Journal of Abbasid Studies 1 (2014) 66-83

brill.com/jas

The Prayers of Ab Muslim and al-Mamn.

An Exercise in Dating adth
Stijn Aerts

University of Leuven, Belgium

stijna@gmail.com

Abstract
In using adth narratives as historical sources, the challenge is to determine their origin. Different methods have been devised to trace the provenance of adth reports,
but all these approaches lack an external frame of reference. Data retrieved from other
sources, such as the historiographical genres, can be used to validate the results of
adth-analysis under certain conditions. The method proposed here is exclusively
applicable to traditions that describe events or support a rule that can be linked to a
historical event described in the chronicles. Two case studies concerning the festival prayer and the pronouncement of a final takbr in the regular prayers demonstrate that the results of the proposed method of dating adths correspond to the
dates ascribed to the events in the chronicles.

Keywords
adth isnd analysis Islamic ritual Islamic prayer

Introduction
The adth, the disjointed narratives about actions and sayings of the Prophet
that were initially transmitted orally and put to writing only generations later,
continue to fascinate historians of the formative period of Islam. In using them
as historical sources, the challenge is to determine whether they originated
* The research for this article was supported by a fellowship of the Research Foundation
Flanders (FWO).

koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 4|doi 10.1163/22142371-12340006

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67

with the Prophet (as purported), the compilers (the earliest of which are from
the middle of the second/eighth century), or somewhere in between. Different
methods have been devised to trace the provenance of adth reports, focusing
on the chain of (alleged) transmitters (isnd) that acts as lead-in to every
adth, the report itself (matn), or a combination of both. The most wellknown method centering on the transmission chains is the Common Link (CL)
theory. The concept of the CL was coined by Joseph Schacht,1 but it was Gautier
Juynboll who brought the theory to fruition.2 More recently, several scholars
have shifted or extended the focus to the matn. Pursuing the consequences of
the realization that the adth is as much a literary as a historiographical
enterprise, Sebastian Gnther subjected traditions to literary (narratological)
analysis and was able to unearth traces of the authorial processes that constitute their origin.3 Harald Motzki, one of Juynbolls fiercest critics, adopted the
latters CL method but insisted that the matn as well should be taken into
account, which resulted in what he calls the isnd-cum-matn analysis.4 Irene
Schneider, too, combined isnd and matn analysis, yet unlike Motzki she does
not impute textual variation to accidents in the oral transmission; she sees
them, much like Gnther, as remnants of the development of the narrative.5
What all these approaches have in common is that they lack an external
frame of reference. Whether focusing on the isnd, the matn, or both, it is not
an essential part of these methods to assess whether the achieved results fit in
with the wider historical background. This weakness was identified by Michael
Cook, who showed that for three adths which he externally dated on the
basis of the eschatological elements they contained, the CL theory did not

1 Schacht, The Origins, 171-175.

2 The principles of the method and the jargon involved are best explained in the introduction
to Juynboll, Encyclopedia of Canonical adth; also idem, Some Isnd-Analytical Methods.
Before Juynboll, Josef van Ess (Zwischen ad und Theologie) had already explored the consequences of Schachts CL theory. For an alternative method centering on isnds, see Behnam
Sadeghi, The Traveling Tradition Test.
3 Gnther, Fictional Narration and Imagination; idem, Modern Literary Theory. Literary theories and theories of narrative were first applied to historical akhbr by Stefan Leder, The
Literary Use of the Khabar, and Daniel Beaumont, Hard-boiled: Narrative Discourse.
4 For the outlines of the method, see Motzki, Dating Muslim Traditions; for the method at
work, see idem, Quo Vadis, ad-Forschung? The same principle was applied to the sra literature by Gregor Schoeler, Charakter und Authentie.
5 Schneider, Kinderverkauf und Schuldknechtschaft. Her approach provoked a debate with
Motzki who reviewed her work in Der Prophet und die Schuldner; Schneider replied and
Motzki reacted in Ar-Radd al r-radd (English transl. in Analysing Muslim traditions).

