JOURNAL OF ARABIC AND ISLAMIC STUDIES

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Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies 11 (2011)
(1) Ūḥiya ilā l-nabī, ṣalʿam, fa-qāla: “(2) Khudhū! Khudhū! (3) Qad
jaʿala l-lāh u la-hunna sabīl an . (4a) Al-thayyib u bi-l-thayyib i jald u miʾat in
wa-l-rajm u (4b) wa-l-bikr u bi-l-bikr i jald u miʾat in wa-nafy u sana.”
(1) [One day] a revelation was sent down to the Prophet, may Allāh bless
him and grant him peace, whereupon he said: “(2) Take it! Take it! (3)
Allāh has appointed a way for them. (4a) A non-virgin with a non-virgin
[should be punished with] one hundred strokes and stoning (4b) and a
virgin with a virgin [should be punished with] one hundred strokes and a
year’s banishment”. 129
Clause 1 is by far the most remarkable part of ʿAbd al-Razzāq’s
tradition. Unlike the versions of the revelation preamble that I studied up
to now, it does not contain any hint at the symptoms of revelation.
Neither does it include the clause fa-lammā surriya ʿan-hu, which, as
already noted, gives the impression of a superfluous accretion to the
matn of Muʿādh b. Hishām. The locution fa-qāla at the end of clause 1
may be interpreted as an element of fictionalization aimed at combining
the two otherwise disconnected clauses in a narrative unity. Without the
connective, clause 1 would seem as a trace of a different narrative that
was probably devoted to the revelation of some part of the Qurʾān. Even
though the exact Quranic citation that would have followed is unknown,
it is clear that the preamble in this form did not refer to the following
penal maxim.
ʿAbd al-Razzāq’s preamble (clause 1) bears resemblance to the
reconstructed version of Muʿādh b. Hishām:
ʿAbd al-Razzāq Muʿādh b. Hishām (reconstructed)
Ūḥiya ilā l-nabī, ṣalʿam *Anna l-nabiyy a , ṣalʿam, unzila
ʿalay-hi [l-waḥy u ]
The variation between unzila l-waḥy u and ūḥiya is not critical to our
reconstruction efforts; both verbs denote revelation and are used in
passive form, which suggests their derivation from a common origin
identifiable with Qatāda b. Diʿāma.
Clauses 2–4 in ʿAbd al-Razzāq’s matn repeat the wording of
Hushaym b. Bashīr’s non-revelation tradition. Since the tradition of the
(S)CL, Muʿādh b. Hishām, is identical with the early version of Shuʿba
b. al-Ḥajjāj, it will be unwarranted to regard ʿAbd al-Razzāq’s dualpenalty
maxim as going back to an earlier version circulated by Qatāda
b. Diʿāma. ʿAbd al-Razzāq’s variant of the Prophet’s exclamation
129 ʿAbd al-Razzāq, Muṣannaf, 7:310, no. 13308.