al-Dhayl wa al-Takmila li Kitabay al-Mawsul wa al-Sila

al-Dhayl wa al-Takmila li Kitabay al-Mawsul wa al-Sila (The Supplement and Completion to the Books of al-Mawsul and al-Sila) is a biographical dictionary compiled by the Moroccan scholar and judge Ibn Abd al-Malik al-Marrakushi (634–703 AH / 1237–1303 CE; also cited as d. 704 AH) al-Nubugh al-Maghribi fi …+1. It serves as both a continuation and a critical supplement to the earlier Andalusian biographical dictionaries of Ibn al-Faradi and Ibn Bashkuwal al-Dhayl wa al-Takmila li….

Purpose and Scope

In his introduction, Ibn Abd al-Malik explained that his objective was to append a continuation (tadhyīl) to the Kitab al-Sila of Abu al-Qasim Ibn Bashkuwal—which itself was a continuation of the Tarikh ‘Ulama’ al-Andalus (commonly referred to as al-Mawsul) by Abu al-Walid Ibn al-Faradi—by documenting the scholars and visitors of al-Andalus who came after Ibn Bashkuwal's time, as well as providing a completion (takmila) of entries for those figures whom both predecessors had omitted al-Dhayl wa al-Takmila li….

The work encompasses comprehensive biographies of jurists, traditionists, judges, literary figures, and poets, especially across the Almoravid dynasty and Almohad Caliphate periods Dawlat al-Islam fi al-And…. Beyond standard biographical details, Ibn Abd al-Malik incorporated substantial historical digressions (fadhlikat) on political developments and dynasty affairs, preserving rare accounts and details about the Almohads not found in other records Dawlat al-Islam fi al-And…+1.

Arrangement and Methodology

Unlike many Western Islamic biographers such as Ibn al-Abbar and Ibn al-Zubayr, who arranged their biographical works according to the Maghribi alphabetical order, Ibn Abd al-Malik adopted the Mashriqi (Eastern) alphabetical order al-Dhayl wa al-Takmila li…+1. Within this system, he applied specific structural conventions:

• Under the letter alif, he opened with individuals named Ahmad, and under the letter mim, he placed those named Muhammad first, seeking blessing by fronting the names of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ al-Dhayl wa al-Takmila li….
• Under the letter ‘ayn, he prioritized the names ‘Abd Allah and ‘Abd al-Rahman, placing ‘Ubayd Allah between them for honorific reasons, followed by ‘Abd al-Rahim due to the connection with the Basmala formula al-Dhayl wa al-Takmila li….
• He then strictly applied alphabetical ordering to second names, ancestral lineages, teachers, and students al-Dhayl wa al-Takmila li…+1.

Entries typically present the subject's full lineage, geographical origins, migrations, masters, disciples, and transmission credentials, alongside critical assessments of narrated reports and dates of birth and death al-Nubugh al-Maghribi fi …+1. The book is distinguished from earlier dictionaries by its extensive inclusion of literary material, incorporating entire poems, rhetorical correspondence, didactic verses on grammar, prosody, and law, and critical linguistic analysis al-Dhayl wa al-Takmila li…+1.

Sources

Ibn Abd al-Malik organized the foundation of his documentation into three main categories:

1. Catalogues and transmission logs (baramij) of prominent scholars, mostly studied in original autograph copies or verified manuscripts al-Dhayl wa al-Takmila li….
2. Written chronological and genealogical notebooks (muqayyadat) documenting dates of birth, death, lineages, and narrators' biographies al-Dhayl wa al-Takmila li….
3. Direct oral transmission, class auditions, reading sessions, authorizations (ijazat), and certificates of transmission received from his own shaykhs al-Dhayl wa al-Takmila li….

In addition to biographical works like Ibn Faradi's history, Ibn Bashkuwal's al-Sila, Abu Bakr al-Zubaydi's Tabaqat al-Nahwiyyin, al-Humaydi's Jadhwat al-Muqtabis, and Ibn al-Abbar's al-Takmila, he drew upon major general histories, including the works of Ahmad and Isa al-Razi, Ibn Hayyan, and Ibn Hazm al-Dhayl wa al-Takmila li…+1.

Size, Completion, and Transmission

Classical scholars such as al-Sakhawi and al-Suyuti recorded that the work comprised nine volumes al-Dhayl wa al-Takmila li…. Ibn Abd al-Malik spent much of his life preparing it, but due to his rigorous standard of exhaustive detail, he died before completing all intended revisions, leaving several uncompleted blank spaces (bayadat) and unresolved queries in his manuscript al-Dhayl wa al-Takmila li…+1.

The book was nonetheless released during his lifetime; among those who transmitted it from him were his son Abu Abd Allah Muhammad and the scholar Abu al-Qasim al-Tujibi al-Sabti al-Dhayl wa al-Takmila li….

Reception and Critique

Later chroniclers and biographers made frequent use of al-Dhayl wa al-Takmila, including Ibn Idhari in al-Bayan al-Mughrib, Ibn Abi Zar‘ in al-Anis al-Mutrib, the author of al-Dhakhira al-Saniyya, Lisan al-Din ibn al-Khatib, Ibn Ghazi al-Miknasi, and Ahmad Baba al-Timbukti al-Dhayl wa al-Takmila li…+1.

While commended for its analytical rigor and breadth, the author's candor occasionally drew contemporary and later criticism. Ibn Abd al-Malik recorded sensitive genealogies, such as disputes concerning the lineage of Abu al-Mutarrif Ibn ‘Amira, and transmitted satirical verses about scholars like Ibn al-Abbar, prompting his transmitter al-Tujibi to remark that it would have been preferable to omit satires against men of learning al-Dhayl wa al-Takmila li…. Ibn al-Khatib similarly observed that certain unfavorable reports about individuals' backgrounds would have been better avoided al-Dhayl wa al-Takmila li….

Manuscripts and Publication

Manuscript parts of the work survived in multiple collections, including the El Escorial library, the British Library, the Bibliothèque nationale de France, Dar al-Kutub in Cairo, al-Khizana al-Hasaniyya in Rabat, and the Qarawiyyin Library in Fez Mujam Tarikh al-Turath al…+1.

The extant volumes were edited and published across several installments in Beirut and Rabat by scholars including Ihsan Abbas and Muhammad Bencherifa (Ibn Sharifah) between 1964 and 1984, followed by complete multi-volume editions edited jointly with Bashar Awwad Ma'ruf Mujam Tarikh al-Turath al…+1.