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yield a satisfactory result.6 It is my contention, however, that the CL theory has

a future and that its results can sometimes be validated by data retrieved from
other sources, such as the historiographical genres. It should be noted, however, that this cannot be established as a general rule within the confines of
this article. The method proposed here is applicable exclusively to traditions
that describe events or establish (or support) a rule that can be linked to a historical event described in the chronicles. For the majority of the adths, especially those dealing with religious matters, this is simply not the case.
This article deals with two such traditions, both of which pertain to the history of the obligatory, ritual prayer (alt). In the past decades, the history of
Islamic ritual has received relatively little attention. This is undoubtedly due to
the problematic nature of the source material, which consists primarily of
adths.7 Traditionally, this problem has been evaded by resorting to what I call
the influence paradigm. The question whether the alt-prayer as well as other
Islamic rituals are the product of Jewish, Christian, Pagan, or Zoroastrian influence has dominated the study of Islamic ritual for more than a century, but has
not been particularly instructive. Influence is well-nigh impossible to measure
and recourse is almost always taken to similarities, an approach that has
produced contradictory conclusions.8 More importantly, the results of such
undertakings tend to be conflated in time. The thesis that the alt-prayer has
its origin in Jewish prayer, for instance, does not say much about the diachronic
process of such adoption.9 On this point, an approach that is vested in
the adth, however difficult that may turn out to be, proves to be of great use,
6 Cook, Eschatology and the Dating of Traditions; see Grke, Eschatology, History, and the
Common Link (especially 196-199) for a critical reconsideration of Cooks findings.
7 Very little rules for the performance of ritual prayer, for instance, have a quranic basis. The
majority of the legal rules concerning ritual are based on the practice of the Prophet (Sunna),
which is preserved for future generations in the form of adth.
8 This is amply illustrated in the works of two German scholars published one year apart:
C.H. Becker (Zur Geschichte des islamischen Kultus) compared the alt-prayer to eastern
Christian mass, identified a number of (obvious) similarities between the Islamic and
Christian rites, and concluded that the alt-prayer was borrowed from eastern Christianity,
while Eugen Mittwoch (Zur Entstehungsgeschichte) argued on similar grounds that Islamic
prayer derived from Jewish prayer.
9 Consider for instance the prayer times, which have been explained as being the result of
Christian, Jewish, and Zoroastrian influence by, respectively, Goldziher, Die Bedeutung der
Nachmittagszeit; Mittwoch, Zur Entstehungsgeschichte, 11-13; and Goldziher, Islamisme et
parsisme, 133. S.D. Goitein (Studies in Islamic history, 85) has gone so far as to reconcile two of
the three views by suggesting that the number of prayers (five) is the result of the Prophet
deliberately averaging the three prayers of Judaism and the seven prayers of (monastic)
Christianity.

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for it allows the creation of an image of the development, over time, of

Islamic ritual.10
The first tradition deals with the festival prayer (alt al-dayn), a prayer
that follows a different pattern from the regular prayers and which is performed on the Day of Sacrifice and the Breaking of the Fast. The second tradition concerns the pronouncement of a final takbr (Allhu akbar) after the
taslm (al-salmu alaykum wa-ramat Allh) in the regular compulsory
prayers. Both the festival prayer and the concluding takbr are aspects of the
Islamic ritual that, as I argue, were subject to change until the early Abbasid
period.11 Two episodes preserved in the historiographical literature serve as
point of departure; subsequently, the adth literature as well as the relevant
reports are subjected to a CL analysis in order to demonstrate that the dating
obtained by applying the CL analysis to the adths corresponds to the dates
ascribed to the events in the chronicles.

