Shams al-Din al-Dhahabi
al-Mughni fi al-Duafa
- Author died
- 748 AH
- Editions
- Dr. Nūr al-Dīn ʿItr
al-Mughni fi al-Duafa (al-Mughnī fī al-Ḍu‘afā’, "The Sufficient Reference on Weak Narrators") is a specialized biographical dictionary of weak, abandoned, and criticized hadith transmitters compiled by the Syrian Shafi'i traditionist and historian Shams al-Din al-Dhahabi (673–748 AH / 1274–1348 CE) .
Composition and Sources
The work forms part of a successive series of biographical treatises on narrator criticism compiled by al-Dhahabi . He initially composed Diwan al-Du'afa and its supplement (Dhayl Diwan al-Du'afa), which he subsequently merged and expanded into al-Mughni fi al-Duafa . It served as a direct precursor to his larger biographical reference, Mizan al-Itidal, which was written after al-Mughni and incorporated substantial additions .
In the introduction of al-Mughni fi al-Duafa, al-Dhahabi noted that he drew upon material from earlier foundational treatises dedicated to weak narrators, including works by Yahya ibn Ma'in, Ibn Khuzayma, and al-Hakim al-Naysaburi .
Method and Characteristics
al-Mughni fi al-Duafa is characterized by extreme conciseness (ikhtiṣār shadīd) . Rather than citing extensive chains of transmission or prolonged arguments, al-Dhahabi condensed the evaluations of criticized transmitters into brief, focused entries that summarize lengthy scholarly debates, while preserving unique critical observations .
A number of transmitters included in al-Mughni were omitted from his later Mizan al-I'tidal, several of whom were subsequently tracked and noted by Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani in Lisan al-Mizan . In certain manuscript copies of the book, al-Dhahabi recorded his name using the patronymic form "Ibn al-Dhahabi" .
Editions
The work has been published in multiple modern critical editions:
- Edited by Nur al-Din 'Itr in two volumes, based on manuscript witnesses including a copy read directly before al-Dhahabi and bearing his handwritten annotations (first published in Aleppo, 1391 AH / 1971 CE; later reprinted in Qatar and Beirut) .
- Edited by Hazim al-Qadi in two volumes (Dar al-Kutub al-'Ilmiyya, Beirut, 1418 AH / 1997 CE) .
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