al-Tabyin li-Asma al-Mudallisin
- Author died
- 841 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Kutub al-ʻIlmīyah
al-Tabyin li-Asma al-Mudallisin ("Clarification of the Names of the Concealers") is a biographical dictionary of hadith transmitters characterized by tadlis (the practice of concealing flaws or intermediaries in chains of transmission) compiled by the Shafi'i hadith scholar al-Burhan al-Halabi (753–841 AH / 1353–1438 CE), commonly known as Sibt Ibn al-Ajami.
Composition and Sources
The author originally began compiling notes on transmitters accused of tadlis in 792 AH (1392 CE) while writing his glosses on the Sira (prophetic biography) of Ibn Sayyid al-Nas (Abu al-Fath al-Ya'muri), subsequently expanding them in his commentary notes on Sahih al-Bukhari. He later extracted these entries to form an independent treatise, noting that while full biographical entries for all the figures could fill an entire volume, he chose to severely condense the text to facilitate easy memorization and reference.
The primary material in the treatise is drawn from several key sources:
- The discussions on mudallisin found in the book on marasil (Jami' al-Tahsil fi Ahkam al-Marasil) by Salah al-Din Khalil al-'Ala'i, which al-Burhan al-Halabi received by transmission license (ijaza) through his teacher Siraj al-Din Ibn al-Mulaqqin, who had read the entirety of al-'Ala'i's work to him in Jerusalem.
- A didactic poem on mudallisin by Abu Mahmud al-Maqdisi, transmitted to him via Ibn al-Mulaqqin.
- A poem versified by al-Dhahabi encompassing the majority of such transmitters, referenced in al-'Ala'i's work.
- Additional individual transmitters identified directly by al-Burhan al-Halabi from various other scholarly compilations.
Transmission and Editions
The treatise was transmitted directly by the author; an audition record (sama') preserved in the hand of his student Ibn Zurayq documents a reading of the text before the author by Najm al-Din Ibn Fahd, where al-Burhan al-Halabi recorded his own date of birth.
The work has been published in several editions, including:
- An early edition edited and corrected by Muhammad Raghib al-Tabbakh at al-Matba'a al-'Ilmiyya in Aleppo (1350 AH), printed together with al-Burhan al-Halabi's tract on confused narrators, al-Ightibat bi-man Rumiya bi-al-Ikhtilat.
- An edition published within the collection Majmu'at al-Rasa'il al-Kamaliyyah.
- A critical edition edited by Muhammad Ibrahim al-Mawsili, published by Dar al-Rayyan in Beirut (1414 AH / 1993 CE).
Answer updated