Two Episodes from the Historiographical Literature

In 129/747, the Umayyad Caliphate was approaching its end: in Khurasan, Ab

Muslim al-Khursn openly preached the Abbasid Revolution. The chroniclers (e.g., al-abars Trkh) have reported that within a week after his public
proclamation of the revolution,12 on the day of the Breaking of the Fast
(d al-fir), Ab Muslim asked Sulaymn b. Kathr to lead him and his partisans
(sha) in prayer.13 Ab Muslim told his imam to observe the following rules in
the festival prayer: (1) the actual alt should be performed before the sermon
10

11

12
13

Although Goldziher is often pictured as the pioneer of revisionism, I find my view to be in

line with his basic assumption that the adth will not serve as a document for the
history of the infancy of Islam, but rather as a reflection of the tendencies which appeared
in the community during the mature stages of its development (Goldziher, Muslim
Studies, II, 19). Even if the sources are of a later date than they purport to be and do not
originate from the Prophet but instead originate from debates on socio-political,
theological, or legal issues from later times, they still contain valuable information about
these times and about these debates.
The performance of the taslm itself was subject to change until the middle of the second/
eighth century. The original practice, preserved among Mlikites, Twelver Shiites and
Ibites, of pronouncing it only once was gradually superseded by the Sunnite practice of
saying it twice; see Dutton, An innovation from the time of the Ban Hshim.
This can be deduced from the dates mentioned in abar, Trkh, II, 1952-1955 (the
reference is to the marginal pagination which corresponds to the older Leiden edition).
Ibid., II, 1955-1956.

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(khuba); (2) the call to prayer (adhn) and its repetition in the mosque at the
beginning of prayer (iqma) ought to be omitted; (3) in the first raka, six
takbrs (Allhu akbar, God is great) should be pronounced followed by a seventh, paired with a prostration, after the Quran recitation; in the second raka,
five takbrs should be pronounced, followed by a recitation and a sixth takbr
with a prostration; (4) the sermon would have to begin with a takbr and end
with a quranic recitation.
Ab l-Khab, al-abars informant, clarifies that this constituted a departure from the prayer practices of the ruling Umayyad dynasty.14 On feast days
they used to issue a call to prayer, begin the service with a sermon, pronounce
the iqma, and only then proceed to the actual prayer.15 In other words, they
followed the pattern of the congregational Friday prayer.16 Only four takbrs
were pronounced in the first raka, and three in the second.
According to reports of the awil genre, these prayer practices had been
introduced for the first time by the Umayyads, and hence implied a deviation
from the Prophetic Sunna.17 Both Uthmn b. Affn (d. 35/656) and Marwn b.
al-akam (d. 65/685) are said to have been the first to deliver the khuba before
the prayer on feast days.18 Muwiya (d. 60/680) and his governor in Iraq, Ziyd
b. Abhi (d. 53/673), and sometimes more generally the Umayyads or Marwnids
are credited with being the first to sit down when delivering the khuba, allowing also the people to remain seated, as well as introducing the iqma and
adhn on the feast prayers, although the latter custom may also have been initiated by the anti-Caliph Ibn al-Zubayr (d. 73/692).19 Muwiya and Ziyd are
also charged with dropping (some of) the takbrs that had to be pronounced
during the bodily gestures of the alt, such as prostrating and standing up,
14
15

16

17
18
19

Ibid., II, 1955-1956.

The ambiguity about the order of the parts of prayer that could arise from al-abars use
of wa- in al-khuba wa-l-adhn has been noticed and resolved by later chroniclers, who
used bi- when reverse chronology was implied (cf. Ibn al-Jawz, Muntaam, VII, 271;
Miskawayh, Tajrib al-umam, II, 551).
In the translation of al-abar, John A. Williams interpreted the statement on the similarity
to the Friday prayer (...bi-l-iqma al alt yawm al-juma) differently: the iqma was
added on Friday (abar, The history, XXVII, 67). Later versions of the report which have
al rasm alt yawm al-juma support my interpretation (e.g., Miskawayh, Tajrib
al-umam, II, 551).
Cf. Ibn Kathr, Bidya wa-nihya, XIII, 226.
Ibn Ab Shayba, Muannaf, VII, 248:35753, 270:35987; Ab Zura al-Dimashq, Trkh,
645:1907; Suy, Awil, 34; Sayyid, Mujam, 247.
Ibn Ab Shayba, Muannaf, VII, 247:35734-5, 248:35744, 249:35755-6, 252:35792, 257:35844,
261:35892; Ab Arba al-arrn, Awil, 156:141, 157-8:144-5; Suy, Awil, 23, 33-34.

