al-Mujam al-Mufahras = Tajrid Asanid al-Kutub al-Mashhura wal-Ajza al-Manthura
- Author died
- 852 AH
- Editions
- Mu’assasat al-Risālah
al-Mujam al-Mufahras, also titled Tajrid Asanid al-Kutub al-Mashhura wal-Ajza al-Manthura (The Stripping of Chains for Well-Known Books and Scattered Treatises), is a bibliographical catalogue (fahrasa / thabat) authored by the hadith scholar Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani (773–852 AH / 1372–1449 CE) to document his verified chains of transmission (asanid) for various Islamic literary works and hadith compilations .
Background and Purpose
Ibn Hajar composed the work in response to recurring requests from colleagues and students who asked him to isolate and present his transmitted chains of narration for well-known sourcebooks and independent treatises . Although he initially hesitated, he undertook the project anticipating its practical utility for students of hadith, compiling the scattered transmission paths from multiple sources into a single structured volume . To complement the catalogue, he also authored al-Majma al-Muassis lil-Mujam al-Mufahras (also titled al-Mujam al-Muassis), which details the biographies of the teachers through whom these transmissions were preserved .
Structure and Organization
Ibn Hajar organized the catalogue thematically into distinct subject-based categories rather than a purely alphabetical inventory:
- Thematically arranged works (al-kutub al-mubawwaba): Beginning with extensive compilations (al-mutawwalat), followed by abridgments (al-mukhtasarat), comprehensive compendia (al-jawami), and specialized monographs (al-mufarraqat) .
- Musnad collections (al-masanid): Hadith works organized according to companion transmitters .
- Scholastic excerpts (fawaid al-shuyukh): Notebooks of teachers' beneficial transmissions, arranged alphabetically .
- Registers of teachers (al-maajim wal-mashyakhat): Dictionaries and records of scholarly lineages .
- Collections of forty hadiths (al-arbainat): Topical and general forty-hadith compilations .
- Histories and biographical works (al-tawarikh): Historical chronicles and related genres .
- Hadith methodology and disciplines (funun al-hadith): Specialized treatises in hadith nomenclature and sciences .
- Treatises lacking isnads (al-tasanif al-khaliya min al-asanid): Doctrinal and legal writings transmitted without full isnad sequences in their primary texts .
Alongside what he heard directly, Ibn Hajar occasionally included references to texts he had not directly audited when there was an acute necessity for their documentation .
Method of Transmission
Ibn Hajar adhered to strict transmission terminology throughout the text. The bulk of the material derived from his personal audition (masmu), attained either through his own active reading before teachers or through listening while others recited . When reporting through specific licenses (al-ijaza al-khassa), whether conveyed verbally in person or via written correspondence, he clearly designated them .
Conversely, he deliberately excluded transmissions based on general licenses (al-ijaza al-amma), even those issued by senior Egyptian authorities whom he overlapped with in childhood, such as Ibn Umayla and al-Salah Ibn Abi Umar . He maintained that relying on direct audition or specific authorization—even with lower chains of transmission—was superior to general licenses, citing Ibn al-Salah's critique regarding the laxity inherent in general permissions .
Reception and Editions
The work served as a primary reference for subsequent hadith scholars tracing chains of transmission. Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti relied heavily upon it when compiling his own transmission register, Inshab al-Kathab fi Ansab al-Kutub, in which he abridged most of Ibn Hajar's entries while appending additional works that Ibn Hajar had omitted .
The book has been published under the title al-Mujam al-Mufahras aw Tajrid Asanid al-Kutub al-Mashhura wal-Ajza al-Manthura, edited by Muhammad Shakur al-Mayadini and published by Mu'assasat al-Risalah in Beirut (1418 AH / 1998 CE) .
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