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The Hadith of the Hidden Treasure is a tradition recounting God's response to Prophet David (a) regarding the purpose of creation. God is reported to have said: "I was a hidden treasure and I loved to be known; therefore, I created the creation so that I might be known." Widely cited in mystical literature, this narration is subject to various interpretations. Regarded as a Hadith al-Qudsi within mystical sources, it is purportedly first recorded in Bihar al-Anwar by 'Allama Majlisi, or according to some accounts, in Mashariq Anwar al-Yaqin by Hafiz Rajab al-Bursi.

Mystical exegesis views this hadith as an allusion to the human journey toward perfection and the knowledge of the Divine. Mystics such as Imam Khomeini posit that the knowledge of God constitutes the secret of human spiritual development. This tradition has also been employed to elucidate concepts of spiritual path-based and metaphysical (ontological) manifestation, serving to explain the ultimate purpose of creation and the nature of Divine beauty. Prominent mystics, including Ibn 'Arabi and Najm al-Din al-Razi, have engaged extensively in the description and interpretation of this hadith.

However, hadith scholars generally regard the tradition as inauthentic due to defects in its chain of narration (sanad), with some citing evidence of fabrication. Scholarly consensus among both Shi'a and Sunni critics deems it unreliable, noting its absence in authoritative collections such as the Four Books or the Six Books.

Hadith of the Hidden Treasure in Mysticism

The Hadith of the Hidden Treasure is a statement concerning the philosophy of creation discussed extensively in mystical literature[1] and classified as a Hadith al-Qudsi[2]. This sentence is considered God's answer to the inquiry of Prophet David (a), who asked: Template:Hadith[3]. In response to David, God said: Template:Hadith[4]. This statement appears in several variations[5] and has been utilized by scholars and mystics in their works[6], being recognized by them as a mutawatir and accepted hadith[7].

Mystical Interpretation of the Hidden Treasure

Scholars observe that the mystical interpretation of the Hadith of the Hidden Treasure aligns with the concept of human perfection[8]. In this view, the knowledge of God serves as the vehicle for human spiritual evolution; God, desiring His mercy to pervade all existence, created the cosmos to impart the path of His knowledge, for the gnosis of the Divine is the fundamental secret of human development[9].

Imam Khomeini asserts that this hadith implies an innate love and yearning for God embedded within the nature of all beings[10], with true human perfection residing in the knowledge of the Divine[11]. According to this tradition, the Divine Essence loves Itself, and since creatures are the effects and manifestations of God's names and attributes, they inherently become objects of Divine love[12].

This tradition is utilized in mysticism to elucidate the concept of manifestation (tajalli) in both its practical (sulūk) and ontological dimensions[13]. Based on this hadith, God's desire to be known is posited as the purpose of creation[14], serving as the underlying cause and wisdom of the cosmos[15]. Some have also cited this hadith to define the ultimate aim of creation as beauty and the love thereof[16]. Mulla Sadra, drawing upon this tradition, offers a critical perspective on the purpose and end of creation within Islamic Theology[17].

The Hidden Treasure in Theoretical Gnosis Writings

The Hadith of the Hidden Treasure features prominently in the works of numerous Muslim mystics[18]. While the Rasa'il Ikhwan al-Safa is considered by some to be the earliest source containing this hadith[19], its dissemination reached its zenith during the era of Ibn 'Arabi (d. 638/1240)[20]. Ibn 'Arabi cited and interpreted this tradition in several of his works[21]. Following Ibn 'Arabi, the Hadith of the Treasure permeated mystical and philosophical sources, becoming a focal point for commentary[22]. Notable elucidations include the commentary attributed to Najm al-Din al-Razi (d. 654/1256)[23] and the treatise on "Kuntu kanzan makhfiyyan" authored by Bali Efendi (d. 960/1553)[24].

Doubts Regarding the Authenticity of the Hadith of the Treasure

Although recognized by hadith scholars as a mystical aphorism compatible with the pillars of the Shari'a and the Qur'an[25], the Hadith of the Hidden Treasure is deemed unreliable due to significant weaknesses in its chain of narration (sanad) and inconsistencies in its text[26]. Researchers in the science of hadith argue that it is not a genuine Qudsi hadith, citing evidence of fabrication such as its difficult terminology and Ibn 'Arabi's own admission that his source was through spiritual unveiling (mukashafa)[27]. The tradition is absent from the Four Books, the Six Books, and early hadith compilations[28], appearing only in late Shi'a sources, such as Bihar al-Anwar, without a chain of narration[29]. Furthermore, scholars note its exclusion from al-Jawahir al-Saniyya fi al-Ahadith al-Qudsiyya by Sheikh Hurr al-'Amili, a work dedicated to collecting Qudsi hadiths[30]. Prominent Shi'a scholars, including Qadi Nur Allah al-Shushtari and Ali Namazi Shahroudi, have classified the hadith as fabricated[31].

