Dating the Ḥadīth of “Seven Aḥruf (Letters)” Based on the Combined Isnād-Text Analysis Method

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Professor, Department of Quran and Hadith Sciences, University of Tehran.

2 Corresponding Author, Associate Professor, Department of Quranic and Hadith Sciences, Faculty of Humanities, Arak University, Arak, Iran

Abstract

Objective: The ḥadīth of sabʿat aḥruf (“seven letters”) is one of the most debated topics in Qurʾānic studies. Due to its multiple textual versions, this narration has given rise to diverse interpretations and, at times, raised doubts about Qurʾānic integrity. The present study aims to date the sabʿat aḥruf narration by employing a combined isnād–matn analytical method across both Sunni and Shīʿī sources.
Method: This research adopts a descriptive–analytical approach and a combined isnād–matn dating method. First, different textual variants were collected and isnād networks reconstructed; then, textual content was analyzed and enriched with isnād data to reconstruct the historical development of the narration.
Results: The study shows that this narration occurs far more frequently in Sunni sources than in early Shīʿī works, appearing only in al-Ṣadūq’s writings, which nevertheless conflict with his doctrinal position affirming a single mode of Qurʾānic revelation. Most isnād networks lack a common core transmitter, except for reports describing the dispute between ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb and Hishām ibn Ḥakīm over Sūrat al-Furqān, where Ibn Shihāb al-Zuhrī functions as the main common link and Mālik ibn Anas and Layth as secondary links. Furthermore, some variants interpret the “seven letters” as pertaining to Qurʾānic meaning and exegesis rather than formal recitational differences.
Conclusions: The isnād–matn analysis indicates that the sabʿat aḥruf narration is not directly related to the concept of the canonical qirāʾāt sabʿa but rather to dialectal and linguistic facilitation. External dating attributes the narration to the final years of the Prophet’s life, while the companions’ surprise at hearing variant recitations suggests that systematic variant readings did not exist in early Islam.   

