al-Wafayat - lil-Iraqi
- Author died
- 806 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Dhahā’ir
al-Wafayat (Arabic: الوفيات, lit. 'The Necrology') is a biographical dictionary of deaths and obituaries compiled by the Shafi'i hadith scholar and historian Abu al-Fadl Zayn al-Din Abd al-Rahim ibn al-Husayn al-Iraqi (725–806 AH / 1325–1404 CE) . The work records biographical notices of hadith scholars, transmitters, jurists, and notable figures, focusing on establishing precise dates of death to verify transmission chains and historical chronology .
Composition and Scope
Al-Iraqi began drafting the work early in his scholarly career . In his entry on Burhan al-Din Ibrahim ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Jama'ah (d. 764 AH), he noted that Ibn Jama'ah was still alive at the time of writing, indicating that compilation began prior to 764 AH . He also referenced this supplement in his commentary on his own Alfiyya, which he completed in Ramadan 771 AH .
The work extends beyond the chronological cutoff of 763 AH found in al-Iraqi's supplement to al-Dhahabi's al-Ibar . However, al-Iraqi left the book as an unfinalized working draft (musawwada) without producing a fair copy (mubayyada), and it was not completed by his son, Wali al-Din Abu Zur'ah Ahmad ibn Abd al-Rahim al-Iraqi (d. 826 AH) .
Method and Critical Approach
Al-Wafayat is marked by rigorous critical scrutiny and source verification . Al-Iraqi relied primarily on documentary evidence rather than unverified oral reports when recording lifespans and transmission backgrounds . For instance, when documenting the longevity of his teacher Abd al-Rahman ibn Makki al-Awfi, who lived past 120 years, al-Iraqi confirmed his birth date by inspecting the written notation made by al-Awfi's father on his mother's marriage contract from Dhu al-Hijjah 735 AH, while noting the absence of written documentation for any direct transmission (sama') or authorization (ijaza) by him . Similarly, in the notice of Yahya ibn Ali ibn Abi al-Hasan, al-Iraqi withheld acceptance of claims regarding his meeting and hearing hadith from al-Nawawi due to a lack of substantiating written evidence .
Reception and Transmission
The book was utilized and abridged by later scholars in Egypt and the Levant:
- Shihab al-Din Ahmad ibn Hijji (d. 816 AH), the mufti and historian of Damascus, examined the original draft in al-Iraqi's own handwriting and summarized several quires (kararis) from it for use in his own historical works .
- Ala al-Din Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Sa'd, known as Ibn Khatib al-Nasiriyya, produced an abridgment entitled Tarikh al-Iraqi, excerpting 103 biographies from it .
A surviving manuscript of the work is preserved at the Köprülü Library in Istanbul (MS 1626) under the title al-Wafayat al-Iraqiyya . The manuscript contains marginal emendations and additions in the handwriting of the author's son, Wali al-Din Abu Zur'ah . In modern published editions, forty-two entries missing from the Köprülü manuscript were recovered and supplied from Ibn Khatib al-Nasiriyya's selection to fill textual gaps in the surviving draft .
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