Muhammad Khayr Ramadan Yusuf
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Muhammad Khayr Ramadan Yusuf is a contemporary scholar, bibliographer, and biographical lexicographer, best known for compiling extensive biographical dictionaries and continuations to modern Arabic biographical reference works, including Tatimmat al-A'lam .
Biographical Lexicography and Method
Muhammad Khayr ibn Ramadan Yusuf focused extensively on Arabic bio-bibliography and the documentation of Muslim scholars and writers . In compiling Tatimmat al-A'lam (The Completion of Eminent Figures), he produced a biographical supplement (dhayl) to Khayr al-Din al-Zirikli's biographical dictionary al-A'lam, covering notable figures who died between 1397 AH (1977 CE) and 1415 AH (1995 CE), with subsequent editions including entries from 1396 AH; in doing so, he departed from certain aspects of al-Zirikli's methodology . The text was also examined prior to distribution by the publisher and scholar Zuhayr al-Shawish, who provided remarks and corrections .
In a similar vein, he authored Takmilat Mu'jam al-Mu'allifin (Supplement to the Biographical Dictionary of Authors) as a continuation to Umar Rida Kahhala's biographical work, focusing on Arab and Muslim authors who died between 1397 and 1415 AH . Whereas Kahhala restricted entries to a maximum of five books per person, Yusuf adopted a broader bibliographical method by documenting all identified titles for each entry along with full publication details and cross-referenced indices .
Critical Text Editing and Research
In addition to bio-bibliographical indexing, Yusuf engaged in editing classical manuscripts (tahqiq), among which was his critical edition of Taj al-tarajim, the biographical work by the Hanafi scholar Qasim ibn Qutlubugha . His broader research also extended to thematic monographs in Quranic stories, Islamic media, and Islamic history .
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List of Works
Tatimmat al-A'lam (The Completion of Eminent Figures) is a modern Arabic biographical dictionary compiled as a continuation (dhayl) to Khayr al-Din al-Zirikli’s dictionary al-A'lam. It records obituaries of prominent figures who died after al-Zirikli's death, covering the period between 1397 AH (1977 CE) and 1415 AH (1995 CE), with later printings including entries from 1396 AH.
Takmilat Mu'jam al-Mu'allifin (Supplement to the Biographical Dictionary of Authors) is a modern Arabic biographical dictionary serving as a continuation of Umar Rida Kahhala's Mu'jam al-Mu'allifin. It covers Arab and Muslim writers who published at least one work and died between 1397 and 1415 AH (1977–1995 CE).