al-Durar al-Kamina fi Ayan al-Mi'a al-Thamina

al-Durar al-Kamina fi Ayan al-Mi'a al-Thamina (The Hidden Pearls Concerning the Notables of the Eighth Century) is an Arabic biographical dictionary by the Shafi'i hadith scholar and historian Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani (773–852 AH / 1372–1449 CE), devoted to prominent figures who lived or died during the eighth Islamic century (701–800 AH) al-Durar al-Kamina fi Aya…+1.

Composition and Date

Ibn Hajar stated at the conclusion of the work that he completed its initial drafting in the months of 830 AH, subsequently appending further biographies until 837 AH, while noting that he had still not fully gathered every figure tucked away in obscure records Kashf al-Zunun an Asami a…+1. His student al-Sakhawi recorded that the work was also known by the variant title al-Wafayat al-Kamina li-A'lam al-Mi'a al-Thamina al-Hafiz al-Iraqi wa Atha….

Scope and Structure

The book is arranged alphabetically according to the Arabic alphabet (huruf al-mu'jam) al-Durar al-Kamina fi Aya…+1. It opens with the praising phrase: «الحمد لله الذي يحيي ويميت» ("Praise be to God Who gives life and causes death") Kashf al-Zunun an Asami a….

The work encompasses a broad range of social and political classes. Alongside prominent scholars, jurists, hadith specialists, historians, ascetics, poets, and authors, it details viziers, sultans, military commanders (umara' al-ashara wa-l-mi'in), chancery scribes (kuttab al-insha'), court servants, and eunuchs (al-tawashiyya), as well as individuals active in medicine, engineering, and music al-Durar al-Kamina fi Aya…+1. Ibn Hajar also included extensive biographies of his own teachers, numerous entries on female scholars and hadith transmitters, accounts of Turkish and Mongol rulers, and records of major military engagements that occurred during the century al-Durar al-Kamina fi Aya….

Sources and Methodology

Ibn Hajar drew his biographical data from the writings of earlier eighth-century scholars, including Abu al-Safa, al-Safadi, Abu Hayyan al-Gharnati, Ibn Fadl Allah al-Umari, Qutb al-Din al-Halabi, and al-Dhahabi al-Durar al-Kamina fi Aya…. A foundational source was the necrology (al-Wafayat) of Shams al-Din ibn al-Hasan ibn Aybak al-Dimyati and its continuation (al-Dhayl) by Ibn Hajar's principal teacher, Zayn al-Din al-Iraqi, from whom Ibn Hajar held a formal license of transmission (ijaza) al-Hafiz al-Iraqi wa Atha….

He supplemented these compiled written records with extensive personal research and firsthand accounts of scholars from whom he had directly heard or received hadith al-Durar al-Kamina fi Aya…+1. In keeping with the scribal practices of contemporaries such as al-Safadi and Ibn Fadl Allah, Ibn Hajar left blank spaces (bayad) throughout the text with the intention of filling in missing details during later revisions, pointing to reference works to be consulted for subsequent additions al-Durar al-Kamina fi Aya….

Reception, Abridgments, and Editions

al-Durar al-Kamina was the first complete biographical dictionary organized specifically around a single centennial epoch, setting a precedent for subsequent scholars al-Durar al-Kamina fi Aya…. Al-Sakhawi modeled his ninth-century dictionary al-Daw' al-Lami' upon it, as did Abd al-Qadir al-Aydarus in al-Nur al-Safir and al-Najm al-Ghazzi in al-Kawakib al-Sa'ira for the tenth century al-Durar al-Kamina fi Aya…+1.

The book was abridged into a single volume by Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti, and another abridgment was prepared by the Hanbali scholar Ibn al-Mibrad (Yusuf ibn Hasan ibn Abd al-Hadi) al-Durar al-Kamina fi Aya…+1. Notable printed editions include the early edition published by the Da'irat al-Ma'arif al-Uthmaniyya in Hyderabad under the editorship of Fritz Krenkow (Salim al-Krenkowi), and the Cairo edition edited by Muhammad Sayyid Jad al-Haqq in five volumes al-Hafiz al-Iraqi wa Atha…+1.