Akhbar Ibn Abi Dhib li-Ibn Zabr al-Rabi
- Author died
- 379 AH
- Editions
- Mu’assasat al-Rayyān
Akhbar Ibn Abi Dhib (Reports of Ibn Abi Dhib) is a biographical hadith monograph (juz') compiled by the Damascene traditionist and historian Abu Sulayman Ibn Zabr al-Rabai (298–379 AH / 911–989 CE), documenting reports, narrations, and virtues of the Medinan scholar Ibn Abi Dhib (80–159 AH / 699–776 CE).
Content and Scope
The work is a short specialized treatise (risala saghira) dedicated to assembling reports concerning Abu al-Harith Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Mughirah ibn Abi Dhib al-Qurashi al-Amiri, a prominent jurist and hadith authority of Medina. Ibn Zabr gathered transmissions detailing Ibn Abi Dhib's scholarly standing, his narrations, his character, and his piety.
Transmission and Audition Records
The text survived through an established chain of Damascene scholars:
- Narrated directly from Ibn Zabr by the hafiz Abu Nasr Abd al-Wahhab ibn Abd Allah al-Murri.
- Transmitted from al-Murri by the hafiz Abu Muhammad Abd al-Aziz ibn Ahmad al-Kattani.
- Transmitted from al-Kattani by Abu Muhammad Hibat Allah ibn Ahmad al-Akfani.
- Transmitted from al-Akfani by Shaykh Abu Tahir Barakat ibn Ibrahim al-Khashu'i.
The surviving codex was placed as a perpetual endowment (waqf) at al-Madrasa al-Diya'iyya on the slopes of Mount Qasiyun in Damascus. Audition certificates (samā') inscribed on the manuscript record its reading before Shaykh Abu Muhammad Abd al-Rahman ibn Abd al-Wahid al-Maqdisi al-Sarraj at Jami' al-Khabzdahar on Monday, 9 Rajab 724 AH, in the presence of several scholars, including the scribe Abd Allah ibn Ahmad ibn al-Muhibb al-Maqdisi.
Manuscripts and Publication
A manuscript of the work is preserved in the Zahiriyya Library in Damascus under number 3828 (94), spanning folios 313–316 and dated to 583 AH.
The text was edited by Abu Hashim Ibrahim ibn Mansur al-Hashimi al-Amir and published by Mu'assasat al-Rayyan in 1425 AH / 2004 CE.
Answer updated