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40 Hadith Qudsi الْأَرْبَعِين الْقُدْسِيَّة

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A genre of small anthology gathering forty Hadith Qudsi (sacred narrations of Allah's words in the Prophet's ﷺ phrasing); the most circulated is the compilation by Ezzeddin Ibrahim and Denys Johnson-Davies, drawing from authentic classical sources.

Overview

The Forty Ḥadīth Qudsī (Arabic: الْأَرْبَعِين الْقُدْسِيَّة) is a genre of small anthology gathering forty Ḥadīth Qudsī — sacred narrations in which the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ relates Allah's words in his own phrasing.

The most widely-circulated modern compilation is by ʿEzzeddin Ibrāhīm and Denys Johnson-Davies (first published 1980), drawing from Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, the four Sunan, Mālik's Muwaṭṭaʾ, and other authentic sources. Earlier classical compilations also exist — including those by ʿAbd al-Wahhāb ash-Shaʿrānī, ʿIzz ad-Dīn ibn ʿAbd as-Salām, and al-Madanī.

The "Forty" genre

Compilations of forty hadith on a particular theme are a long-established Sunni genre, drawing on the (debated) hadith: "Whoever preserves for my nation forty hadith concerning their religion, Allah will resurrect him on the Day of Judgement among the scholars and jurists." The hadith is graded weak in chain by most scholars (al-Albānī among them), but the practice is well established and pre-dates the disputed narration. An-Nawawī's Forty, the most famous of all, became the prototype.

Content

The Ezzeddin Ibrahim collection includes most of the famous Ḥadīth Qudsī:

  • "My Mercy prevails over My Wrath"
  • "I am as My servant thinks of Me"
  • "O My servants, I have made oppression unlawful for Myself"
  • "I have prepared for My righteous servants what no eye has seen"
  • "Whoever does not accept My decree…"
  • And others on charity, fasting, intimacy with the servant, the rewards of remembrance.

Significance

The Forty Ḥadīth Qudsī gives readers a focused, authentic gateway into the most spiritually intimate hadith of the Sunnah. Many of these are widely cited in raqāʾiq (heart-softening) literature and in spiritual education for both beginners and advanced students.

See also

References

  1. Trans. Ezzeddin Ibrahim and Denys Johnson-Davies, Forty Hadith Qudsi (Dar al-Koran al-Kareem, Damascus, 1980).
  2. al-Madanī, al-Itḥāfāt as-Saniyyah bi-l-Aḥādīth al-Qudsiyyah.
  3. ʿIzz ad-Dīn ibn ʿAbd as-Salām, Aḥādīth Qudsiyyah.
  4. al-Albānī, Silsilat al-Aḥādīth aṣ-Ṣaḥīḥah, sections on Ḥadīth Qudsī.