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Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies 11 (2011)
collectors, Muslim al-Naysābūrī, which may have influenced al-Ṭabarī’s
choice of isnād.
Isnād proliferation is another possible explanation of al-Ṭabarī’s line
of transmission. Al-Ṭabarī has never met Ibn Ḥanbal on which account
he may have chosen to mention Ibn al-Muthannā instead of the actual
source. One should not discount the strained relationship between al-
Ṭabarī and the Ḥanbalīs 72 as a possible explanation of the former’s
decision to avoid mentioning the latters’ eponym.
Although the scenario according to which Ghundar is the PCL of
Shuʿba may be thought as the most likely one one, the other scenarios
should not be ignored. Therefore it is preferrable to consider Ghundar as
a (S)PCL instead of a fully-fledged PCL.
Another possible PCL is the Iraqi traditionist Shabāba b. Sawwār (d.
204–6/819–22). He is cited directly by Ibn Abī Shayba (d. 235/849). 73
Al-Shāshī (d. 335/946–7) relies on ʿĪsā b. Aḥmad’s transmission from
Shabāba. 74 Ibn Abī Shayba’s variant reads:
(1) Khudhū ʿan-nī! (2) Qad jaʿala l-lāh u la-hunna sabīl an . (3b) Al-thayyib u
bi-l-thayyib i (3a) wa-l-bikr u bi-l-bikr. (4a) Al-bikr u yujlad wa-yunfā (4b)
wa-l-thayyib u yujlad wa-yurjam.
(1) Khudhū Take it from me! (2) Allāh has appointed a way for them. (3b)
A non-virgin with a non-virgin (3a) and a virgin with a virgin. (4a) The
virgin should be flogged and banished (4b) The non-virgin should be
flogged and stoned.
Compared to the variant of Ibn al-Jaʿd, Ibn Abī Shayba’s tradition
changes the places of clauses 3a and 3b, but preserves the order of 4a
and 4b. Al-Shāshī adheres to Ibn al-Jaʿd’s order in clauses 4a and 4b.
Similarly to the cluster through Ghundar, both Ibn Abī Shayba and al-
Shāshī prefer the masculine form for the verbs in clause 4. In sum, the
differences are as negligible as to allow a conclusion that Ibn Abī Shayba
and al-Shāshī cite a matn that is essentially similar with the matn of Ibn
al-Jaʿd. Hence, Shabāba may be considered as a PCL of Shuʿba b. al-
Ḥajjāj.
72 Al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī, Tārīkh, 2:551.
73 Ibn Abī Shayba, al-Muṣannaf, ed. Ḥamad b. ʿAbd Allāh al-Jumʿa and
Muḥammad b. Ibrāhīm al-Laḥīdān, 16 vols. (1st ed., Riyadh: Maktabat al-Rushd
Nāshirūn, 2004), 7:420, no. 29259.
74 Al-Shāshī, Musnad, ed. Maḥfūẓ al-Raḥmān Zayn Allāh, 3 vols. (1st ed.,
Medina: Maktabat al-ʿUlūm wa-l-Ḥikam, 1414/1993), 3:221, no. 1321.