al-Muntakhab min Mujam Shuyukh al-Samani
- Author died
- 562 AH
- Editions
- Dār ʿĀlam al-Kutub
al-Muntakhab min Mujam Shuyukh al-Samani (The Selection from the Dictionary of al-Sam'ani's Teachers) is a biographical dictionary of hadith transmitters and scholars by the Shafi'i hadith master and historian Abu Sa'd al-Sam'ani (506–562 AH / 1113–1167 CE) . The work preserves selected biographical entries of the teachers from whom he received hadith narrations during his extensive journeys across the Islamic world .
Origin and Scope
During his travels throughout Khurasan, Transoxiana, Isfahan, Iraq, the Hijaz, and Syria, al-Sam'ani studied under an exceptionally large number of authorities . Ibn al-Athir noted that his teachers numbered more than 4,000, while Ibn al-Najjar recorded reports stating that they reached up to 7,000 individuals . Al-Sam'ani originally documented these scholars in a comprehensive biographical dictionary of his teachers—associated with his al-Tahbir fi al-Mu'jam al-Kabir—which spanned ten large volumes . al-Muntakhab min Mujam Shuyukh al-Samani represents an abridged selection derived from this vast compendium .
Content and Method
The entries in the collection profile individual scholars from whom al-Sam'ani heard narrations in cities such as Damascus and Baghdad . For each teacher, al-Sam'ani records biographical information, notes on character and reliability (jarh wa-ta'dil), references to assessments by contemporary peers such as Ibn Asakir, and specific hadith texts and transmission chains transcribed directly from those teachers .
Manuscripts and Editions
Manuscript copies of the work are preserved in libraries including the Topkapi Palace Library in Istanbul and the Zahiriyya Library in Damascus . The text has been edited and published in modern scholarly editions:
- An edition edited by Muwaffaq ibn Abd Allah ibn Abd al-Qadir, published by Dar Alam al-Kutub in Riyadh (1417 AH / 1996 CE) .
- An edition edited by Muhammad Uthman, published by Maktabat al-Thaqafah al-Diniyyah in Cairo (1428 AH / 2008 CE) .
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