al-Muallim bi-Shuyukh al-Bukhari wa Muslim

al-Mu'allim bi-Shuyukh al-Bukhari wa Muslim (The Guide to the Teachers of al-Bukhari and Muslim) is a biographical dictionary compiled by the Andalusian hadith scholar Ibn Khalfun (555–636 AH / 1160–1239 CE) Mujam Tarikh al-Turath al…+1. The work is dedicated to identifying and profiling the direct teachers and narrators relied upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj in their respective Sahih collections al-Dhayl wa al-Takmila li…+1.

Title and Scope

The work is documented across classical and biographical literature under slightly varying titles, including al-Mu'allim bi-Asami Shuyukh al-Bukhari wa Muslim, al-Mufhim fi Shuyukh al-Bukhari wa Muslim, and al-Kitab al-Mu'allim fi Asma' Rijal al-Bukhari wa Muslim al-Takmila li-Kitab al-Si…+1. It falls within the genre of biographical evaluation (ilm al-rijal) that specializes in the authorities of the two canonical hadith compendia (al-Sahihayn) al-Dhayl wa al-Takmila li…+1.

Ibn Khalfun systematically catalogues the teachers from whom al-Bukhari and Muslim transmitted, documenting their names, trustworthiness, and transmission status al-Dhayl wa al-Takmila li…+1. Classical bibliographers, such as Ibn Abd al-Malik al-Marrakushi, list it as a single-volume work, while manuscript witnesses preserve it in two volumes Mujam Tarikh al-Turath al…+1.

Reception and Scholarly Impact

Later hadith critics and biographical lexicographers cited Ibn Khalfun's findings in their own evaluations of narrators from the Sahihayn. Ala al-Din Mughaltay cited the work in Ikmal Tahdhib al-Kamal when verifying whether particular transmitters were accounted for among the teachers of al-Bukhari and Muslim Ikmal Tahdhib al-Kamal. Similarly, Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani referenced Ibn Khalfun’s inclusion of contested narrators in Tahdhib al-Tahdhib when discussing the teachers of al-Bukhari Riwayat al-Jami al-Sahih ….

Manuscripts and Publication

A major historical manuscript of the text, divided into two parts comprising 161 and 130 folios and copied in 654 AH, is held in the library of al-Azhar under the hadith terminology collection (MS 136) Mujam Tarikh al-Turath al…+1. The text was edited by Abu Abd al-Rahman Adil ibn Sa'd and published by Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyya in Beirut Sifat Rabb al-Alamin - Ra…+1.