Shams al-Din al-Dhahabi
al-Muin fi Tabaqat al-Muhaddithin
- Author died
- 748 AH
- Editions
- Dar Al-Furqan
al-Muin fi Tabaqat al-Muhaddithin (The Helper Concerning the Generations of Hadith Scholars) is a biographical reference work by the Damascene historian and hadith specialist Shams al-Din al-Dhahabi (673–748 AH / 1274–1348 CE), cataloging hadith scholars across generational classes ().
Scope and Structure
The work is an abridged handbook devoted to the transmitters and scholars of hadith (). The text is concise and largely limited to the names and core identifications of the transmitters (). al-Dhahabi organized the work into twenty-eight generations (tabaqat) ().
In structuring the earlier generations, al-Dhahabi designated each class by the names of its prominent figures, such as "the generation of al-Zuhri and Qatada", "the generation of al-Amash and Abu Hanifa", and "the generation of Ibn al-Madini and Ahmad ibn Hanbal" (). Beginning around the turn of the 3rd century AH, he changed his approach to defining classes by approximate date spans, such as "the generation of those who remained after 300 AH up to around 320 AH" and "the generation from the [five hundred and] thirties up to after 550 AH" (). These generational spans generally encompass periods of twenty, twenty-five, or thirty years ().
Place in al-Dhahabi's Oeuvre
al-Dhahabi employed the generational model across several biographical dictionaries, adjusting the number of classes and criteria to fit each work's scope (). While his Tadhkirat al-Huffaz was restricted to top-tier hadith masters (huffaz) distributed across twenty-one classes based on scholarly transmission and encounters (luqya), and his Tabaqat al-Shuyukh covered hadith transmitters below the rank of hafiz, al-Muin fi Tabaqat al-Muhaddithin provided a separate generational survey of hadith scholars in twenty-eight tiers ().
Editions
al-Muin fi Tabaqat al-Muhaddithin has been published in modern critical editions:
- Edited by Hammam Abd al-Rahim Said and published by Dar al-Furqan in Amman (1404 AH / 1984 CE) ().
- Edited by Muhammad Zaynahum Muhammad Arab and published by Dar al-Sahwah in Cairo (1407 AH / 1986–1987 CE) ().
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