al-Manzuma al-Bayquniyya
- Author died
- 1080 AH
- Editions
- Dar Al-Mughni li-l-Nashr wa-l-Tawzi'
al-Manzuma al-Bayquniyya is a didactic poem in Hadith terminology composed by Umar ibn Muhammad ibn Futuh al-Bayquni (d. c. 1080 AH / 1670 CE), designed as an introductory primer for beginners in the field .
Author and Composition
Manuscripts identify the author as Umar—or Taha—ibn Muhammad ibn Futuh al-Bayquni al-Dimashqi al-Shafi'i, noting that he was alive prior to 1065 AH or died around 1080 AH, though biographical dictionaries preserve few details about his life . In his commentary, Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Hamawi recorded that he could not locate an established biography stating the author's precise background or whether the nisba al-Bayquni derived from a town, village, or ancestor . Later, Muhammad Badr al-Din al-Hasani cited an attribution identifying Bayqun as a village in the region of Azerbaijan near Kurdish settlements, with the author or his ancestors subsequently settling in Damascus .
The work is composed in the rajaz meter (bahr al-rajaz) and consists of 34 verses, as stated explicitly by the author in the closing line . Numerous early manuscript copies survive across international repositories, including copies transcribed in 1076 AH, 1081 AH, and 1083 AH housed in the Süleymaniye Library and the Egyptian National Library and Archives .
Structure and Content
The poem begins with the opening praise of God and blessings upon the Prophet Muhammad, after which the author announces his intention to enumerate the categories of Hadith and define each one . Across its verses, the work outlines over thirty core concepts of Hadith nomenclature:
- Primary Grades of Authenticity: The sahih (sound), hasan (fair), and da'if (weak) .
- Transmission Attribution: The marfu' (attributed to the Prophet), maqtu' (attributed to a Successor), musnad (connected directly to the Prophet), muttasil (continuously connected), and mawquf (attributed to a Companion) .
- Narrative Transmission and Chains: The musalsal (having a patterned mode of conveyance), 'aziz (narrated by two or three), mashhur (narrated by more than three), mu'an'an (transmitted with the preposition 'an), mubham (containing an unnamed narrator), 'ali (elevated chain with fewer narrators), nazil (lower chain), and gharib (narrated by a single transmitter) .
- Breaks and Concealment: The mursal (missing the Companion), munqati' (severed chain), mu'dal (missing two consecutive narrators), and two categories of mudallas (concealing the immediate teacher or obscuring his identity) .
- Irregularities and Hidden Defects: The shadhdh (contradiction by a trustworthy narrator), maqlub (inverted text or chain), fard (isolated transmission), mu'allal (possessing a hidden defect), mudtarib (suffering unresolved discrepancies), and mudraj (interpolated phrases) .
- Narrator Relations and Nomenclature: The mudabbaj (peers narrating from each other), muttafiq wa-muftariq (names identical in spelling and pronunciation but referring to different individuals), and mu'talif wa-mukhtalif (names identical in script but differing in vocalization) .
- Severe Defects and Rejection: The munkar (singular transmission by an uncorroborated narrator), matruk (abandoned report of an agreed-upon weak narrator), and mawdu' (fabricated report forged against the Prophet) .
The poem concludes with lines in which the author likens his verse to a protected pearl, names the poem Manzumat al-Bayquni, and notes its 34-verse length .
Reception, Commentaries, and Critiques
Due to its brevity and accessible rhythm, al-Manzuma al-Bayquniyya became one of the standard elementary texts studied in the traditional curriculum of Hadith terminology . A wide range of scholars produced commentaries, supercommentaries, and marginalia on the poem across subsequent centuries, including:
- Talqih al-Fikr bi-Sharh Manzumat al-Athar by Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Hamawi (d. 1098 AH) .
- Sharh al-Zarqani 'ala al-Manzuma al-Bayquniyya by Muhammad al-Zarqani (d. 1122 AH) .
- Safwat al-Mulah bi-Sharh Manzum al-Bayquni fi Fan al-Mustalah by Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Budayri al-Dimyati (known as Ibn al-Mayyit, d. 1140 AH) .
- Hawashi 'ala al-Manzuma al-Bayquniyya by Abd al-Rahman ibn Sulayman al-Ahdal (d. 1250 AH) .
- al-Durra al-Bahiyya fi Sharh al-Manzuma al-Bayquniyya by Muhammad Badr al-Din al-Hasani (d. 1354 AH) .
- al-Nukhba al-Nabhaniyya Sharh al-Manzuma al-Bayquniyya by Muhammad ibn Khalifa al-Nabhani (d. 1369 AH) .
- al-Taqrirat al-Saniyya fi Sharh al-Manzuma al-Bayquniyya by Hasan ibn Muhammad al-Mashshat (d. 1399 AH) .
- Sharh al-Manzuma al-Bayquniyya by Abd Allah Siraj al-Din (completed in 1372 AH) .
- al-Tawdihat al-Basita 'ala al-Manzuma al-Bayquniyya by Sa'd ibn 'Umar al-Futi al-Tijani (published 1400 AH) .
- Saql al-Afham al-Jaliyya bi-Sharh al-Manzuma al-Bayquniyya by Mustafa ibn Muhammad ibn Salama (1412 AH) .
- Sharh al-Manzuma al-Bayquniyya by Muhammad ibn Salih al-Uthaymin (d. 1421 AH / 2001 CE), printed in Cairo in 1415 AH .
Commentators noted certain technical inaccuracies in several definitions formulated by al-Bayquni, such as his definition of the hasan Hadith as that whose paths of transmission are well-known . In response to these critiques, Abd al-Sattar Abu Ghudda re-versified the problematic lines according to preferred scholarly definitions, which were published alongside annotations by Ali Hasan al-Halabi under the title al-Ta'liqat al-Athariyya 'ala al-Manzuma al-Bayquniyya in Amman in 1403 AH .
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