The Musnad of al-Shāfiʿī

Abstract A collection of hadith called Musnad al-Shāfiʿī is associated with the Nishapuran traditionist Abū al-ʿAbbās Muḥammad ibn Yaʿqūb al-Aṣamm (d. Nishapur, 346/957). It was apparently assembled by students from what al-Aṣamm had heard from al-Rabīʿ ibn Sulaymān al-Murādī (d. 270/884) in his youth. Around 40 percent of the hadith in the Umm of al-Shāfiʿī (d. 204/820) shows up also in the Musnad of al-Aṣamm. Comparisons between the Musnad and the Umm can tell us something of the state of the Umm as al-Rabīʿ dictated it near the end of his life. Books in the Musnad correspond only roughly to books in the Umm, so there was still some fluidity of organization. There are also many minor differences of wording, especially to isnāds. However, the order of hadith within books of the Musnad agrees well with their order in the Umm, confirming that the Umm as we have it is close to the state in which al-Rabīʿ left it.