Keywords

References

The Noble Qurʾān (Qurʾān al‑Karīm).
Abū Dāwūd, Sulaymān bin al‑Ashʿath. (1420 AH / 1999 CE). Sunan Abī Dāwūd (The Sunnans of Abū Dāwūd), ed. Sayyid Ibrāhīm, Cairo: Dār al‑Ḥadīth, 1st ed.
Āqāyī, Sayyid ʿAlī. (1390 SH / 2011 CE). “Taʾrīkh‑guzārī‑ye Aḥādīth bar mabnā‑ye ravesh‑e taḥlīl‑e tarkībī‑ye asnād–matn: emkānāt va maḥdūdīyat‑hā” (Dating Hadiths Using Combined Chain‑Text Analysis: Possibilities & Limitations), Ṣaḥīfeh‑ye Mobīn, no. 50, pp. 101–140.
ʿArūsī Ḥūwayzī, ʿAbd ʿAlī. (1415 AH / 1994 CE). Tafsīr Nūr al‑Thaqalayn (Exegesis “Light of the Two Weighty Ones”), ed. Sayyid Hāshim Rasūlī Maḥallātī, Qom: Ismāʿīliyyān, 4th ed.
ʿAyyāshī, Muḥammad bin Masʿūd. (1380 SH / 2001 CE). Tafsīr al‑ʿAyyāshī (Exegesis of al‑ʿAyyāshī), ed. Sayyid Hāshim Rasūlī Maḥallātī, Tehran: al‑Maṭbaʿah al‑ʿIlmiyyah, 1st ed.
Bukhārī, Muḥammad bin Ismāʿīl. (1410 AH / 1990 CE). Ṣaḥīḥ al‑Bukhārī (The Authentic Collection of al‑Bukhārī), ed. Ministry of Awqāf, Cairo: Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, Committee for Revival of Sunnah Books, 2nd ed.
Cook, Michael. (1981). “Early Muslim Dogma: A Source-Critical Study”, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Fayḍ Kāshānī, Muḥammad Ḥasan. (1406 AH / 1985 CE). al‑Wāfī (The Comprehensive Commentary), Isfahan: Library of Imām Ali bin Abī Ṭālib (a).
Goldziher, Ignaz. (1383 SH / 2004 CE). Tendency‑hā-ye Tafsīrī dar Mīyān-e Musalmānān (Interpretative Tendencies among Muslims), trans. Nāṣer Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Tehran: Qoqnūs.
Ḥamawī, Yāqūt bin ʿAbdullah. (n.d.). Muʿjam al‑Buldan (Dictionary of Countries), Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al‑Turāth al‑ʿArabī.
Ḥasūmī, Valīallāh. (1391 SH / 2012 CE). Naqd va barrasi‑ye ārā‑ye khāvarshenāsān dar mawzūʿ‑e aḥādīth‑e nabavī (Critique of Orientalists’ Views on Prophetic Hadiths), Qom: Publications of Uṣūl al‑Dīn Faculty.
Ḥurr ʿĀmilī, Muḥammad bin Ḥasan. (1409 AH / 1988 CE). Wasāʾil al‑Shīʿah (Means of the Shiʿah), Qom: Muʾassasat Āl al‑Bayt (a.s.).
Ḥurr ʿĀmilī, Muḥammad bin Ḥasan. (1414 AH / 1993 CE). Hidāyat al‑Ummah ilā Aḥkām al‑Aʾimmah ʿalayhim al‑salām (Guidance of the Ummah to the Rulings of the Imams), Mashhad: Āstān Ghods‑e Raḍawī, Islamic Research Center.
Ibn Ḥanbal, Aḥmad bin Muḥammad. (1416 AH / 1995 CE). Musnad al‑Imām Aḥmad bin Ḥanbal (The Musnad of Imam Aḥmad bin Ḥanbal), eds. ʿĀmir Ghaḍbān, Ibrāhīm Zaybaq et al., Beirut: Muʾassasat al‑Risālah, 1st ed.
Ibn Qutaybah, ʿAbdullah bin Muslim. (1992 CE). al‑Maʿārif (The Knowledge), Cairo: al‑Hayʾah al‑Miṣriyyah, 2nd ed.
Ibn Shahr Āshūb, Muḥammad bin ʿAlī. (1379 AH / 1959 CE). Manāqib Āl Abī Ṭālib ʿalayhim al‑salām (The Virtues of the Family of Abū Ṭālib), Qom: ʿAllāmah.
Juynboll, G.H.A. (1989). “Some Isnād-Analytical Methods Illustrated on the Basis of Several Women Demeaning Sayings from Ḥadīth Literature”, Al-Qanṭara, X.
Juynboll, G.H.A. (1993), “Nāfiʿ, the Mawlā of Ibn ʿUmar, and His Position in Muslim ḤadīthLiterature”,Der Islam, 70.
Juynboll, G.H.A. (1994).“Early Islamic Society as Reflected in Its Use of Isnāds”, Le Muséon, 107:12.
Juynboll, G.H.A. (2001).“(Re)appraisal of Some Technical Terms in Ḥadīth Science”, Islamic Law andSociety, 8.
Kulaynī, Muḥammad bin Yaʿqūb. (1429 AH / 2008 CE). al‑Kāfī (The Sufficient Collection), Qom: Dār al‑Ḥadīth, 1st ed.
Maʿārif, Majīd & Shafīʿī, Saʿīd. (1394 SH / 2015 CE). Darāmadī bar Muṭālaʿāt‑e Ḥadīthī dar Dowrān‑e Muʿāṣir (An Introduction to Contemporary Hadith Studies), Tehran: SAMT.
Majlisī, Muḥammad Bāqir. (1403 AH / 1982 CE). Biḥār al‑Anwār (Seas of Lights), edited by a team of researchers, Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al‑Turāth al‑ʿArabī, 2nd ed.
