Abd al-Rahman al-Muallimi al-Yamani
al-Wahdan - within Athar al-Muallimi
- Author died
- 1386 AH
- Editions
- Dar Alam al-Fawa'id lil-Nashr wal-Tawzi'
al-Wahdan (The Sole-Transmitter Narrators) is a biographical hadith work by the Yemeni scholar Abd al-Rahman al-Muallimi al-Yamani (1313–1386 AH / 1896–1966 CE) dedicated to examining narrators from whom only a single transmitter related hadith . Published as volume thirteen within his collected works, Athar al-Muallimi, the book investigates the status of these narrators regarding trustworthiness, weakness, and the acceptability of their reports .
Title and Date of Composition
The surviving manuscripts do not bear a title on their cover pages, nor did the author write a formal introduction, as the text remained in draft form (musawwada) . However, al-Muallimi explicitly referred to the work by the title al-Wahdan in another of his writings, Tarajim muntakhabah min al-Tahdhib wa-l-Mizan .
Al-Muallimi began drafting the book early during his residence in India before 1360 AH, prior to the publication of the fifth and sixth volumes of al-Bukhari's al-Tarikh al-kabir (printed 1360–1364 AH) and prior to the printing of Ibn Abi Hatim's al-Jarh wa-l-ta'dil (printed 1371–1373 AH), from which he cited via manuscript . He continued to append notes and references to it after settling in Mecca in 1371 AH and subsequent years .
Subject Matter and Scope
In the terminology of hadith studies (mustalah al-hadith), al-wahdan denotes narrators who have only one student transmitting from them . While earlier hadith scholars—such as Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj and al-Nasa'i—compiled works cataloging such narrators, al-Muallimi went beyond merely listing their names . His work critically analyzes each narrator's condition in terms of reliability (thiqah), weakness (da'f), or anonymity (jahl), compiling a total of 203 biographical entries .
Structure and Method
The book is arranged alphabetically by the Arabic alphabet, beginning with the letter alif and concluding with a section on patronymics (bab al-kuna) . Each entry is assigned a sequential number and follows a structured critical framework:
- The entry opens with abbreviations denoting the compilers who recorded the narrator's hadith, following the system used in al-Mizzi's Tahdhib al-Kamal and its derivative literature, followed by the narrator's name .
- Al-Muallimi frequently attaches symbols or short titles indicating earlier authorities who mentioned the narrator in their works on al-wahdan, such as M for Muslim, N for al-Nasa'i, Fath for al-Sakhawi's Fath al-mughith, or al-Kifayah by al-Khatib al-Baghdadi .
- He generally cites the assessments of four primary authorities: al-Bukhari, Ibn Abi Hatim, Ibn Hibban, and Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani in Tahdhib al-Tahdhib . Citations from the first three establish the narrator's teachers and single student, while citations from Ibn Hajar supply transmitted judgments of criticism and praise (al-jarh wa-l-ta'dil) .
- He examines the specific reports narrated by the subject, investigating whether they possess corroborating chains (mutaba'at) or textual attestations (shawahid), and scrutinizing their texts (mutun) for irregularities (nakarah) .
- In earlier entries, al-Muallimi concluded with a synthesis summarizing the final verdict on the narrator's status, though this format was not sustained consistently throughout the draft .
Because the work remained in draft form, its entries vary in completeness; some contain comprehensive analysis, whereas others contain blank spaces left for further additions or list names without accompanying commentary .
Manuscripts and Publication
Two holograph draft manuscripts of the book are preserved in the Library of the Holy Mosque in Mecca (Maktabat al-Haram al-Makki) :
- MS 4935: An initial 34-folio alphabetical index extracted from Ibn Hajar's Tahdhib al-Tahdhib, containing marginal annotations and symbols .
- MS 4728: A notebook of 315 pages in medium format (averaging 17 to 19 lines per page), opening with introductory notes, followed by the biographical entries from Usama ibn Khuraym to the end of page 315, and concluding with appended research notes and statistical observations .
The work was edited by Ali ibn Muhammad al-Imran, with review by Muhammad Ajmal al-Islahi and Adil ibn Abd al-Shakur al-Zuraqi, based on the second draft manuscript . It was published as part of the Athar al-Muallimi series with indexes prepared by Nabil al-Sindi .
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