al-Istighna fi Marifat al-Mashhurin min Hamlat al-Ilm bil-Kuna
- Author died
- 463 AH
- Editions
- Dār Ibn Taymiyyah lil-Nashr wa-al-Tawzīʿ wa-al-Iʿlām
al-Istighna fi Marifat al-Mashhurin min Hamlat al-Ilm bil-Kuna (Dispensing with Need: On Knowing the Famous Bearers of Knowledge by Their Agnomens) is a biographical reference work on Hadith transmitters known primarily by their agnomens (kuna), compiled by the Andalusian scholar Ibn Abd al-Barr (368–463 AH / 978–1071 CE) .
Scope and Structure
The work was authored after Ibn Abd al-Barr's biographical dictionary of the Companions, al-Isti'ab, to which he occasionally cross-references . It resolves identification ambiguities surrounding narrators cited by agnomen rather than personal name across three integrated parts :
- Companions known primarily by their kunya, whose proper names are either unknown or disputed .
- Bearers of religious knowledge among the Successors (al-Tabi'un) and subsequent generations who were widely known by their kunya, along with the identification of their given names .
- Transmitters known solely by their kunya whose actual names remained unidentified .
Although later scholars occasionally cited these three divisions as separate titles or simply under the generic label Kitab al-Kuna, they constitute a single overarching book titled al-Istighna .
Transmission and Reception
In al-Andalus, the text was transmitted by Ibn Khayr al-Ishbili through two distinct lines: via Abu Muhammad Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad ibn Attab directly from Ibn Abd al-Barr, and via Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Tahir through Abu Ali al-Ghassani, who received it directly from Ibn Abd al-Barr by hand-to-hand transmission (munawalah) .
Ibn al-Salah commended Ibn Abd al-Barr’s treatises on the varieties of agnomens as "delicate, exquisite books" and a "handsome composition" . Clarifying Ibn al-Salah's phrasing, Siraj al-Din al-Bulqini and al-Sakhawi noted that "delicate" did not denote small physical size, observing that al-Istighna forms a substantial, bulky volume (mujallad kabir dakhm) comprising all these categories . The book became a standard reference for later biographical and Hadith scholars, including al-Dhahabi, Zayn al-Din al-Iraqi, Taqi al-Din al-Fasi, and al-Suyuti . Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani cited it extensively in works such as Tahdhib al-Tahdhib, quoting passages directly from both its second and third sections .
Abridgment and Modern Editions
The Hanbali jurist Muhammad ibn Abi al-Fath al-Ba'li (d. 709 AH) prepared an epitome of the work entitled Mukhtasar al-Istighna fi Asma al-Ma'rufin bil-Kuna, completing it on Wednesday, five days before the end of Shawwal 686 AH .
The complete original text was edited by Abd Allah Marhul al-Sawalimah as a doctoral dissertation at Umm al-Qura University and published in three volumes by Dar Ibn Taymiyyah in Riyadh in 1405 AH / 1985 CE .
Answer updated