(3) The Manuscript of the Sunan Tirmidhi Kitab License (Ijazah) Dated 589 AH

 Book Title: Spurious Manuscripts of the Ba'alwi according to Rumail Abbas's Version
Originial version in Indonesian: Manuskrip-Manuskrip Palsu Ba'alwi Versi Rumail Abbas
Author: K.H. Imaduddin Utsman Al-Bantanie
Edition: 1st Printing
Page Count: 24 pages
Paper Size: B5
Publisher: Maktabah Nahdlatul Ulum Banten
Year of Publication: 2024 CE
Address: Tangerang, Banten, Indonesia
Field of Study: History, Science of Genealogy (Ilm al-Nasab), Genealogy

Table of Contents

1. (3) The Manuscript of the Sunan Tirmidhi Kitab License (Ijazah) Dated 589 AH 
2. (4) The Book Tuhfat al-Murid Wa Uns al-Mustafid
3. (5) The Manuscript of Abul Qasim al-Naffath 
4. Back to  Book: Spurious Manuscripts of the Ba'alwi according to Rumail Abbas's Version  

3. The Manuscript of the Sunan Tirmidhi Kitab License (Ijazah) Dated 589 AH

Rumail presented a manuscript containing an ijazah (certification/license) for the book Sunan Tirmidhi. Perhaps Rumail's intention in bringing forward this manuscript evidence was to demonstrate that the Ba'alwi figures are proven historical entities, given that their existence was ontologically recorded in the 6th century Hijriah. This assertion is entirely groundless because there is no connection between the Jadid family and the family of Abdurrahman Assegaf (who later attributed themselves to the Ba'alwi). They are two completely separate families. The claim that Jadid was the older brother of Alwi bin Ubaid only surfaced in the 9th century; prior to that, it was non-existent. There is not a single book from the era in which Jadid is assumed to have lived that states he was the brother of Alwi.

Syarif Abul Hasan Ali, a descendant of Jadid who passed away in the year 620 Hijriah, is recorded in the book Al-Suluk as a scholar of Hadith. His wife was the daughter of Syaikh Mudafi'. While Al-Suluk narrates various cities to which Ali migrated, it never once mentions him ever visiting Tarim. Similarly, it does not state that he was born in Tarim or that he had a younger brother named Alwi there. Rumail cannot use the historical existence of Abul Hasan Ali to argue for the historical validity of Abdurrahman Assegaf's family, as there is absolutely no link between the two.

Nevertheless, it is worth examining the manuscript containing the ijazah for the book Sunan Tirmidhi from this Jadid family:

According to Abu Umar Mazin bin 'Amir al-Ma'syani al-Dzifari al-'Ummani, who restored this manuscript on the 2nd of Dzulqa'dah 1444 AH, this text is a manuscript of Jami' Imam Tirmidhi located in the "Maktabah Ra'is al-Kitab" in Turkey, under shelf number 154. The copyist began from the chapter "La yaqbalullah Shalatan Bighairi Thuhurin" within the Book of Purification (Thaharah) up to the end of the Book of Medicine (Al-Thibb) spanning 15 parts (juz), transcribed in the year 589 AH by the copyist Qasim bin Ahmad bin Abdullah al-Mu'allim al-Juba'i. Furthermore, there is an additional marginal note (catatan tambahan) containing an ijazah from Abu Muhammad Hasan bin Rasyid bin Salim bin Rasyid bin Hasan al-Hadrami al-Sakuni al-Umani (d. 638 AH) granted to Syarif Muhammad bin Ali bin Muhammad bin Ahmad bin Jadid (the son of Abul Hasan Ali bin Jadid [d. 620 AH]), written in faint, barely legible handwriting (p. 3). This additional note lacks a specific timestamp and was most likely written after 620 AH. Following its restoration, it can now be read as follows:

   

The manuscript itself was written by Qasim bin Ahmad bin Abdullah with a timestamp of 589 AH; therefore, that date is not the timestamp of the 'additional note' or the ijazah that mentions the name Muhammad bin Ali. That year represents the date the transcription of the text was completed, not the date the book was licensed to Muhammad bin Ali. Note the distinction in handwriting styles between the core content of the book and the ijazah entry.

It should also be noted that the time a text's transcription is completed can differ vastly from the time it is studied. However, if we refer to Al-Janadi—where Muhammad's father, Ali, passed away in the year 620 AH (the seventh century)—and cross-reference it with Syamsu al-Dzahirah for the year 630 AH, we can apply Ibn Khaldun's method, which posits that every single century contains three generations. Through this, it can be estimated that Muhammad bin Ali passed away around the year 653 AH. From this timeline, we can also estimate that Muhammad received the ijazah for the book Sunan Tirmidhi within the range of 620–653 AH. Splitting the difference, it is estimated he received the ijazah in the year 636 AH, which is certainly younger than Al-Syajarah al-Mubarokah, which was written in 597 AH.

