Shams al-Din al-Dhahabi
al-Muqtana fi Sard al-Kuna
- Author died
- 748 AH
- Editions
- al-Majlis al-ʿIlmī bi-al-Jāmiʿah al-Islāmiyyah
al-Muqtana fi Sard al-Kuna (The Acquired Compendium on Listing Agnomens) is a biographical dictionary of transmitter agnomens (kuna) compiled by the Damascene hadith scholar and historian Shams al-Din al-Dhahabi (d. 748 AH / 1348 CE).
Background and Scope
The book serves as an abridgment and expansion of the earlier biographical reference al-Asami wa-l-Kuna by Abu Ahmad al-Hakim al-Kabir (d. 378 AH). In his introduction, al-Dhahabi highlighted the necessity of identifying agnomens to resolve ambiguities in hadith transmission, observing that figures fall into distinct categories: those whose name is their agnomen or who are known only by it, those widely known by their agnomen while their proper names remain obscure, those celebrated by name or lineage whose agnomens are obscure, those renowned by both, and those known by neither. The entire compilation comprises 6,995 biographical entries.
Structure and Methodology
The entries are arranged alphabetically according to their agnomens, opening with Abu al-Qasim, the agnomen of the Prophet Muhammad. Al-Dhahabi stripped away most of the extended chains of transmission (isnad) preserved in Abu Ahmad al-Hakim's original work. For each entry, he provides the figure's real name and usually mentions one teacher, one student, or one of each. He specifies their generational status, noting whether a person is a Companion (lahu suhbah), a Successor (tabi'i), or a later transmitter (muta'akhkhir). Al-Dhahabi incorporates brief critical assessments when applicable—designating a transmitter as reliable (thiqah), weak (da'if), lenient (layyin), or ruined (halik)—though he frequently leaves entries without explicit appraisal.
Al-Dhahabi augmented the source text with supplementary biographies not found in Abu Ahmad al-Hakim's compendium. These include omitted early figures such as the Companion Abu Shah, as well as subsequent scholars such as al-Baqillani (Muhammad ibn al-Tayyib), al-Khatib al-Baghdadi (Ahmad ibn 'Ali ibn Thabit), and Abu Ruh al-Harawi (d. 618 AH). Furthermore, al-Dhahabi appended an independent section at the end of the work devoted to female agnomens (kuna al-nisa'), which is organized alphabetically and contains 52 biographies.
Publication
The work was edited by Muhammad Salih 'Abd al-'Aziz al-Murad and published by the Islamic University of Madinah in 1408 AH (1988 CE).
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