al-Budur al-Mudiya fi Tarajim al-Hanafiyya
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al-Budur al-Mudiya fi Tarajim al-Hanafiyya (The Luminous Full Moons in the Biographies of the Hanafis) is a multi-volume biographical encyclopedia of Hanafi jurists and traditionists compiled by the Bangladeshi scholar Muhammad Hifz al-Rahman al-Kamlayi.
Background and Composition
The work was undertaken at the directive and encouragement of the hadith scholar Abd al-Rashid al-Nu'mani. In a correspondence describing the project to Muhammad Awwamah, al-Kamlayi explained that he sought to compile biographical notices preserved by earlier chroniclers—spanning from Ibn Abi al-Wafa' al-Qurashi to Abd al-Hayy al-Luknawi—while supplying figures omitted by them as well as a large number of subsequent scholars. These supplementary entries were extracted from general biographical dictionaries, magazines, journals, and other published media, placing particular emphasis on scholars of the Indian subcontinent, including those of Bangladesh whose contributions had remained largely unrecorded in earlier biographical compendia. The full work spans twenty-three volumes, including introductory material and indexes.
Structure and Methodology
The author introduced the work with an independent volume dedicated to essential historical principles, the Most Beautiful Names of God, an abridged biography of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, the virtues of the Companions, and the legal authorities (ashab al-futya) among both the Companions and the Successors. This introductory section also provides biographical treatments for Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, Alqama ibn Qays al-Nakha'i, Ibrahim al-Nakha'i, and Hammad ibn Abi Sulayman, concluding with an extensive account of Imam Abu Hanifa.
The main biographical entries are arranged alphabetically according to the Arabic letters (huruf al-mu'jam). Within this ordering, names beginning with an extended alif precede regular initial alifs (such as Adam before Ibrahim), Muhammad precedes Mahmud, and Ibrahim ibn Ahmad precedes Ibrahim ibn Adham based on the second letter of the father's name. Under the letter ʿAyn, al-Kamlayi placed individuals named Abdullah ahead of other composite names beginning with ʿAbd, following the organizational method of Ibn Abi al-Wafa' al-Qurashi in al-Jawahir al-Mudiya.
Reception and Editions
al-Budur al-Mudiya received commendations and endorsements (taqariz) from leading South Asian scholars and faculty across institutions such as Darul Uloom Deoband, Mazahir Uloom in Saharanpur, and Darul Uloom Hathazari, including Abu al-Qasim al-Nu'mani, Saeed Ahmad Palanpuri, Shah Ahmad Shafi, Nematullah Azami, Habibur Rahman Azami, Muhammad Aqil, Abdus Salam Chatgami, Junaid Babunagari, Abdullah Marufee, Delwar Hossain, and Muhammad Abdul Malek. Reviewers noted its coverage of obscure figures and its demonstration of Hanafi scholarship in the field of hadith alongside jurisprudence. In his evaluation, Muhammad Abdul Malek observed that although the bibliography reflected immense effort, the fact that its sources did not exceed four hundred titles suggested that further stages of collection remained possible for full completeness.
The first edition of the work sold out rapidly, after which the author published a revised second edition incorporating textual corrections and editorial refinements to eliminate earlier printing errors.
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