This 'additional note' can serve as valid proof for the Jadid family, showing that they were historical figures around the year 636 AH—ranging from the individual Muhammad (d. 653 AH) to his father, Ali (d. 620 AH). However, it cannot serve as proof for their lineage linking back to Abdullah, as it only mentions 5 generations. The mujiz (granter of the license) only traces the lineage back to Jadid Tsani; it requires 4 more generations to reach Abdullah, as asserted by Al-Janadi. Beyond that, a source is still required to establish Abdullah as the son of Ahmad. For the time being, Al-Janadi (732 AH) remains the very first person to link the lineage of Bani Jadid to Ahmad bin Isa, which directly contradicts an older book, namely Al-Syajarah al-Mubarokah (597 AH). A source is also required to prove that Jadid was indeed the brother of Alwi bin Ubaid.

Given that this 'additional note' is incredibly weak as a witness for Jadid's lineage to Ahmad bin Isa, it is naturally far weaker as a witness for the family of Abdurrahman Assegaf or the Ba'alwi of Ubaidillah. 

4. The Book Tuhfat al-Murid Wa Uns al-Mustafid

According to Rumail, Muhammad ibn Ali Bathahan (d. 630 AH) produced a book titled Tuhfat Al-Murid wa Uns Al-Mustafid fi Manaqib Al-Syaikh Sa'd Al-Din ibn Ali Al-Dzafari. Rumail further states that this book confirms the intellectual network between Sa'd Al-Din Al-Dzafari and Muhammad ibn Ali Al-Alawi, who would later, in the declaration of his son (Umar Al-'Abid ibn Sa'd Al-Din Al-Dzafari), be recorded as "Al-Faqih Al-Muqaddam".

Perhaps Rumail's intention with the phrase "intellectual network" is that the book mentions Faqih Muqaddam writing a letter to Syaikh Sa'd al-Din al-Dzifari and the latter replying to it, as is reported in Ba'alwi literature. The question is: is it true that Bathahan wrote this book? Where is the book? If it exists, is it true that it contains correspondence between Faqih Muqaddam and Syaikh Sa'd? Information regarding this book originates solely from the assertions of Ba'alwi writers, such as in the book Al-Burqat al-Musyiqat (p. 99).

Shalih al-Hamid Ba'alwi (d. 1386 AH) claimed to have seen a manuscript of the book (see Tarikh Hadramaut, Vol. II, p. 824). According to Dr. Muhammad Yaslam Abd al-Nur, Shalih al-Hamid claimed to have seen it in the Husen bin Abdurrahman Bin Sahl Library, after which it was brought to the Al-Ahqaf Library in Tarim, transcribed in the year 978 AH by Umar bin Ibrahim Al-Hubani. Is this report true? Dr. Muhammad Yaslam states that the book has now gone missing (see the footnote in Tarikh wa al-Muarrikhun al-Hadlarimah, p. 50).

Every vital, contemporary external manuscript claimed to mention the Ba'alwi family is reported to have gone missing after being cited. For a researcher, this is a highly suspicious pattern. To the author, it is highly probable that even if the book did exist, it never mentioned Faqih Muqaddam—and that is the exact reason why the manuscript of the book had to be "made to disappear". 

5. The Manuscript of Abul Qasim al-Naffath

According to Rumail, Abu Al-Qasim An-Naffath (d. 581 AH) produced a book compiling 40 different Hadiths within a musnad which he titled Al-Arba'un. In several narrations, both pass through Imam Ahmad Al-Muhajir, who is referred to as Nazil Al-Yaman (the migrant to Yemen who settled there) and by the title Al-Abah.

Is Rumail's claim true? Observe Rumail's manuscript which the author has previously displayed:

This is a sequence of narration (sanad) strongly suspected to have been written by Salim bin Jindan. Within it, it is also stated that Ahmad al-Abah is "Nazil al-Yaman" (the one who came to settle in Yemen). In all likelihood, Rumail's claim regarding the discovery of the Abul Qasim al-Naffath manuscript also originates from the writings of Salim bin Jindan. Furthermore, it has been explained previously that Yemeni scholars consider what Salim bin Jindan wrote regarding lineages and chains of narration as "La yuhtajju biha wa la yu'tamadu alaiha" (cannot be used as evidence and cannot be relied upon).