs (Part B, pp.196-197). The 23rd book provides the list of names of scholars in the alphabetical order and analyses them (Part B, pp.197-198). The 24th book titled as “As-Sab’iyat as-im’iyat” contains 360 best-selected Hadiths (Part B, pp. 198-14).
Besides those above-mentioned books, Abu Hafs an-Nasafi is iIn- author of the book “Tatvil al-asfar li-tahsil al-akhbar” (Long Visits in Search of Information).
