al-Takmil fi al-Jarh wa al-Tadil wa Marifat al-Thiqat wa al-Duafa wa al-Majahil
- Author died
- 774 AH
- Editions
- Markaz al-Nuʿmān lil-Buḥūth wa-al-Dirāsāt al-Islāmiyyah wa-Taḥqīq al-Turāth wa-al-Tarjamah
al-Takmil fi al-Jarh wa al-Tadil wa Marifat al-Thiqat wa al-Duafa wa al-Majahil (The Completion in Disparagement and Accreditation and the Knowledge of Trustworthy, Weak, and Obscure Narrators) is a biographical dictionary of hadith transmitters compiled by Ibn Kathir (d. 774 AH / 1373 CE) . The work synthesizes and supplements earlier biographical dictionaries, combining critical assessments of trustworthy (thiqat), weak (duafa), and obscure or unknown (majahil) narrators .
Title and Attribution
The full title, as recorded on the title page and colophon of its surviving manuscript, is al-Takmil fi al-Jarh wa al-Tadil wa Marifat al-Thiqat wa al-Duafa wa al-Majahil . Ibn Kathir frequently cited it in his own writings—such as al-Bidayah wa-l-Nihayah, Jami al-Masanid wa-l-Sunan, and Ikhtisar Ulum al-Hadith—under the abridged title al-Takmil fi Marifat al-Thiqat wa al-Duafa wa al-Majahil . This shorter title was adopted by later bibliographers and historians, including al-Husayni in Dhayl Tadhkirat al-Huffaz, al-Sakhawi in al-Ilan bi-l-Tawbikh, and al-Shawkani in al-Badr al-Tali . Muhammad ibn Jafar al-Kattani listed it as al-Takmil fi Asma al-Thiqat wa al-Duafa wa al-Majahil, while Haji Khalifa in Kashf al-Zunun and Ismail Pasha al-Baghdadi in Hadiyyat al-Arifin recorded it as al-Takmilah fi Asma [or Marifat] al-Thiqat wa al-Duafa .
The attribution of the work to Ibn Kathir is confirmed by his explicit references to it across his works and by unanimous consensus among his biographers and catalogers .
Sources and Scope
Ibn Kathir designed the work primarily by merging and abridging two major biographical reference works: Tahdhib al-Kamal fi Asma al-Rijal by his teacher al-Mizzi (which covers the transmitters of the Six Books) and Mizan al-Itidal fi Naqd al-Rijal by al-Dhahabi (which focuses on impugned and criticized transmitters) .
In addition to these two primary sources, Ibn Kathir supplemented his entries with material from al-Ikmal fi Dhikr Man Lahu Riwayah fi Musnad Ahmad by al-Husayni to incorporate transmitters unique to the Musnad of Ahmad ibn Hanbal . He also drew selectively on al-Jarh wa-l-Tadil by Ibn Abi Hatim, especially for obscure narrators whose unknown status (jahalah) had been noted by Abu Hatim al-Razi but omitted in al-Dhahabi's Mizan .
According to al-Husayni, the complete original work comprised five volumes .
Structure and Methodology
The dictionary is arranged alphabetically according to the Arabic alphabet (huruf al-mujam) . Ibn Kathir's methodology encompasses three main layers:
- Entries from Tahdhib al-Kamal: Ibn Kathir incorporated the vast majority of al-Mizzi's biographical entries, reproducing the full names of the transmitters and retaining al-Mizzi's established sigla indicating which of the Six Books cited them . He referred to al-Mizzi within the text as shaykhuna ("our teacher") .
- Additions within existing entries: He added critical evaluations (jarh and tadil) not mentioned by al-Mizzi, supplemented lists of teachers and students, corrected or verified death dates, and added doctrinal, historical, and critical observations . He occasionally distinguished his personal comments with the formula qultu ("I say") .
- Supplementary entries: For transmitters added from al-Husayni's al-Ikmal, he assigned the abbreviation (A) (the letter alif) to denote inclusion in Musnad Ahmad, while narrators absent from both Tahdhib al-Kamal and al-Ikmal were left without sigla .
Manuscripts and Editions
The complete text has not reached the modern era intact; only the final portion is known to have survived in manuscript form :
- Dar al-Kutub al-Misriyyah manuscript (MS 24227/B): A manuscript of 240 folios covering entries from the name Muadh to the end of the work . It was transcribed by Muhammad ibn Sulayman al-Harrani (750–840 AH) in an eastern hand and collated against Ibn Kathir's autograph copy . The scribe completed the penultimate volume in Jumada al-Ula 774 AH during Ibn Kathir's lifetime, and the final volume at the end of Dhu al-Qadah 774 AH, two months after the author's death in Shaban 774 AH .
- Muhammad Abd al-Razzaq Hamzah reported seeing the final volume of the work in an old hand, copied during the author's lifetime, in a library in Medina .
The surviving portion of the text was edited by Shadi ibn Muhammad ibn Salim Al Numan and published in Sanaa, Yemen, in 1432 AH / 2011 CE .
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