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after Uthmn had already started to pronounce them with a weaker voice.20 It
is furthermore said that Marwn or his son Bishr were the first to take the pulpit outside for the two feast prayers, which were often performed outside in an
open space (muall).21
In view of these awil reports, it is possible to come to an understanding of
Ab Muslims motivation. It is implied that the Umayyads started to use communal prayers as a means to spread political propaganda and augmented the
role of the imam in prayer. Opponents of the Umayyad regime felt that the call
to prayer de facto invited the believers to the sermon rather than the prayer,
and that by putting the actual prayer last, the Umayyads made sure everyone
effectively attended the sermon. In addition, the (Abbasid) sources reveal that
the sermon had lost some of its religious relevance, a situation that Ab
Muslim wished to rectify by putting the khuba between a takbr and a quranic
recitation. The Umayyad reduction of the number of takbrs if there was in
fact a reduction is framed as the product of the Umayyads general indifference to the correct performance of prayer. Although the Umayyad prayer practice played at the most a minor role in the complex of feelings and motivations
that lie at the basis of the Abbasid Revolution, the symbolic importance had
not escaped Ab Muslims attention and, according to this report, one of the
first things he did was to set this straight.
The second event to be dealt with here took place on Friday 16 Raman
216/27 October 831.22 Caliph al-Mamn (d. 218/833) ordered the Baghdadi governor Isq b. Ibrhm al-Muab to make sure that the troops and understandably also other believers pronounced a threefold takbr while standing
upright at the end of every alt. The practice was initiated in Medina and
Rufa. These takbrs ought not to be confused with the additional takbrs
that al-Mamn allegedly wanted to have pronounced in his own funeral
service an altogether different question nor with any voluntary supplications that can be performed after the alt-prayer and which may or may
not include takbrs.23 The principal difference with the other event is that
while the changes to the festival prayer ascribed to Ab Muslim eventually
made it into the Classical Sunnite rite, al-Mamns takbrs did not.

20
21
22
23

Ibn Ab Shayba, Muannaf, VII, 248:35742; Ab Arba al-arrn, Awil, 157:143; Suy,
Awil, 29.
Ibn Ab Shayba, Muannaf, VII, 247:35734; Ab Arba al-arrn, Awil, 160:148; Suy,
Awil, 34; cf. Ibn Rusta, Alq, 199.
Ibn Ab hir ayfr, Kitb Baghdd, 265; Azd, Trkh, 405; abar, Trkh, III, 1105.
Cf. Sourdel, La politique religieuse, 41-42; Nawas, Reexamination, 618-619.

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Isnd Analysis of Reports on the Two Events

In the adth literature we find reports that either sanction or condemn the
practices described in these two (supposedly) historical events. With respect
to the position of the khuba in the festival prayers, we find for instance three
very simple but oft-transmitted traditions that supply the practice of putting
the prayer before the khuba on feast days, as Ab Muslim wanted it, with
Prophetic legitimization:
On the Day of Slaughtering and the Breaking of the Fast, the Prophet
used to pray, then preach.
On the feast days, the Prophet, Ab Bakr, and Umar used to begin with
the alt before the khuba.
The Prophet, Ab Bakr, and Umar used to pray the feast [prayer] before
the khuba.24
To subject a tradition to the common link theory, all isnds that support it in
the different adth collections non-canonical as well as canonical need
to be gathered and combined in one stemmatic diagram (which Juynboll calls
an isnd bundle). If the diagram allows the identification of a key figure (CL)
from whom most or, ideally, all transmission lines branch out, it is thought that
this person is responsible for the wording of the matn and its distribution. His
or her position becomes furthermore exceedingly credible as he or she is supported in the next generation (i.e., upwards in the diagram) by other key figures from whom again multiple transmission paths fan out. Such transmitters
are called partial common links (PCLs). In applying the CL theory to the traditions under scrutiny, I have treated them as three variants of a single tradition
rather than as three separate traditions. In other words, their isnds were gathered in a single diagram, which from then on served as the unit of analysis.
This approach allows to determine when and with whom certain variants
originated and branched off from the main transmission tree, whereas
the common ancestry of the variants is fully accounted for. Whether or not
similar adths are textual variants of the same tradition or altogether different
traditions can only be established through trial and error. In this case, the

