192 Claudia Preckel
category of Hadith, namely classified (muṣannaf) Hadith works. This
means that this Hadith material is arranged in accordance with cer-
tain topics. These works thereby made it easier to find relevant Hadith
material for the process of issuing a fatwa. The pious juridically rele-
vant reports compiled in such a collection are called aḥādīth al-aḥkām.
In Bhopal, ʿAbd al-Salām Ibn Taymiyya’s Muntaqā al-akhbār was the
most popular collection of jurisprudential traditions. It contained the
traditions relevant to Islamic law that are contained in the six major
collections of Hadith (al-ummahāt al-sitta or al-kutub al-sitta).^95 ʿAbd
al-Salām Ibn Taymiyya mostly chose the traditions taken from the col-
lections of al-Bukhārī or Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal (the latter’s Hadith collec-
tion does not belong to “the six books”). Ṣiddīq Ḥasan Khān, how-
ever, preferred al-Shawkānī’s Nayl al-awṭār, because al-Shawkānī was
more able to differentiate between sound traditions and dubious ones.
Nayl al-awṭār and other commentaries became very popular teaching
materials, especially in Yemen and in India.^96 Ṣiddīq Ḥasan considered
the Nayl al-awṭār so important that he gave an account of a dream
in which al-Shawkānī granted him and Ṣiddīq Ḥasan teaching permits
for this work. In his al-Tāj al-mukallal he wrote that he received a
“direct” permission without any other persons/teachers in the chain
of transmission (bi-lā wāṣita).^97 The dream thus provides considerable
authentification. It is also a proof of blessing (tabarruk) for the dream-
er. Ṣiddīq Ḥasan repeatedly saw not only al-Shawkānī in his dreams for
a period of more than three years, but also the Prophet Muḥammad,
who told him to perform his pilgrimage to Mecca. It is noteworthy
that the Ahl-i Ḥadīth did not criticize these dreams, although they
did not believe in the miraculous power of the dead. The reason for
their acceptance might be the widespread role of dreams in Islam.^98
Obviously Ṣiddīq Ḥasan Khān wanted to establish a direct link to
95 These works are al-Jāmiʿ al-ṣaḥīḥ by Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad al-Bukhārī;
Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim by Abū al-Ḥusayn Muslim b. Ḥajjāj; Jāmiʿ Tirmidhī by Abū ʿĪsā
Muḥammad al-Tirmidhī; Sunan Ibn Māja by Ibn Māja al-Qazwīnī; Sunan Nasāʾī
by ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Nasāʾī and Sunan Abī Daʾūd by Abū Daʾūd al-Sijistānī.
96 Al-Amri, The Yemen in the 18th and 19th Centuries, p. 174.
97 Ṣiddīq Ḥasan Khān, al-Tāj al-mukallal, pp. 449–450.
98 On the role of dreams in Islam, see Jedrej, Marian Charles and Shaw, Rosalind
(eds.): Dreaming, Religion, and Society in Africa, Leiden 1993 and Hermansen,
Marcia K.: Dreams and Dreaming in Islam, in: Kelly Bulkeley (ed.): Dreams. A
Reader in the Religious, Cultural and Psychological Dimensions of Dreaming,
New York 2001, pp. 73–110; Bulkeley, Kelly: Dreaming in the World Religions,
New York 2008; on Islam see pp. 192–199, on “dream ijāzāt” see p. 199.
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