al-Asami wa al-Kuna - Abu Ahmad al-Hakim
- Author died
- 378 AH
- Editions
- t al-Azhari
al-Asami wa al-Kuna (Arabic: الأسامي والكنى, lit. 'Names and Agnomens') is a multi-volume biographical dictionary of hadith transmitters compiled by the Khurasanian hadith scholar and judge Abu Ahmad al-Hakim (d. 378 AH / 988 CE), focusing on resolving the names and agnomens (kunyas) of narrators and evaluating their reliability .
Background and Authorship
The work was authored by Abu Ahmad Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Ishaq al-Nisaburi al-Karabisi, known as al-Hakim al-Kabir ("the Elder Hakim") to distinguish him from his student, the celebrated hadith scholar Abu Abd Allah al-Hakim . Abu Ahmad had served as a judge in Chach (al-Shash) and Tus before settling in Nishapur in 345 AH, where he dedicated himself to worship and scholarship . His student Abu Abd Allah al-Hakim described him as the leading authority of his era in the hadith sciences, specifically noting his foremost expertise in the knowledge of transmitter names and agnomens (al-asami wa al-kuna) .
Structure, Method, and Content
Composed across multiple volumes, the book is dedicated to identifying hadith narrators who were known predominantly by their agnomens or whose true names were obscure, as well as clarifying conflicting reports regarding their identities . In its structural design, the author followed the arrangement model of Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj's earlier treatise on agnomens .
Beyond merely cataloging names and patronymics, Abu Ahmad incorporates assessments of transmitter reliability (al-jarh wa al-ta'dil) and records supporting chains of transmission and hadiths under individual entries . Later biographical and hadith specialists regarded the compendium as an authoritative reference in narrator identification . The bibliographer Haji Khalifa praised the work as among the best arranged within the genre of kunya literature .
Manuscripts and Publication
Parts of the original work have survived in manuscript collections, including preserved volumes in the Library of al-Azhar and Dar al-Kutub al-Misriyya in Cairo . The book was critically edited and studied by Yusuf ibn Muhammad al-Dakhil and published in Medina by Maktabat al-Ghuraba' al-Athariyya in 1414 AH (1994 CE) .
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