24

Ibn anbal, Musnad, IV, 325:4602, 466:4963; V, 170:5663; Bukhr, a, I, 244-245; Muslim,
a, II, 605:8; Ibn Mja, Sunan, I, 407:1276; Tirmidh, a (Sunan), I, 393:531; Bazzr,
Bar (Musnad), XII, 136:5710; Nas, Sunan, III, 183; Ibn ibbn, a, III, 417:2822;
abarn, Mujam awsa, II, 111:1416; cf. Mizz, VI, 122:7805, 126:7823, 159:8045.

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The Prayers of Ab Muslim and al-Ma mn

al-Bazzr
al-Bukhr

al-Tirmidh

Ibn ibbn al-abarn

Ibn Mja

Muslim

al-Nas
Ibn anbal

Muammad b.
al-Muthann

Ibn Ab Shayba

ammd b.
Usma al-Kf

Abda b.
Sulaymn

ammd b.
Masada

Ubayd Allh b. Umar b. af

Nfi
Abd Allh b. Umar

Prophet

Diagram 1 Isnd Bundle of ...the Prophet used to pray, then preach

superimposition of the three isnd diagrams is permissible because it gives the

same result (i.e., the same CL) as all three separate diagrams.
Ubayd Allh b. Umar b. af is the CL of this tradition in favor of putting
the actual alt before the sermon on feast days (see Diagram 1),25 and of which
the extant adth collections have recorded three variants. Ubayd Allh, a
great-great-grandson of Umar b. al-Khab, was a Medinan jurist and adth
transmitter who died in 147/764.26 He is sometimes called one of the so-called
Seven Jurists of Medina,27 although, as Juynboll noticed, the first and only
biographer to list him among the Seven Jurists appears to be Ibn ajar.28 His
position as CL is confirmed by three PCLs: ammd b. Usma (d. 201/817) and
Abda b. Sulaymn (d. 188/804) from Kufa, and ammd b. Masada (d. 202/817)
25 All isnd diagrams are simplified: whenever transmitters have been omitted, this is
indicated by the use of an arrow on the transmission line.
26 Mizz, Tahdhb, V, 54:4257.
27 See, for instance, Madelung, Succession to Muammad, 83 n. 19.
28 Juynboll, Encyclopedia, 400 n. 1.

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from Basra. The single strand from the Prophet to al-abarn is, in all likelihood, forged by one of the later transmitters along this path, who copied the
adth but furnished it with a new isnd in order to gain prestige, a phenomenon which has been called the spread of isnds by Schacht and Cook, and diving by Juynboll.29 The single strand from the Prophet to Ubayd Allh is
difficult if not impossible to verify. Whatever the case, even if the CL faithfully
transmitted the tradition from the person he named as his informant, the fact
remains that the tradition under scrutiny suddenly gained popularity in the
early Abbasid period, when Ubayd Allh started to disseminate it. Iraqi students especially included it in their repertoire of Prophetic traditions, and
spread it to ever more traditionists in the subsequent generations. This is in
correspondence with the date of the episode involving Ab Muslim as retrieved
from the chronicles. Moreover, other traditions that endorse this sequence of
alt and khuba on feast days, although as a side note, date to the same period
according to the CL theory: Juynboll has already demonstrated that Ibn Jurayj
(d. 150/767) is the CL of two traditions in which the Prophet orders women to
perform dhikr and give alms respectively after the feast prayer.30
The second adth concerns, as related above, al-Mamns interference
with the regular compulsory prayer. Relatively few traditions exist which refer
to the concluding takbr. On the other hand, in some traditions it is unambiguously stated that the ritual prayer begins with a takbr, and is concluded by the
taslm:
The Prophet said: The key to the prayer is purification, the takbr constitutes its consecration/beginning, and the taslm is its desecration/end.31
From Diagram 2, a schematic representation of all the transmission paths of
this adth, again one transmitter emerges as an undisputable CL: Sufyn

