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184 THE HISTORY OF THE QUR'ANIC TEXT

Ilztab al-Ashnba [Book regarding various drinks] by Abu 'Abdullah Ahmad
bin Muhammad binHanbal. read to Abual-Q,iisim 'Abdullah binMuhammad
bin 'Abdul-'Azlz al-Baghaioi ibnbintAhmad binMani'.

[Second Page:]
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. Beginning of lGtab
al-Ashnba. AbU al-Qiisim 'Abdulliih bin Muhammad bin 'Abdul- ~4z1z al-Baghawl
ibnbint Ahmadbin Man'!al-Baghdadi read to us in Baghdad, stating that
Abu 'Abdullah Ahmadbin Hanbal read to him in the year 228 from his
book. ...

The normal procedure for establishing this work's authenticity is:
a. To examine the original author's biography (Ahmad bin Hanbal),
much of which willundoubtedly stem from his contemporaries. The
focusof our search istwo-fold:first, to ascertain whether Ibn Hanbal
ever authored a book titled Kitiib al-Ashriba; second, to organise a list
of all his pupils and determine if Abo al-Qjisim ibn bint Ahmad
bin Manl' was ever among them. Assuming that both enquiries are
positive we proceed to:
b. Here we analyse the biography of Abo al-Qasim ibn bint Ahmad
bin Manl', again with a two-fold purpose. First to establish whether
he is trustworthy, and thereafter to compile a list of all hispupils.
c. And so on, examining the biographies of every link in the chain.
Should our research conclude that Ahmad bin Hanbal did indeed author
a work by this title, that every element in the chain is trustworthy, and that
the chain is unbroken, only then can we authoritatively confirm the book's
authorship. Naturally some manuscripts are not so clear cut and occasion
much perplexity; such a topic isbeyond the scope of this basic introduction,
however, and for those interested I advise looking into any work on the
science of Mu~{alab al-Hadidi (~..lJ..1 ~ ).43

7. Certificates if Reading

As discussed previously,scholars faced stringent limitations on whieh books
they could use in the form of a 'licence' or reading certificate. Inpromul-
gating badlth books a regular attendance record was always kept, written
either by the teacher or one of the famous scholars present, supplying exact
details of attendance such as who had listened to the entire book, whojoined

43 Such as Ibn Salah, al-Muqaddimafi 'Ulum al-Hadith; ar-Ramahurmuzi, al-Mu~ith
al-Fii~l; Ibn I:Iajar; Nueha: an-Nazar Sharl: Nukhbat al-Fikrft M~tal~iAIdal-Athar.

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