al-Mudallisin
- Author died
- 826 AH
- Editions
- Dar al-Wafa
al-Mudallisin (Arabic: كتاب المدلسين, also known as Akhbar al-mudallisin) is a biographical hadith treatise by the Shafi'i jurist and traditionist Ibn al-Iraqi (762–826 AH / 1361–1423 CE) devoted to identifying and documenting transmitters described as practicing tadlis (the obfuscation or concealment of authorities and defects in chains of narration) .
Background and Composition
Independent works dedicated to mudallisin had been compiled earlier by scholars including al-Husayn ibn Ali al-Karabisi, al-Nasa'i, and al-Daraqutni, followed later by a versified list composed by al-Dhahabi with additions by Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Maqdisi . Later, Salah al-Din al-Ala'i included a dedicated section in his work Jami' al-tahsil fi ahkam al-marasil classifying the legal rulings of tadlis and compiling an inventory of 68 transmitters known for it .
Ibn al-Iraqi's father, Zayn al-Din al-Iraqi, noted omissions in al-Ala'i's catalog and added supplementary entries in the margins of his personal copy of Jami' al-tahsil without issuing them in a separate book . Ibn al-Iraqi compiled his father's marginal annotations alongside al-Ala'i's entries into an independent monograph, appending further entries from his own research . His additions over al-Ala'i's initial listing amounted to 13 transmitters, which he designated with the marker zay (ز) .
Impact and Transmission
The treatise formed a key intermediate step in the late classical systematization of biographical works on tadlis . Burhan al-Din al-Halabi (known as Sibt Ibn al-Ajami) compiled his own independent treatise, al-Tabyin li-asma' al-mudallisin, expanding upon al-Ala'i by 32 transmitters .
Subsequently, Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani integrated the material collected by al-Ala'i, Zayn al-Din al-Iraqi, Ibn al-Iraqi, and Sibt Ibn al-Ajami into his comprehensive treatise Ta'rif ahl al-taqdis bi-maratib al-mawsufin bi-l-tadlis (also known as Tabaqat al-mudallisin), adding 39 transmitters of his own to bring the total to 152 .
Manuscripts and Publication
A manuscript of the work is preserved in Istanbul at the Köprülü Library (MS 386/5, fols. 325–349), dated to 804 AH . The text was edited by Rif'at Fawzi Abd al-Muttalib and Nafidh Husayn Hammad and published by Dar al-Wafa' (1415 AH / 1995 CE) .
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