29 Schacht, Origins, 166-169; Cook, Early Muslim dogma, 107-116; Juynboll, Encyclopedia,
xxii-xxiii.
30 Juynboll, Encyclopedia, 214, 219.
31 Sind, Musnad al-Shfi, I, 70:206; Abd al-Razzq, Muannaf, II, 72:2539 (see also 2340);
Ibn Ab Shayba, Muannaf, I, 208:2378-23781; Ibn anbal, Musnad, II, 39:1006, 60:1072;
Drim, Musnad (Sunan), I, 539:714; Ab Dwd, Sunan, I, 56:61, 208:618; Tirmidh, Sunan,
I, 13:3; Ibn Mja, Sunan, I, 101:275-276; Bazzr, Musnad, II, 236:633; Ab Yal al-Mawil,
Musnad, I, 271:612, 476:1120; abarn, al-Mujam al-awsa, III, 36:2390; Draqun, Sunan,
II, 178:1356, 179:1359-1360, 216:1421; Ab Nuaym, ilyat al-awliy, VII, 124; VIII, 372; Bayhaq,
al-Sunan al-kubr, I, 140:358, 531:3971; cf. Mizz, Tufa, VII, 442:10265; Juynboll,
Encyclopedia, 639.

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The Prayers of Ab Muslim and al-Ma mn

Ab Yal
al-Tirmidh

Ab Dwd

Ibn Mja
Ibn Ab
Shayba

Ibn anbal

al-Draqun
al-Bazzr
al-Drim
al-Shfi

Abd al-Ramn

Waki

al-Draqun
Ab Yal
Ibn Ab Shayba
Ibn Mja

Sufyn al-Thawr
Abd Allh b. Muammad b. Uqayl
Muammad Ibn al-anafiyya
Al
Prophet
Diagram 2 Isnd Bundle of ...and the taslm is [the prayers] end

al-Thawr (d. 161/778). The CL theory dates this tradition to the middle of the
second/eighth century.
A rare adth that does mention a takbr after the taslm is the following:
Ibn Abbs reported: We used to know that the Prophet had completed
the alt by [hearing] the takbr.32
From the isnd bundle of this tradition, presented in Diagram 3, Sufyn b.
Uyayna (d. 198/814) emerges unambiguously as key figure. This tradition
admits the possibility that the final takbr was an inherent part of the alt.
32 Sind, Musnad al-Shfi, I, 99:287; umayd, Musnad, I, 225:480; Ibn anbal, Musnad, II,
454:1933; Ab Yal al-Mawil, Musnad, II:401:2388; Bukhr, a, I, 216; Muslim, a,
I, 410:120-121; Ab Dwd, Sunan, I, 306:1002; Nas, Sunan, III, 67; Nas, al-Sunan
al-kubr, I, 204:1259; Ibn Khuzayma, a, III, 102:1706; Ab Awwna, Musnad
(al-Mustakhraj), I, 553:2067-2068; Ibn ibbn, a, III, 254:2231; abarn, al-Mujam
al-awsa, II, 186:1669; abarn, al-Mujam al-kabr, IX, 424:12200; Bayhaq, al-Sunan
al-kubr, II, 262:3013-3014; cf. Mizz, Tufa, V, 256:6512; Juynboll, Encyclopedia, 594.

