al-Dibaj lil-Khatli
- Author died
- 283 AH
- Editions
- Dar al-Basha'ir
Al-Dibaj (Arabic: كتاب الديباج, romanized: Kitāb al-Dībāj, lit. 'The Brocade') is a collection of hadith and pious maxims compiled by the traditionist Abu al-Qasim Ishaq ibn Ibrahim al-Khatli (d. 283 AH / 896 CE).
Author and Context
The author was Abu al-Qasim Ishaq ibn Ibrahim ibn Muhammad ibn Khazim ibn Sunayn al-Khatli al-Samarqandi. His geographical nisba derives from Khuttalan, an area near Samarkand. Al-Khatli transmitted traditions from teachers of his era such as Ali ibn al-Ja'd, Abu Nasr al-Tammar, Hisham ibn Ammar, and Abd al-Rahman ibn Affan al-Sufi. He died in 283 AH, as recorded by Ibn al-Munadi, with reports indicating he reached around eighty years of age.
Scholarly evaluations of al-Khatli's reliability as a traditionist vary: al-Daraqutni and al-Hakim al-Naysaburi described him as "not strong" (laysa bi-l-qawiyy), and al-Hakim once termed him weak (da'if). Ibn al-Qattan stated that he was unknown (majhul), whereas al-Khatib al-Baghdadi considered him trustworthy (thiqah).
Content and Structure
Al-Dibaj consists of traditional narrations, including prophetic hadiths, reports on virtues, and moral and spiritual wisdoms (al-hikam). The preserved text is structured into multiple parts (ajza'). It opens with a chain of transmission from Abd al-Rahman ibn Affan al-Sufi conveying a narration tracing back to Ja'far ibn Muhammad from his father from his grandfather regarding the Prophet's heavenly ascension (al-Isra' wal-Mi'raj) and an inscription praising Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, Umar ibn al-Khattab, and Uthman ibn Affan.
Transmission
The work was preserved through a well-documented chain of transmission (riwayah):
- Transmitted from al-Khatli by Abu Amr (or Abu Uthman) Uthman ibn Ahmad ibn Yazid al-Daqqaq, known as Ibn al-Sammak (d. 344 AH).
- Transmitted from Ibn al-Sammak by Abu al-Hasan Muhammad ibn Ubayd Allah al-Hinna'i.
- Transmitted from al-Hinna'i by Abu Abd Allah al-Husayn ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Talha al-Ni'ali.
- Transmitted from al-Ni'ali by the female scholar Shuhdah bint Ahmad al-Ibri (Fakhr al-Nisa').
- Transmitted through readings before Shuhdah to later traditionists, including the Hanbali scholar Abd al-Ghani al-Maqdisi and Muhammad ibn Khalaf ibn Rajih al-Maqdisi.
Manuscripts and Publication
Manuscript copies of al-Dibaj are preserved in the Zahiriyya Library in Damascus (including MS Hadith 3784, majmu' 48, and MS Tasawwuf 129), with photographic reproductions kept at Kuwait University. The text was edited by Ibrahim Salih and published in a single volume by Dar al-Basha'ir in 1994 as part of the Nawaadir al-Rasa'il series.
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