al-Ima ila Atraf Ahadith Kitab al-Muwatta
- Author died
- 532 AH
- Editions
- Maktabat al-Maʿārif lil-Nashr wa-al-Tawzīʿ
al-Ima ila Atraf Ahadith Kitab al-Muwatta (The Indication to the Hadith Incipits of the Book of al-Muwatta) is a hadith reference and critical work by the Andalusian scholar Abu al-Abbas al-Dani (467–532 AH / 1074–1138 CE), dedicated to indexing the hadiths of Malik ibn Anas’s al-Muwatta and analyzing their transmission chains and hidden defects ().
Background and Title
Abu al-Abbas al-Dani composed the work to emulate the structural model of Abu Mas'ud al-Dimashqi’s Atraf al-Sahihayn (The Incipits of the Two Sahihs), adding critical commentary on the chains and text variants of al-Muwatta . Upon writing the initial draft, he presented it to his teacher Abu Ali al-Sadafi, who praised the work and directed him to expand and elaborate upon it, prompting al-Dani to add further material .
The complete title appearing on the manuscript title page is Kitab al-Ima ila Atraf Ahadith Kitab al-Muwatta . Biographical sources refer to it under various abridgments: Qadi Iyad mentioned it as Atraf al-Muwatta, while Ibn al-Abbar and Ibn Abd al-Malik al-Marrakushi recorded it as Kitab al-Ima . In later biographical compendiums, such as Ibn Farhun’s al-Dibaj al-Mudhahhab and Umar Rida Kahhala’s Mu'jam al-Mu'allifin, the title was miscopied as al-Inba .
Structure and Methodology
The work is organized according to the genre of atraf (hadith incipits), arranged alphabetically by the names of the Companion narrators starting with the letter alif, and concluding with the marasil (reports lacking a Companion intermediary) . Within each Companion's section, al-Dani introduces connected (muttasil) and explicitly elevated (marfu') narrations first, relegating broken (munqati') narrations to the end of the entry or setting them apart in dedicated headings, as seen in the musnads of Umar ibn al-Khattab and his son Abd Allah ibn Umar .
Al-Dani adopts the recension of Yahya ibn Yahya al-Laythi as his baseline, recording what Yahya transmitted either alone or alongside other transmitters, and subsequently identifying unique additions or rare variants (shadhdh) found in other transmissions of al-Muwatta . His stated method and critical features encompass:
- Citing hadith incipits (atraf) along with their chains, and locating each narration within al-Muwatta by referencing the relevant book (kitab) or chapter heading (bab) .
- Identifying and clarifying unnamed or ambiguous transmitters in the chains .
- Supplying continuous chains for disconnected (maqtu' and mursal) narrations and providing elevated (marfu') corroborations for non-prophetic reports (mawquf) .
- Investigating hidden transmission defects ('ilal), resolving textual difficulties, and harmonizing seemingly contradictory reports .
- Detecting scribal corruptions, misreadings (tashif), and mistakes present in the text of Yahya al-Laythi by collating it with alternative recensions .
- Drawing upon the critical rulings of early authorities, including Ali ibn al-Madini, Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj, and especially al-Daraqutni, while occasionally disputing al-Daraqutni's evaluations .
Reception and Editions
The work was utilized and commended by Andalusian and Maghrebi scholars; Ibn Abd al-Malik al-Marrakushi noted that he personally held a copy of the manuscript in his library . Later hadith scholars specializing in atraf literature, such as Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani in the introduction to Ithaf al-Mahara, cited and attributed the work to Abu al-Abbas al-Dani .
al-Ima was edited based on a unique manuscript by Rida Bushama and Abd al-Bari Abd al-Hamid, and published in Riyadh by Maktabat al-Ma'arif in 1424 AH / 2003 CE .
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