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Ab Awwna

Ibn ibbn

al-Nas Ab Yal

Muslim

Ibn Khuzayma Ab Dwd al-Bukhr

al-Bayhag
al-abarn

al umayd
Ibn anbal

al-Shfi

Abd al-Jabbr
b. al-Ul
Sufyn b. Uyayna
Amr b. Dnr
Nfidh Ab Mabad
Ibn Abbs

Diagram 3 Isnd Bundle of We used to know that the Prophet had completed the alt by
[hearing] the takbr

Perhaps therefore it is mentioned in the Sunnite adth collections almost

invariably in conjunction with another tradition that clarifies that the takbr is
not actually part of the prayer, but instead of the supererogatory supplications
that follow the prayer:
Ibn Abbs said: In the time of the Prophet, people said dhikr aloud when
they left the compulsory prayer. He also said: I used to know [that prayer
was done] when they left like that and when I heard that.33
This tradition, again ascribed to Ibn Abbs and notably non-Prophetic, is
pretty much meaningless without reference to the previous one. Its function
appears to be to take away any doubts about the interpretation of the other
adth ascribed to Ibn Abbs. The CL is slightly more difficult to identify: both
Muammad b. Bakr al-Bursn (d. 204/819f) and Abd al-Razzq (d. 211/827)
qualify.34 Whoever it is, this adth stems from the end of the second/beginning
of the ninth century. In the few extant adth- and fiqh-works which predate
33

34

Abd al-Razzq, Muannaf, II, 245:3225; Ibn anbal, Musnad, III, 456:3478; Bukhr, a,
I, 216; Muslim, a, I, 410:122; Ab Dwd, Sunan, I, 306:1003; Ibn Khuzayma, a, III,
102:1707; Ab Awwna, Musnad, I, 552:2065; cf. Mizz, Tufa, V, 257:6513.
Cf. Juynboll, Encyclopedia, 221.

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al-Mamns caliphate, this adth is not included.35 In all of the thematically

arranged (muannaf) collections in which it occurs, it immediately precedes
or follows the other adth of Ibn Abbs (We used to know that the
Prophet....), except in the earliest such collection, that of Abd al-Razzq,
where it occurs in isolation. Furthermore, Abd al-Razzqs version is the only
one where the isnd of the first part of the tradition reaches back only to Ab
Mabad (d. 104/722-23), a mawl of Ibn Abbs, whereas in the later collections
it is reported by Ibn Abbs himself. The isnd of the second part extends to Ibn
Abbs in all instances. In its totality the adth is non-Prophetic. The actors are
the Prophets Companions; at best a passive and tacit approval of the Prophet,
who is not explicitly present, is implied by setting the event in the time of the
Prophet (al ahd al-nab), the very presence of this stipulation betraying the
later origin of this adth.
The most plausible explanation for this anomaly is that the adth under
scrutiny existed before (i.e., earlier than the CL), but was converted from a
Successor tradition to a Companion tradition by our CL.36 This was done
because its attribution to Ibn Abbs facilitated its collocation and association
with the other adth of Ibn Abbs, i.e., the tradition on the takbr ending
prayer. From now on, it would be interpreted in light of this tradition with
which it forms a pair, and which, in its own turn, was supposed to be clarified
by this tradition.37 This must have happened after Abd al-Razzq composed
his Muannaf, and Muammad b. Bakr is the more probable CL. So even
though the gist of the adth is likely much older, it was suddenly transformed
and more vigorously circulated at the end of the second/eight or the beginning
of the third/ninth century. At the same time, this tradition became meaningful
in the context of the discussion on takbr at the end of the alt, which was not
its original intent.38 This is reflected not only in its adjacency to the other tradition, but also in the chapter (bb) titles under which they appear in the collections. With Abd al-Razzq, that title is Bb makth al-imm badam yusallim,
introducing a section in which he was concerned with acts to be performed by
the imam, after the taslm, while the people are leaving. This is indeed very
35

