This is a study of an Abû Harb b. Abî'l-Aswâd tradition, which bears witness to a tradition of a missing sura at Basra.
In The Muslim World 28, 1938, Arthur Jeffery published a translation of two folios of Fada'il al-Qur'ân by Abû 'Ubayd al-Qasim b. Sallam (154-244 AH). These collect a number of hadith qudsi whose text allegedly once featured in the Qur'an. This is the hadith that is relevant here:
Hajjâj related to us from Hamid b. Salama from 'Ali b. Zayd b. Jid'an from Abû Harb b. Abî'l-Aswâd from Abû Mûsâ al-Ash'arî who said -There was revealed a sura about the size of al-Bara'a (ix), which was later withdrawn, of which I remember: Allah will help along this religion by means of a people for whom there is no portion. Had the son of Adam two valleys of gold he would yearn for a third. Nothing will really fill man's belly but the dust, and Allâh turns to whom He will.
Dawud Ibn Abi Hind was a Basran who died c. 140 AH.
Ibn Hajar claimed that his reportage failed him as he grew older.
This could have been the result of malnutrition: we're told he
"fasted for forty years without his family knowing
about it. His occupation was embroidery, so he would
take his lunch along with him (to work) but donate it
to charity on the way. When he returned at night, he
would brake his fast with the family and they did not
know that he was fasting.
"
Still, his mind must have been acceptable enough while he was younger, given
his survival in the second-best Sahih collection...
The Sahih Muslim, later, would transmit this:
Sûwayd b. Sa'îd related to us from 'Ali b. Mushir from Dawûd from Abu Harb b. Abu al-Aswad from his father that Abu Musa al-Ash'ari sent for the reciters of Basra. They came to him and they were three hundred in number. They recited the Qur'an and he said: You are the best among the inhabitants of Basra, for you are the reciters among them. So continue to recite it. (But bear in mind) that your reciting for a long time may not harden your hearts as were hardened the hearts of those before you.
We used to recite a surah which resembled in length and severity to Bara'at. I have, however, forgotten it with the exception of this which I remember out of it: "If there were two valleys full of riches, for the son of Adam, he would long for a third valley, and nothing would fill the stomach of the son of Adam but dust."
And we used so recite a surah which resembled one of the surahs of Musabbihat, and I have forgotten it, but remember out of it: "Oh people who believe, why do you say that which you do not practise" (lxi 2.) and "that is recorded in your necks as a witness and you would be asked about it on the Day of Resurrection" (xvii. 13).
In Hilyat al-Awliya by Abu Nu'aym Ahmad al-Asbahani (336-430 AH), early on in the section of Abu Musa al-Ash'ari there is this:
Related to us Muhammad b. Ja'far b. al-Haytham from Ja'far b. Muhammad al-Sabâ'îgh from 'Affân from Wuhayb from Dawûd b. Abi Hind from Abu Harb b. Abu al-Aswad from his father that Abu Musa al-Ash'ari gathered the Reciters (qurra')...
Then he said: Indeed was sent a surah which resembled Bara'at in length and strength. There is remembered from it a verse: 'Not sufficent for the son of Adam would be two valleys of riches save that he would long for a third valley, and nothing would fill the stomach of the son of Adam but dust.'
And was sent a surah which resembled the Musabbihat ... there is remembered a verse which was in it: "Oh people who believe, why do you say that which you do not practise" (lxi 2.) and "that is recorded in your necks as a witness and you would be asked about it on the Day of Resurrection" (xvii. 13).
The Kitab nasikh wa-l-mansukh by Abu'l-Qasim Hibata'llah b. Salamah of Baghdad has a list of "abrogated" verses in the Qur'an, including some which were thought to be in it by tradition but were not in it as of the early 1000s CE. As an example of the latter, Hibata'llah related from an Anas b. 'Abd al-Malik, or maybe Anas b. Malik of Basra. In Abdullah Al Araby's translation, Hibata'llah < Anas said:
During the life of Mohammed, they used to read a Surah that was equal in size to that of Surah 9 (the repentance). [Anas] further stated that he only remembered one verse from that Surah/chapter. - “If the son of Adam has two valleys of gold he would covet to have a third one, if he has three he would covet to have a fourth one. Nothing would fill the belly of the son of Adam except dirt, and Allah would accept the repentance of those who repent.”