It is claimed that the hadith first appeared in Mashariq Anwar al-Yaqin by Hafiz Rajab al-Bursi[32], with Sayyid Abdullah Shubbar[33] being noted as the only Shi'a hadith scholar to classify it as Qudsi[34]. Others, such as Muhammad Taqi al-Majlisi, accepted its content despite acknowledging its defective chain[35]. Nasir Makarim Shirazi regards it as a solitary report (khabar al-wahid) insufficient for establishing doctrinal matters[36]. Ibn Taymiyya[37] is considered among the first Sunni scholars to reject the hadith[38], a stance shared by other Sunni scholars such as Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti[39], Badr al-Din al-Zarkashi, Shams al-Din al-Sakhawi, and Ibn Kanani, who classify it as fabricated[40].

Notes

  1. ↑ Ibn ʿArabī, Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam, 1356 AH, vol. 2, pp. 61, 303, 326; Imām Khumaynī, Ādāb al-Ṣalāt, 1378 Sh, p. 288.
  2. ↑ Sīmāʾī, Mashhūrāt-i Bī-iʿtibār dar Tārīkh wa Ḥadīth, 1400 Sh, p. 133.
  3. ↑ Dādbih, "Tajallī", under the entry.
  4. ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i Nimūna, 1371 Sh, vol. 22, pp. 394-395.
  5. ↑ Khādim, "Ḥadīth-i Kanz-i Makhfī wa Sayr-i Tārīkhī-yi Ān", p. 16.
  6. ↑ Rāstgū, ʿIrfān dar Ghazal-i Fārsī, 1389 Sh, p. 93; Zamānī, "Ḥadīth-i Kanz-i Makhfī dar Āyini-yi Ḥikmat-i Mutaʿāliya", p. 47; Zādhūsh, "Aḥādīth-i Nabawī dar Mutūn-i Kuhan-i Fārsī", p. 395; Āriyānfar and Naqīzāda, "Barrasī wa Naqd-i Sanad wa Matn-i Ḥadīth-i Kanz-i Makhfī", p. 172.
  7. ↑ Rastigār, "Pazhūhishī dar Sanad wa Matn-i Ḥadīth-i Kanz-i Makhfī", p. 109.
  8. ↑ Ḥasan-zāda Āmulī, Insān-i Kāmil az Dīdgāh-i Nahj al-Balāgha, 1372 Sh, p. 197.
  9. ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i Nimūna, 1371 Sh, vol. 22, pp. 394-395.
  10. ↑ Imām Khumaynī, Ādāb al-Ṣalāt, 1378 Sh, p. 288.
  11. ↑ Imām Khumaynī, Sharḥ-i Ḥadīth-i Junūd-i ʿAql wa Jahl, 1382 Sh, p. 297.
  12. ↑ Miṣbāḥ Yazdī, Sajjādih-hā-yi Sulūk, Qom, vol. 2, p. 26.
  13. ↑ ʿAbbāsī, "Tajallī", p. 588; Muṭahharī, Majmūʿ-yi Āthār, 1389 Sh, vol. 23, p. 389; Istiʿlāmī, Farhangnāmi-yi Taṣawwuf wa ʿIrfān, 1399 Sh, vol. 1, p. 540.
  14. ↑ Pākat-chī, "Khalk", under the entry.
  15. ↑ Khalajī, Asrār-i Khāmūshān (Sharḥ-i Ṣaḥīf-yi Sajjādiyya), Qom, vol. 1, p. 439.
  16. ↑ Ibrāhīmī, "Jalāl wa Jamāl", under the entry.
  17. ↑ Zamānī, "Ḥadīth-i Kanz-i Makhfī dar Āyini-yi Ḥikmat-i Mutaʿāliya", p. 48.
  18. ↑ See for example: Anṣārī, Ṭabaqāt al-Ṣūfiyya, 1362 Sh, p. 645; Rūzbihān Baqlī, Sharḥ-i Shaṭḥiyyāt, 1374 Sh, p. 166; Ibn ʿArabī, Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam, 1356 AH, vol. 2, pp. 61, 303, 326; Ibn ʿArabī, al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya, Beirut, vol. 4, p. 428 and vol. 3, p. 267 and vol. 2, p. 232 and vol. 2, p. 322; Narāqī, Miʿrāj al-Saʿāda, 1378 Sh, p. 103; Ṣulṭān ʿAlī-shāh, Bayān al-Saʿāda, 1408 AH, vol. 4, p. 116; Imām Khumaynī, Ādāb al-Ṣalāt, 1378 Sh, p. 288; Imām Khumaynī, Miṣbāḥ al-Hidāya, 1376 Sh, pp. 15-16.
