1876) ṣaḥīfa is something written on paper or skin...
1876.ṣaḥīfa is something written on paper or skin, it may also mean a book or a volume, a letter or an epistle, something synonymous with kitāb (book).102 Watt gives it a similar meaning, he however adds that it may be applied especially to fragments of the Qur’ān or Ḥadīth or any other document of a solemn nature, whence finally are the written ṣaḥifa themselves.103 An example of the early usage of the word can be found from the Qur’ān: “...and this is in the books (ṣuḥuf) of the earliest (revelation), the books of Abraham and Moses”104 Another example of the early usage of the word may be demonstrated according to Ibn Hanbal105 (d.
241/855) and Ibn Māja106 (d. 272/886), when the Prophet, just before his death asked for a ṣaḥīfa for writing upon at his dictation.107 From the above there seems to be concurrence regarding the meaning of ṣaḥīfa to be something that is written, either in a book form or otherwise, from the classical to the contemporary era.
Watt further maintains that the term (ṣaḥīfa) appears contemporaneously with the advent of Islam, but must evidently have existed before then.108 The appended word ‘Sajjādiyya’ to Ṣaḥīfa in the title…
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