al-Mujam al-Saghir lil-Tabarani

al-Mu'jam al-Saghir (The Small Lexicon) is a hadith collection compiled by the hadith scholar Abu al-Qasim al-Tabarani (260–360 AH / 873–971 CE) to document the names of his teachers and provide sample transmissions from each Irshad al-Qasi wa al-Dani…+1.

Purpose and Arrangement

Al-Tabarani authored three distinct hadith dictionaries (al-Ma'ajim al-Thalathah): al-Mu'jam al-Kabir (The Great Lexicon), al-Mu'jam al-Awsat (The Middle Lexicon), and al-Mu'jam al-Saghir al-Arij fi Ilm Usul al-Ta…. While al-Mu'jam al-Kabir is organized alphabetically according to the names of the Companions, both al-Mu'jam al-Awsat and al-Mu'jam al-Saghir are arranged alphabetically by the names of al-Tabarani's direct teachers al-Arij fi Ilm Usul al-Ta…+1.

In his introduction, al-Tabarani defined the purpose and structure of the work:

"This is the first book of the benefits of my teachers from whom I recorded in various lands; I cited from each one of them a single hadith, and arranged their names alphabetically." Irshad al-Qasi wa al-Dani…

The primary purpose of al-Mu'jam al-Saghir was to list his teachers rather than to provide comprehensive narrations al-Arij fi Ilm Usul al-Ta…+1. Although al-Tabarani generally cited one or two hadiths under each teacher, he did not strictly adhere to this limit throughout the collection and occasionally included more narrations in individual biographical entries Irshad al-Qasi wa al-Dani…. The book contains narrations from approximately one thousand teachers or more Irshad al-Qasi wa al-Dani…+1, with modern enumerations isolating about 1,253 teachers al-Majmu fi Tarjamat al-A….

Transmission and Derivative Works

The text was transmitted directly from al-Tabarani by Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn 'Abd Allah ibn Ahmad ibn Ibrahim ibn Ridha al-Isbahani (d. 440 AH), who was among the last to narrate both al-Mu'jam al-Kabir and al-Mu'jam al-Saghir from the author Majallat al-Jami'a al-Isl…+1.

Later scholars produced specialized derivative works based on the text:

• Nur al-Din al-Haythami (d. 807 AH) gathered the unique transmissions (zawa'id) of al-Mu'jam al-Saghir and al-Mu'jam al-Awsat that were not recorded in the Six Books into his work Majma' al-Bahrayn fi Zawa'id al-Mu'jamayn (The Confluence of the Two Seas on the Additional Hadiths of the Two Dictionaries), ordering them topically according to jurisprudence Majma al-Bahrayn fi Zawai…+1. He subsequently merged these narrations without chains into Majma' al-Zawa'id wa-Manba' al-Fawa'id Tadwin al-Sunna al-Nabawi…+1.
• Several scholars authored dedicated biographical dictionaries focused on identifying and evaluating the teachers listed in the book, including Hammad al-Ansari in Bulghat al-Qasi wa-al-Dani bi-Tarajim Shuyukh al-Tabarani and Nayif al-Mansuri in Irshad al-Qasi wa-al-Dani ila Tarajim Shuyukh al-Tabarani al-Majmu fi Tarjamat al-A…+1.
• Salah al-Din al-Idlibi compiled and analyzed al-Tabarani's critical assessments of narrators across the work in Mu'jam al-Jarh wa-al-Ta'dil min Kalam al-Hafiz al-Tabarani fi al-Mu'jam al-Saghir, examining 69 narrators al-Qism al-Thani min al-M….

Publication History

al-Mu'jam al-Saghir was published in India in 1311 AH Irshad al-Qasi wa al-Dani…. It was later published in Beirut by Dar al-Kutub al-'Ilmiyyah (1403 AH / 1983 CE) in two volumes, and in a critical edition edited by Muhammad Shakur Mahmud al-Hajj Amrir titled al-Rawd al-Dani ila al-Mu'jam al-Saghir lil-Tabarani (al-Maktab al-Islami and Dar 'Ammar, 1405 AH / 1985 CE) in two volumes Irshad al-Qasi wa al-Dani…+1. Another edition, edited by 'Abd al-Rahman Muhammad 'Uthman, was published in Medina in 1418 AH / 1997 CE Irshad al-Qasi wa al-Dani….