36
37
38

In the works of Mlik b. Anas (d. 179/795) (al-Muwaa), al-Shaybn (d. 189/805) (al-Al f
l-fur and al-thr), al-Shfi (d. 204/820) (Sind, Musnad al-Shfi), and the traditions
ascribed to Ab anfa (d. 150/767) (Ab Nuaym, Musnad Ab anfa; Khwrazm, Jmi),
the takbr is only mentioned in connection with the opening of the alt, the bodily
gestures of the alt, the funeral service, the ajj rituals, and the adhn.
Schacht (Origins, 30-33) first formulated the hypothesis that Successor traditions predate
Companion traditions, which in turn are earlier than Prophetic traditions.
Cf. Ibn ajar, Fat al-br, II, 326.
In fact, the takbr is not even mentioned, only the dhikr is.

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aerts

compatible with the wording of the tradition under scrutiny. In some later collections, however, the tradition is brought to bear on the takbr. With Ab
Dwd, we find Bb al-takbr bada l-alt, with Ibn Khuzayma Bb raf al-awt
bi-l-takbr wa-l-dhikr inda qa al-imm al-alt. Al-Bukhr and Muslim stick
to the more conservative Bb al-dhikr bada l-alt, but they too leave out the
important reference to the imam.
Conclusion
For all four traditions the dating arrived at by applying the CL theory corresponds with the chronology of related episodes in the chronicles, which
describe the (attempted) institution of rules that are provided with Prophetic
legitimization in the adths. It has been shown that shortly after the Abbasids
had changed the order of the sermon and the prayer proper on feast days, the
first traditions turned up to legitimize the new practice, and they were quickly
popularized. Likewise, a number of adths correspond to al-Mamns attempt
to put a takbr at the end of every alt-prayer. The adth of Sufyn al-Thawr
is representative of the mid-second/eighth century: the takbr was the established opening of the alt-prayer and was never considered a possible concluding part of prayer. At the time of al-Mamn, perhaps slightly earlier,
traditions surfaced which could be interpreted as sanctioning a takbr at the
end of the alt; others were quick to have the same Companion clarify that
this interpretation could not possibly be right, and that no takbr should be
pronounced at the end of prayer. By this time, a discussion had begun about a
threefold takbr at the end of the alt.39 In this debate, the Caliph took a
stance, but one that would not make it into Sunnite orthopraxy.
More than so far has been the case, existing theories of dating adths
should be put to the test; the ability to use with greater confidence the adth
as a historical source would vastly improve our understanding of the formative
period of Islam (until the third/ninth century). Data gleaned from historiographical sources can validate the results of the CL theory, and a better under39

Traces of the debate can be found elsewhere: the Mlikite jurist Abd al-Malik b. abb
(d. 238/852) strongly encouraged a threefold takbr especially among soldiers (quoted in
Ibn Bal, Shar, II, 458; not present in the partial edition by Ossendorf-Conrad, Das
K. al-Wia). Another Mlikite scholar, Muammad b. Amad al-Utb (d. 255/869),
declared it a novelty of the Abbasids (al-musawwida; Ibn Bal, Shar, II, 458; the
so-called al-Utbiyya is also partially edited as Utb, Kitb al-ajj).

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79

standing of the historical context can shed light on the motives of the CL to
bring a certain adth into circulation, i.e., to support a legal opinion that he or
she considered correct. In connection with the history of the alt-prayer, this
exercise has indicated that Muslim historiographers either did not try to
rewrite the history of the Muslim prayer ritual so as to ascribe all aspects of it
to the Prophet, or did a very poor job in doing so, as the literature makes no
secret of the different stages of the evolution of the ritual prayer, which lasted
until the Abbasid period. It may be so that major concepts of the alt-prayer
are borrowed from the Judeo-Christian tradition, but genuine Muslim struggle
and decision-making deserve our attention as well, for instance in the case of
the reversal of the khuba and the alt in festival prayers and the establishing
of the closing rituals of the compulsory prayer.
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