Ibn Shahin
al-Mukhtalaf fihim
- Author died
- 385 AH
- Editions
- Maktabat al-Rushd
al-Mukhtalaf fīhim (Arabic: المختلف فيهم, "Those Disputed Over"), also known by its longer title Dhikr man ikhtalafa al-ʿulamāʾ wa-nuqqād al-ḥadīth fīhi fa-minhum man waththaqahu wa-minhum man ḍaʿʿafahu wa-man qīla fīhi qawlān, is a biographical dictionary of contested hadith narrators by the Baghdadi scholar Ibn Shahin (297–385 AH / 909–995 CE) . It is considered one of the earliest surviving specialized works dedicated to hadith transmitters about whom the critical authorities expressed contradictory verdicts of appraisal and disparagement (al-jarḥ wa-al-taʿdīl) .
Purpose and Scope
The book serves as a critical supplement to two other biographical compilations by Ibn Shahin: Tārīkh asmāʾ al-thiqāt (The History of Names of Trustworthy Transmitters) and Tārīkh asmāʾ al-ḍuʿafāʾ wal-kadhdhābīn (The History of Names of Weak Transmitters and Liars) . Because some transmitters appeared in both categories—having received authentication from some critics and criticism from others, or contradictory statements from the same critic—Ibn Shahin dedicated this treatise to synthesizing these divergent opinions and weighing their reliability .
Structure and Methodology
The surviving portion of the text comprises entries for over sixty disputed narrators (numbered between 67 and 69 entries in extant manuscripts and editions) . Each entry typically opens with the divergent statements of earlier hadith critics transmitted by Ibn Shahin, after which he presents his own concluding evaluation introduced by the formula "Abu Hafs said" (qāla Abū Ḥafṣ) .
In assessing these transmitters, Ibn Shahin relied heavily on the statements of Ahmad ibn Hanbal and Yahya ibn Ma'in . His rulings range from harmonizing conflicting reports, preferring one critical opinion over another based on specific defects, or declaring a suspension of judgment (tawaqquf) when the evidence remained unresolved . Later authorities, including Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, cited his critical preferences from this treatise in their biographical works .
Transmission and Modern Editions
Only a fragment of the work has survived to the modern period, preserved in a manuscript in the library of Muhammad ibn Yusuf in Marrakesh, Morocco .
The work has been published in several printings:
- As an appendix to Hamza al-Sahmi's Taʾrīkh Jurjān, supervised by Muhammad Abd al-Muʿid (Beirut: ʿĀlam al-Kutub) .
- Edited by Tariq Awad Allah Muhammad (Cairo, 1410 AH / 1989 CE) .
- Edited by Hammad al-Ansari and published by Abd al-Bari al-Ansari (Adwa' al-Salaf, 1419 AH / 1998 CE) .
- Reorganized and edited by Abd al-Rahim ibn Muhammad al-Qashqari (Riyadh: Maktabat al-Rushd, 1420 AH / 1999 CE) .
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