al-Ahadith al-Mia al-Mushtamila ala Miat Nisba ila al-Sanai
- Author died
- 953 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Ṭalā’i‘
al-Ahadith al-Mia al-Mushtamila ala Miat Nisba ila al-Sanai (The One Hundred Hadiths Comprising One Hundred Attributions to Crafts) is a hadith compilation by the Damascene scholar Ibn Tulun (d. 953 AH / 1546 CE) that gathers one hundred prophetic narrations, each containing in its chain of transmission a narrator whose relative surname (nisba) is derived from a craft, trade, or profession .
Background and Motivation
In the preface, Ibn Tulun notes that his teacher, the Damascene traditionist Jamal al-Din Abu al-Mahasin Yusuf ibn al-Mubarrid al-Salihi, had earlier pursued a similar endeavor by drafting a biographical dictionary (muʿjam) dedicated to such trade-based attributions . However, Ibn al-Mubarrid died leaving the work in draft form (muswaddah). Ibn Tulun states his intention to produce a fair copy of his teacher's draft and correct errors within it, citing as an example Ibn al-Mubarrid's opening entry on al-Azji, which he mistook for a trade when it actually derived from Bab al-Azj, a quarter in Baghdad .
In restricting his own collection to exactly one hundred narrations, Ibn Tulun indicates that he modeled his work on prominent hadith scholars who compiled sets of one hundred hadiths (miʾāt) . He cites predecessors such as Abu Isma'il al-Harawi—whom he identifies as the earliest scholar known to him to have compiled one hundred hadiths—as well as Radi al-Din Ibrahim ibn Muhammad al-Tabari (in Tuhfat al-talib wa-bughyat al-raghib), Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Aybak al-Saruji, Taqi al-Din Ibn Taymiyya, Jamal al-Din Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Zahiri, Abu Sa'id Khalil ibn Kaykaldi al-Ala'i, and Wali al-Din Ahmad ibn al-Iraqi .
Structure and Method
The work comprises one hundred numbered hadiths arranged in alphabetical order according to the letter of the craft-derived nisba . Under each heading, Ibn Tulun cites the trade title (such as al-Ajurri [the brickmaker], al-Iskafi [the shoemaker], al-Akfani [the shroud-maker], al-Buzuri [the seed-seller], al-Baqsayati [the biscuit-maker], and al-Baqqal [the grocer]) followed by the matn of the hadith together with its complete chain of transmission linking back through his direct teachers and historical authorities to the Prophet .
Manuscripts and Editions
A manuscript copy of the work is preserved in Cairo at the Taymuriyya Library (al-Khizana al-Taymuriyya, MS 546) . The text was edited by Mas'ad Abd al-Hamid al-Sa'dani and published by Dar al-Tala'i' in Cairo in 1994 .
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