al-Awwal min Mujam Shuyukh al-Dumyati
- Author died
- 705 AH
- Editions
- A manuscript published in the free program Jawami' al-Kalim affiliated with Islamweb
al-Awwal min Mu‘jam Shuyukh al-Dumyati (The First Part of the Dictionary of the Teachers of al-Dumyati) is the opening section of the comprehensive biographical dictionary of hadith teachers compiled by the Shafi‘i traditionist and genealogist Sharaf al-Din Abd al-Mu'min ibn Khalaf al-Dumyati (613–705 AH / 1217–1305 CE) .
Background and Scope
The work was authored by al-Dumyati to record the teachers and authorities from whom he received and transmitted hadith across Egypt, the Hejaz, the Levant, Iraq, and the Jazira during his extensive travels and scholarship . Sources vary regarding the exact count of teachers listed in the dictionary; Ibn Kathir and Ibn Fadl Allah al-Umari state that they exceed 1,300 scholars, while other accounts number them at around 1,250 .
Structure and Organization
The original dictionary was arranged alphabetically by the given names of the transmitters, honoring common Islamic biographical convention by opening with those named Muhammad . In total, 235 teachers named Muhammad are documented across the first eight parts (ajza’) of the work .
The overall compilation has been described as comprising two large volumes, four volumes in alternative descriptions, or forty-four individual parts according to the transmission of his student al-Qasim ibn Yusuf al-Tujibi . The text was dictated directly by al-Dumyati in hadith teaching assemblies .
Reception and Transmission
The dictionary served as an essential reference for later biographers and traditionists, and was transmitted and cited by major figures of the eighth century AH, including al-Tujibi, Shams al-Din al-Dhahabi, Ibn Sayyid al-Nas, and Kamal al-Din al-Adfawi . Portions of the dictionary survive in manuscript libraries, including parts preserved at the Islamic University of Madinah and al-Azhar .
Answer updated