al-Tatrif fi al-Tashif
- Author died
- 911 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Fā'iz
al-Tatrif fi al-Tashif (Curiosities Regarding Scribal Misreadings) is a treatise on hadith terminology and textual errors by the Egyptian polymath Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti (849–911 AH / 1445–1505 CE) .
Subject and Content
The book addresses tashif (orthographic distortion or misreading arising primarily from Arabic dotting and diacritics), a specialized subdiscipline within the sciences of hadith criticism . Al-Suyuti assembled a collection of 125 documented textual misreadings and slips that had occurred in hadith transmissions, compiling and citing them from earlier authorities who had written on the subject .
Manuscripts and Publication
The work is recorded in classical and modern bio-bibliographies, including Katip Celebi’s Kashf al-Zunun and Ismail Pasha al-Babani’s Hadiyyat al-Arifin .
Extant manuscript copies include a 14-folio copy preserved at the Berlin State Library (no. 1664) and holdings at the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies in Riyadh . al-Tatrif fi al-Tashif was edited by Ali Husayn al-Bawwab and published in an eighty-page volume by Dar al-Fa'iz in Amman in 1409 AH .
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