al-Mustakhraj min Kutub al-Nas lil-Tadhkira wa al-Mustatraf min Ahwal al-Rijal lil-Marifa
- Author died
- 470 AH
- Editions
- Ministry of Justice and Islamic Affairs Bahrain - Directorate of Religious Affairs
al-Mustakhraj min Kutub al-Nas lil-Tadhkira wa al-Mustatraf min Ahwal al-Rijal lil-Marifa (The Extracted from People's Books for Reminder and the Novelties from Men's Circumstances for Knowledge) is a historical and biographical work by the hadith scholar Abu al-Qasim Abd al-Rahman ibn Mandah (383–470 AH / 993–1077 CE; another report gives 381–462 AH) . The book compiles material on the prophetic biography, the Companions, and chronological annals of early Islamic history .
Title and Methodology
The title appears on the headings of the manuscript parts as al-Mustakhraj min Kutub al-Nas lil-Tadhkira wa al-Mustatraf min Ahwal al-Rijal lil-Marifa . In several headings of the surviving copy, the word al-Tarikh was inserted above the title by a later reader or owner, though scholars throughout Islamic history—including Mughaltay, Zayn al-Din al-Iraqi, Badr al-Din al-Zarkashi, Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, Ibn Nasir al-Din al-Dimashqi, al-Sakhawi, Hajji Khalifa, Abd al-Ra'uf al-Munawi, Muhammad ibn Isma'il al-San'ani, al-Shawkani, and Muhammad ibn Ja'far al-Kattani—cited the original title without it .
The author did not use the term mustakhraj in the technical sense of hadith terminology—where a compiler narrates the hadiths of a specific canonical collection through independent transmission lines—but in its literal sense of compiling extracted benefits and rare accounts from earlier works on history and the Prophet's biography without tedious length or harmful omission .
Contents and Structure
The work gathers diverse historical and biographical material organized across multiple subjects:
- The Prophetic Biography and Companions: It begins with benefits regarding the Prophet's biography and events, followed by biographical entries of the Companions known for narration, delegations, reaching that era, or supporting the Prophet, arranged alphabetically . It includes chapters on those born during the Prophet's lifetime and dedicated sections on female Companions (masanid al-sahabiyyat) .
- Year-by-Year Annals: Following the Companions, the book chronicles Islamic history year by year, commencing with 11 AH—the year of the Prophet's death—and extending through successive caliphates such as those of Uthman ibn Affan, Ali ibn Abi Talib, al-Hasan ibn Ali, and Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan . Under each year, it records major historical events and military expeditions, alongside the prominent hadith scholars and notable figures who were born, died, were killed, or went missing .
Manuscripts and Publication
Only one incomplete manuscript of the work is known to have survived, preserved at the Köprülü Library in Istanbul (MS 242) . It consists of twenty-one hadith fascicles (ajza'), covering parts three through twenty-one, which represent approximately half of the original text . The manuscript was described by Hamad al-Jasir in 1973 in Majallat al-Arab after Khayr al-Din al-Zirkli shared a photographic copy with him .
The surviving text was edited by 'Amir Hasan Sabri al-Tamimi and published in three volumes by the Ministry of Justice and Islamic Affairs of Bahrain .
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