al-Manthur min al-Hikayat wa al-Sualat li-Ibn Tahir al-Maqdisi
- Author died
- 507 AH
- Editions
- Maktabat Dar al-Minhaj
al-Manthūr min al-Ḥikāyāt wa al-Suʾālāt (المنثور من الحكايات والسؤالات, The Scattered Narratives and Inquiries) is a biographical, anecdotal, and Hadith-criticism compilation by the hadith master and traveler Ibn al-Qaysarani Muhammad ibn Tahir al-Maqdisi (d. 507 AH / 1114 CE) .
Contents and Scope
The work gathers scattered notes, direct inquiries addressed to contemporary scholars, critical assessments of hadith transmitters, biographical anecdotes, and personal observations collected by the author during his extensive travels across Islamic learning centers such as Mecca, Baghdad, Herat, Egypt, Rayy, and Jurjan .
Among the topics and reports featured in the text are:
- Critical evaluations (jarḥ wa-taʿdīl) and scholarly inquiries; for instance, the author questions Abu Isma'il al-Ansari al-Harawi in Herat regarding al-Hakim al-Naysaburi, and queries Abu al-Qasim Sa'd ibn Ali al-Zanjani in Mecca comparing the memory and mastery of four contemporary hadith authorities: al-Daraqutni, Abd al-Ghani al-Azdi, Ibn Mandah, and al-Hakim .
- Testimonies and critical assessments from senior scholars, such as Abu Sa'd al-Malini's evaluation of al-Hakim's al-Mustadrak, al-Khatib al-Baghdadi's remarks transmitted through al-Kiya Yahya ibn al-Husayn, and appraisals of scholars like Ibn Makula by Abu Ishaq al-Habbal .
- Pious anecdotes, ascetic accounts, dreams, and historical episodes, such as narratives concerning the Meccan jurist and ascetic Hayyaj ibn Ubayd Allah al-Hittini, his devotion to Sa'd al-Zanjani, and his death following a clash involving the Sunnis of Mecca .
Reception and Citations
The original comprehensive text served as a primary reference for subsequent biographical and historical works. It was cited by later historians and bio-bibliographers, including Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali in Dhayl Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanābilah, who cited Ibn Tahir's firsthand transmissions from Abu Isma'il al-Ansari and other authorities .
Manuscript and Modern Publication
The work survived in the form of selections copied from Ibn Tahir's own autograph (min khaṭṭih), with an extant manuscript titled Mukhtārāt min al-Manthūr min al-Ḥikāyāt wa al-Suʾālāt preserved at the King Abdulaziz Library in Medina (within collection Hikmat 293/6) .
The text was edited and annotated by Jamal Azzun, who reconstructed the available portions from the selected manuscript together with cited passages preserved across classical biographical dictionaries. It was published in a single volume by Maktabat Dar al-Minhaj in Riyadh (1st ed., 1430 AH / 2009 CE) .
Answer updated