al-Munfaridat wa al-Wahdan
- Author died
- 261 AH
- Editions
- Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyyah
al-Munfaridat wa al-Wahdan (The Unique and Lone Transmitters) is a specialized biographical work on Hadith narrator criticism by Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj (d. 261 AH / 875 CE), dedicated to identifying narrators from whom only a single student transmitted .
Subject and Scope
In Hadith terminology, the term al-wuhdan refers to narrators who have only one direct transmitter reporting from them . Identifying such figures is crucial for evaluating transmitter anonymity (jahalat al-'ayn) and determining the strength or weakness of chains of transmission .
The work is recorded in historical bibliographies and biographical sources under various titles, including Kitab al-Wahdan, Kitab al-Afrad, and descriptive titles such as Tasmiyat man lam yarwi 'anhu illa rajul wahid ("Naming of Those from Whom Only One Man Narrated") and Tasmiyat man rawa 'anhu rajul aw imra'ah... .
Structure and Content
Muslim structured the work by classifying transmitters according to their generational rank and their unique reporting lines:
- Male Companions: Transmitters among the male Companions who preserved sayings or actions from the Prophet ﷺ and had only one prominent Successor reporting from them . This includes Companions from whom only their own sons narrated, such as 'Umayr ibn Qatadah al-Laythi (narrated from only by his son 'Ubayd), Abu Layla al-Ansari (narrated from only by his son 'Abd al-Rahman), Malik ibn Nadlah al-Jushami (narrated from only by his son 'Awf, known as Abu al-Ahwas), Jabir ibn Tariq al-Ahmasi (narrated from only by his son Hakim), and 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Sabrah (narrated from only by his son Khaythamah) .
- Female Companions: Women who narrated from the Prophet ﷺ and from whom only single individuals among the well-known Successors transmitted, such as Umm al-'Ala' al-Ansariyyah (narrated from only by Kharijah ibn Zayd ibn Thabit), Khuwaylah bint Tha'labah (narrated from only by Yusuf ibn 'Abd Allah ibn Salam), al-Sumaytah (narrated from only by 'Ubayd Allah ibn 'Abd Allah ibn 'Umar), Umaymah bint Ruqayqah (narrated from only by Muhammad ibn al-Munkadir), and Anisah (narrated from only by Khubayb ibn 'Abd al-Rahman) .
- Successors and Later Transmitters: Arranged according to the well-known scholars who uniquely narrated from them, such as chapters on those from whom only 'Asim al-Ahwal or Abu Ishaq al-Sabi'i reported .
Transmission and Reception
The text was transmitted directly from Imam Muslim by his student Abu Hatim Makki ibn 'Abdan al-Naysaburi (d. 325 AH) . Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn 'Abd Allah al-Jawzaqi read the text before Makki ibn 'Abdan in his mosque in Nishapur in Rajab 323 AH . Subsequent transmissions preserved the text through Abu Muhammad al-Husayn ibn 'Ali al-Samarqandi to Ibn al-Qaysarani (Muhammad ibn Tahir al-Maqdisi) . Ibn Khayr al-Ishbili documented its isnad in his catalogue (Fihrist), and the Hadith scholar Zayn al-Din al-'Iraqi noted having a manuscript copy written in the hand of Muhammad ibn Tahir al-Maqdisi .
Major Hadith theoreticians and commentators, such as Ibn al-Salah, Ibn Kathir, and Ibn al-Mulaqqin, cited Muslim's monograph as a standard reference in chapters dedicated to the category of man lam yarwi 'anhu illa rawi wahid .
Printed Editions
The work has been published in modern scholarly editions, including:
- An edition edited by 'Abd al-Ghaffar Sulayman al-Bandari and al-Sa'id Basyuni Zaghlul, published by Dar al-Kutub al-'Ilmiyyah in Beirut (1408 AH / 1988 CE) .
- An edition edited by Abu Sufyan Yasir al-Isma'ili, published by Dar al-Faruq al-Hadithah in Cairo (1431 AH / 2010 CE) .
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