al-Masalik al-Qawima bi-Tarajim Rijal Ibn Khuzayma, fi al-Sahih wa al-Tawhid wa al-Fawaid
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al-Masalik al-Qawima bi-Tarajim Rijal Ibn Khuzayma, fi al-Sahih wa al-Tawhid wa al-Fawaid (The Straight Paths: Biographies of the Narrators of Ibn Khuzaymah in the Sahih, Tawhid, and Fawaid) is a biographical dictionary of hadith transmitters compiled by Abu al-Tayyib Nayif ibn Salah ibn 'Ali al-Mansuri . Published in two volumes in Riyadh in 1436 AH (2015 CE), the work forms the fourth installment of the second set (Ithaf al-Bararah) within the author's broader biographical initiative, Silsilat Taqrib Ruwat al-Sunnah bayna Yaday al-Ummah .
Scope and Sources
The book is dedicated to identifying and profiling the transmitters appearing in the transmission chains of Ibn Khuzaymah (223–311 AH) who fall outside the scope of standard biographical works on the Six Books, specifically those omitted from al-Mizzi's Tahdhib al-Kamal and its derivatives . The author gathered transmitters across four distinct source bodies within Ibn Khuzaymah's corpus:
- The surviving printed portion of Ibn Khuzaymah's major hadith collection, Mukhtasar al-Mukhtasar min al-Musnad al-Sahih (commonly known as Sahih Ibn Khuzaymah) .
- The missing sections of Sahih Ibn Khuzaymah preserved in the cross-referencing work Ithaf al-Maharah by Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, including chapters such as governance (al-Siyasah), legal punishments (al-Hudud), tribulations (al-Fitan), reliance on God (al-Tawakkul), terrors of the Day of Judgment (al-Ahwal), jihad, marriage (al-Nikah), funerals (al-Jana'iz), incantations (al-Ruqa), commercial sales (al-Buyu'), apocalyptic battles (al-Malahim), repentance (al-Tawbah), medicine (al-Tibb), and pilgrimage (al-Hajj) .
- Ibn Khuzaymah's theological work, Kitab al-Tawhid wa-Ithbat Sifat al-Rabb .
- The hadith tract Fawa'id al-Fawa'id .
Structure and Methodology
The work opens with an explanation of the author's methodology, followed by an extensive biographical study of Ibn Khuzaymah titled Irshad al-Ummah bi-Tarjamah Ibn Khuzayma Imam al-A'immah . This introductory study is structured into two main parts (bab), covering Ibn Khuzaymah's identity, family, virtues, creed, legal positions, travels, teachers, students, written works, and critical reception among scholars .
The main biographical dictionary is arranged in alphabetical order (huruf al-mu'jam) . For each transmitter who meets the inclusion criteria, al-Mansuri assigns source abbreviations (rumuz):
- (Khaz / خز) for entries appearing in Sahih Ibn Khuzaymah .
- (Taw / تو) for those appearing in Kitab al-Tawhid .
- (Fa / ف) for those appearing in Fawa'id al-Fawa'id .
The biographical entries document the transmitter's name, lineage, teachers, students, critical evaluations of reliability (al-jarh wa-al-ta'dil), birth and death dates where known, and their narrations recorded by Ibn Khuzaymah .
The work concludes with four indexes: an index of biografied transmitters, an index of relational surnames (nisbahs), an index of printed and manuscript sources, and a subject index . The text was reviewed for language and grammar by Abu Halah Hamdan ibn Zayd Dahlam .
Publication
The book was published in its first edition in 1436 AH (2015 CE) by Dar al-'Asimah in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in two volumes .
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