  19. ↑ Āriyānfar and Naqīzāda, "Barrasī wa Naqd-i Sanad wa Matn-i Ḥadīth-i Kanz-i Makhfī", p. 177.
  20. ↑ Āriyānfar and Naqīzāda, "Barrasī wa Naqd-i Sanad wa Matn-i Ḥadīth-i Kanz-i Makhfī", p. 177.
  21. ↑ Rastigār, "Pazhūhishī dar Sanad wa Matn-i Ḥadīth-i Kanz-i Makhfī", p. 112; Ibn ʿArabī, al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya, Beirut, vol. 4, p. 428 and vol. 3, p. 267 and vol. 2, p. 232 and vol. 2, p. 322; Ibn ʿArabī, Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam, 1356 AH, vol. 2, pp. 61, 303, 326.
  22. ↑ Āriyānfar and Naqīzāda, "Barrasī wa Naqd-i Sanad wa Matn-i Ḥadīth-i Kanz-i Makhfī", p. 178.
  23. ↑ Dānish-pazhūh, "Sharḥ-i Ḥadīth-i Kuntu Kanzan Makhfiyyan", p. 27.
  24. ↑ Group of writers, "Bālī-afandī", under the entry.
  25. ↑ Āriyānfar and Naqīzāda, "Barrasī wa Naqd-i Sanad wa Matn-i Ḥadīth-i Kanz-i Makhfī", pp. 176, 183; Khādim, "Ḥadīth-i Kanz-i Makhfī wa Sayr-i Tārīkhī-yi Ān", p. 17; Muḥammadī Ray-shahrī, Dānishnāmi-yi Qurʾān wa Ḥadīth, Qom, vol. 9, p. 128.
  26. ↑ Muḥammadī Ray-shahrī, Dānishnāmi-yi Qurʾān wa Ḥadīth, Qom, vol. 9, p. 128; Muḥsinī, Ufuq-i Aʿlā, 1396 Sh, vol. 1, p. 124; Rastigār, "Pazhūhishī dar Sanad wa Matn-i Ḥadīth-i Kanz-i Makhfī", pp. 118-119.
  27. ↑ Āriyānfar and Naqīzāda, "Barrasī wa Naqd-i Sanad wa Matn-i Ḥadīth-i Kanz-i Makhfī", p. 183.
  28. ↑ Āriyānfar and Naqīzāda, "Barrasī wa Naqd-i Sanad wa Matn-i Ḥadīth-i Kanz-i Makhfī", p. 174.
  29. ↑ Āriyānfar and Naqīzāda, "Barrasī wa Naqd-i Sanad wa Matn-i Ḥadīth-i Kanz-i Makhfī", p. 175; Mashhūrāt-i Bī-iʿtibār dar Tārīkh wa Ḥadīth, 1400 Sh, p. 134.
  30. ↑ Āriyānfar and Naqīzāda, "Barrasī wa Naqd-i Sanad wa Matn-i Ḥadīth-i Kanz-i Makhfī", p. 175.
  31. ↑ Āriyānfar and Naqīzāda, "Barrasī wa Naqd-i Sanad wa Matn-i Ḥadīth-i Kanz-i Makhfī", p. 176.
  32. ↑ Sīmāʾī, Mashhūrāt-i Bī-iʿtibār dar Tārīkh wa Ḥadīth, 1400 Sh, p. 134.
  33. ↑ Shubbar, Maṣābīḥ al-Anwār fī Ḥall Mushkilāt al-Akhbār, Qom, vol. 2, p. 405.
  34. ↑ Rastigār, "Pazhūhishī dar Sanad wa Matn-i Ḥadīth-i Kanz-i Makhfī", p. 117.
  35. ↑ Rastigār, "Pazhūhishī dar Sanad wa Matn-i Ḥadīth-i Kanz-i Makhfī", p. 119.
  36. ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i Nimūna, 1371 Sh, vol. 22, pp. 394-395.
  37. ↑ Ibn Taymiyya, al-Fatāwā al-Kubrā, 1408 AH, vol. 5, p. 88.
  38. ↑ Rastigār, "Pazhūhishī dar Sanad wa Matn-i Ḥadīth-i Kanz-i Makhfī", p. 115.
  39. ↑ Rastigār, "Pazhūhishī dar Sanad wa Matn-i Ḥadīth-i Kanz-i Makhfī", p. 116.
  40. ↑ Āriyānfar and Naqīzāda, "Barrasī wa Naqd-i Sanad wa Matn-i Ḥadīth-i Kanz-i Makhfī", p. 176.

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