However the isnad of this is defective. It is likely that this was known as a Basran tradition, but that someone had forgotten the original source. I will refer primarily to the former two traditions in what follows.
I have also been pointed to Muhasibi ("Fahm al Quran an wa manih ed. H. Quwwatli (in the collection of al Aql wa fahm al Quran [n.p., 1971] p 261-502"), to Suyuti's Itqan, and to Bayhaqi's Dala'il. But I did not have the time to track this down in the editions to which I had access.
Both Abu Harb traditions agree that there had been a sura "the size of al-Bara'a
" which was no
longer extant as of the time of the story. In it Abu Musa told of what he "remembered
", which was a variant
of the Greed of Man verse known elsewhere.
Abu Ubayd's version includes as plus "Allah will help along this religion by means of a people for whom there is no portion
", which is not found elsewhere; and "Allâh turns to whom He will
",
which is found in every other version which Abu Ubayd relates. Dawud contains as plus a speech of Abu Musa to the
Qurra' of Basra, and a reference to a second missing sura.
Although Dawud credits Abu Harb's father as his source, this link is omitted from Abu 'Ubayd.
Note that this tradition is not found elsewhere in the canonical collections. Also, one should take into account the ancient criticisms of Dawûd which can be read in Regarding the Qur'anic Script. (Its criticisms of Muslim's other two sources for this tradition - Sûwayd b. Sa'îd, 'Ali b. Mushir - are moot given that Dawud is independently attested.)
Abu Harb was a Basran who lived under the early Marwanids (d. 108 AH). His ultimate claimed source, Abu Musa al-Ash'ari, became governor of Basra in 17 AH under 'Umar, thus not by Umayyad influence. Later tradition supplied Abu Musa with a Qur'an different from that of the current canon (here).
Joseph Schacht has cast doubt on "family isnads" such as the one from Abu Harb and his father, in "A Reevaluation of Islamic Traditions" (Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 1949: 143-54; as reprinted in Ibn Warraq, The Quest for the Historical Muhammad, Prometheus Books, Amherst MA 1996, pp. 358-67) pp. 361-2. For this he cited Gertrude H. Stern, Marriage in Early Islam (London 1939 pp. 12, 16); he showed the same in Origins of Muhammadan Jurisprudence. Normally there would be no need for such suspicion, but in this case the family link is missing from the more coherent version.
Abu Harb might have heard from anyone in Basra that the "Lubâb al-Qulûb" contained such suras. From there he would have placed the words directly into Abu Musa's speech. Other transmitters likely embellished this account, culminating in the lengthy speech which Dawud reported to two his students, finding its way at last into Sahih Muslim and into Hilayat al-Awliya.
I propose that Dawud had further noticed the tradition's use of Abu Harb's father's name, and so "clarified" the isnad accordingly.
Abu 'Ubayd and Dawud Ibn Abi Hind corroborate one another, in their core, back to Abu Harb. Hibata'llah's tradition may or may not go back this far, but at the least it is a third witness to Basra.
Abu Harb knew the saying about the Vale of Gold as part of a sura once current in Basra but then removed. There were those, like 'Asim b. Bahdala and Ibn 'Abbâs, who thought this saying might be part of the Qur'an: in a missing verse of sura 98 for 'Asim, and perhaps not Qur'anic at all for Ibn 'Abbâs.
Any thoughts? e-mail me :^)
zimriel@sbcglobal.net4 April 2005, started & posted that night. 30 October, Hibata'llah.
4 February 2007, Abu Nu'aym's witness to Dawud.