al-Muqaddima Dhat al-Niqab fi al-Alqab
- Author died
- 748 AH
- Editions
- Mu'assasat al-Rayyan li al-Tiba'ah wa al-Nashr wa al-Tawzi'
al-Muqaddima Dhat al-Niqab fi al-Alqab (also known as Dhat al-Niqab fi al-Alqab or Dhat al-Niqab) is a specialized tract on the sobriquets and titles (alqāb) of hadith transmitters, authored by the hadith master and historian Shams al-Din al-Dhahabi (673–748 AH / 1274–1348 CE) .
Subject and Scope
The work belongs to the genre of hadith nomenclature focused on identifying narrators who are referred to by an epithet, title, or nickname (laqab) rather than their given name . Identifying these designations is essential in the evaluation of chains of transmission (asānīd) to resolve ambiguity when a narrator is mentioned solely by a sobriquet in a text or isnad . Organized as a concise treatise (juzʾ ṣaghīr or risāla), the text records specific nicknames alphabetically or by entry number and matches them to each scholar's or narrator's full identity and pedigree .
Place in the Literature and Reception
Al-Muqaddima Dhat al-Niqab is recognized alongside major historical compilations on narrators' sobriquets, such as al-Alqab by Ibn al-Faradi, Kashf al-Niqab by Ibn al-Jawzi, and the later compendium Nuzhat al-Albab fi al-Alqab by Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani .
The treatise is regularly cited as an authoritative reference in biographical dictionaries and studies on hadith transmitters when determining whether a particular designation represents a given name, a patronymic, or a sobriquet—such as verifying the title Abu al-Shaykh for the Isfahani traditionist Abu Muhammad Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn Ja'far, the nickname Shu'ba for Ahmad ibn al-Husayn al-Basri, or Rijal for 'Ubayd ibn Muhammad ibn Musa .
Modern Editions
The work has been published in modern critical editions:
- Edited by 'Awwad al-Khalaf, published by Mu'assasat al-Rayyan in Beirut (1st ed., 1416 AH / 1996 CE) .
- Published by Dar al-Faruq al-Haditha .
Answer updated