Majlisī, Muḥammad Bāqir. (1404 AH / 1983 CE). Mirʾāt al‑ʿUqūl fī Sharḥ Akhbār Āl al‑Rasūl (Mirror of Intellects in Commentary on the Reports of the Prophet’s Family), ed. Sayyid Hāshim Rasūlī Maḥallātī, Tehran: Dār al‑Kutub al‑Islāmiyyah, 2nd ed.
Mālik bin Anas. (1425 AH / 2004 CE). al‑Muwaṭṭaʾ al‑Imām Mālik (The Muwatta of Imam Mālik), ed. Muḥammad Muṣṭafā al‑Aʿẓamī, Abu Dhabi: Zāyed bin Sulṭān Āl Nahyān Charitable & Humanitarian Foundation.
Motzki, Harald, (1996) ‘Quevadis, Hadith- Forschung? Eine KritischeUntersuchung von G.H.A. Juynboll:”Nafi’ mawla of Ibn ‘Umar, his position in Muslim Hadith Literature”’. Der Islam.
Motzki, Harald. (2000), “The Murder of Ibn Abī l-Ḥuqayq: on the Origin and Reliability of Some Maghāzī- Reports” in idem (ed.), The Biography of Muḥammad: the Issue of the Sources, Leiden: Brill.
Motzki, Harald. (2005). “Dating Muslim Tradition: A Survey”, Arabica, 52:2.
Muqātil bin Sulaymān. (1423 AH / 2002 CE). Tafsīr Muqātil bin Sulaymān (Exegesis of Muqātil bin Sulaymān), ed. ʿAbdullah Maḥmūd Shaḥātah, Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al‑Turāth al‑ʿArabī, 1st ed.
Muslim bin al‑Ḥajjāj. (1412 AH / 1991 CE). Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim (The Authentic Collection of Muslim), ed. Muḥammad Fuʾād ʿAbd al‑Bāqī, Cairo: Dār al‑Ḥadīth, 1st ed.
Nasāʾī, Aḥmad bin ʿAlī. (n.d.)(1). al‑Sunan al‑Kubrā (The Major Sunan), ed. ʿAbd al‑Fattāḥ Abū Ghuddah, Aleppo: Maktab al‑Maṭbūʿāt al‑Islāmiyyah.
Nasāʾī, Aḥmad bin ʿAlī. (n.d.)(2). al‑Mujtabā min al‑Sunan (The Selected from Sunan), ed. Bayt al‑Afkār al‑Duwaliyyah, Jordan: Bayt al‑Afkār al‑Duwaliyyah, 1st ed.
Nūrī Ṭabarsī, Ḥusayn bin Muḥammad Taqī. (1408 AH / 1988 CE). Mustadrak al‑Wasāʾil wa Mustanbaṭ al‑Masāʾil (Supplement to Wasāʾil and Derived Issues), Qom: Muʾassasat Āl al‑Bayt, 1st ed.
Qummī Mashhadī, Muḥammad bin Muḥammad Riḍā. (1368 SH / 1989 CE). Tafsīr Kanz al‑Daqāʾiq wa Baḥr al‑Gharāʾib (Interpretation “Treasure of Subtleties & Sea of Wonders”), ed. Ḥusayn Dargāhī, Tehran: Ministry of Culture & Islamic Guidance, 1st ed.
Qummī, ʿAlī bin Ibrāhīm. (1404 AH / 1983 CE). Tafsīr al‑Qummī (The Exegesis of al‑Qummī), ed. Ṭayyib Mūsawī Jazāʾirī, Qom: Dār al‑Kitāb, 3rd ed.
Rād, ʿAlī. (1394 SH / 2015 CE). “Khāvarshenāsān va Ḥadīth‑e Imāmīyah” (Orientalists and Imāmī Hadith), ʿUlūm‑e Ḥadīth, no. 78, pp. 23–59.
Ṣadūq, Muḥammad bin ʿAlī bin Bābawayh. (1414 AH / 1993 CE). al‑Iʿtiqādāt al‑Imāmīyah (Imāmī Beliefs), Qom: Shaykh Mufīd Congress, 2nd ed.
Ṣadūq, Muḥammad bin ʿAlī bin Bābawayh. (1416 AH / 1995 CE). al‑Khiṣāl (The Traits), ed. ʿAlī Akbar Ghaffārī, Qom: Society of Teachers, 5th ed.
Ṣaffār, Muḥammad bin Ḥasan. (1404 AH / 1983 CE). Baṣāʾir al‑Darajāt fī Faḍāʾil Āl Muḥammad ṣallāullah ʿalayhim (Insights into the Grades in the Virtues of the Family of Muḥammad), ed. Muḥsin ʿAbbāsʿAlī Kūcheh‑Bāghī, Qom: Ayatollah Marʿashī Najafī Library.
Schacht, Joseph (1949), “A Revaluation of Islamic Tradition”, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, pp 156-165.
Suyūṭī, ʿAbd al‑Raḥmān bin Abī Bakr. (1421 AH / 2000 CE). al‑Itqān fī ʿUlūm al‑Qurʾān (The Perfected in the Sciences of the Qurʾān), ed. Fawwāz Aḥmad Zumarlī, Beirut: Dār al‑Kitāb al‑ʿArabī.
Ṭabarī, Muḥammad bin Jarīr. (1412 AH / 1992 CE). Jāmiʿ al‑Bayān fī Tafsīr al‑Qurʾān (Comprehensive Elucidation of the Qurʾān; Tafsīr Ṭabarī), Beirut: Dār al‑Maʿrifah, 1st ed.
Tirmidhī, Muḥammad bin ʿĪsā. (1419 AH / 1998 CE). Sunan al‑Tirmidhī (The Sunnans of Tirmidhī), ed. Ahmed Muhammad Shākir, Cairo: Dār al‑Ḥadīth, 1st ed.

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 13 March 2025
  • Revise Date: 06 April 2025
  • Accept Date: 02 May 2025

Share

How to cite

Statistics