al-Tarikh al-Kabir lil-Bukhari bi-Hawashi Mahmud Khalil
- Author died
- 256 AH
- Editions
- Dāʾirat al-Maʿārif al-ʿUthmāniyyah
al-Tarikh al-Kabir lil-Bukhari bi-Hawashi Mahmud Khalil is an annotated version of the biographical dictionary al-Tarikh al-Kabir (The Great History) by the hadith scholar Muhammad ibn Ismail al-Bukhari (194–256 AH / 810–870 CE), featuring textual corrections and annotations (hawashi) by Mahmud Muhammad Khalil based on the classical Da'irat al-Ma'arif al-Uthmaniyyah edition .
Composition and Context
Al-Bukhari began drafting al-Tarikh al-Kabir at an early age. He recounted that upon turning eighteen, he composed a work on the legal judgments and sayings of the Prophet's Companions and Successors, and subsequently compiled al-Tarikh in Medina by the Prophet's tomb during moonlit nights . He remarked that he possessed narrative accounts for almost every transmitter mentioned in the work, but intentionally abridged the material to keep the book from becoming excessively long . He also stated that he revised and compiled his historical work three times . When his teacher Ishaq ibn Rahawayh showed the book to the Tahirid governor Abd Allah ibn Tahir, he praised its remarkable methodology as "magic" (sihr) .
Structure and Methodology
The work is organized alphabetically according to the Arabic letters, generally based on the first letter of each transmitter's given name and the first letter of their father's name . Al-Bukhari departed from strict alphabetical order by placing those named Muhammad at the very beginning out of deference to the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ . The book opens with an introduction on the virtues of Quraysh, followed by a biography of the Prophet ﷺ tracing his lineage to Adam, details on his mission and passing, and an account of the establishment of the Hijri calendar under Umar ibn al-Khattab . Within each alphabetical letter, the Companions of the Prophet are given precedence before later transmitters . A dedicated section is also reserved for narrators known primarily by their patronymics (kuna) .
Entries typically provide the transmitter's name, lineage, kunya, tribal or geographic nisba, and lists of prominent teachers and students, accompanied by representative narrations to illustrate their hadith material and scholarly standing . Al-Bukhari occasionally notes details regarding physical traits, intellectual capacity, religious views, participation in military expeditions, and public offices such as judgeships . In his evaluation of narrators (al-jarh wa-al-ta'dil), al-Bukhari is noted for his restrained and polite terminology: he rarely uses harsh condemnations, instead employing phrases such as fihi nazar ("there is doubt regarding him") or sakatu 'anhu ("they remained silent about him"), while using munkar al-hadith as one of his strongest terms of disparagement .
The scope of the work encompasses thousands of narrators across the early Islamic centuries; while classical scholars such as al-Masarjisi and al-Dhahabi referenced around forty thousand transmitter names mentioned across al-Bukhari's historical records, modern printed editions contain between 12,315 and 13,308 numbered biographical entries .
Transmission and Reception
al-Tarikh al-Kabir was transmitted through multiple recensions from al-Bukhari, most prominently those of Abu al-Hasan Muhammad ibn Sahl al-Fasawi and Abu Ahmad Muhammad ibn Sulayman ibn Faris al-Dallal . Early hadith scholars praised its scope; Abu al-Abbas Ibn Uqdah observed that a scholar possessing thirty thousand hadiths could still not dispense with it, and Abu Ahmad al-Hakim al-Kabir characterized it as unprecedented in its field . Critical supplements and continuations (dhayl) were later composed on it by scholars such as Maslamah ibn Qasim and Sa'd ibn Janah .
The Mahmud Khalil Edition
The standard classical printed edition of al-Tarikh al-Kabir was produced in Hyderabad, India, by Da'irat al-Ma'arif al-Uthmaniyyah under the supervision of Muhammad Abd al-Mu'id Khan between 1360 and 1378 AH (1941–1959 CE), edited and annotated primarily by Abd al-Rahman ibn Yahya al-Mu'allimi alongside a team of Nadwi scholars . The edition associated with Mahmud Muhammad Khalil is based on this Hyderabad publication, incorporating Khalil's annotations, proofreading, and textual commentary .
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