Anshab al-Kuthub fi Ansab al-Kutub
- Author died
- 911 AH
- Editions
- Dubai International Holy Quran Award
Anshab al-Kuthub fi Ansab al-Kutub (The Clinging Sandhills on the Lineages of Books) is a comprehensive catalogue of transmissions (fihrist) compiled by the Egyptian polymath Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti (d. 911 AH / 1505 CE), documenting his chains of transmission for 2,819 works across the Islamic religious and literary disciplines .
Title and Naming
Al-Suyuti titled the book based on a maxim cited by Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani at the beginning of his commentary on Sahih al-Bukhari: "Transmission chains are the lineages of books" (al-asanid ansab al-kutub) . In other works, such as Husn al-Muhadarah, al-Tahadduth bi-Ni'mat Allah, and Zad al-Masir, al-Suyuti frequently referenced it as his "Grand Catalogue" (al-Fihrist al-Kabir) or "Catalogue of Transmissions" (Fihrist al-Marwiyyat) .
Biographical and bibliographical sources record slight variations of the title:
- Al-Suyuti's students Shams al-Din al-Dawudi and 'Abd al-Qadir al-Shadhili recorded it as Anshab al-Kuthub fi Asma' al-Kutub .
- Katib Celebi in Kashf al-Zunun listed it with a initial kasrah as Inshab al-Kuthub fi Ansab al-Kutub .
- Ismail Pasha al-Baghdadi in Hadiyyat al-'Arifin gave it as Anshab al-Kutub fi Ansab al-Kutub .
- Abd al-Hayy al-Kattani in Fihris al-Faharis cited it as Nashab al-Kutub fi Ansab al-Kutub .
Structure and Method
Before organizing his work, al-Suyuti examined several earlier catalogues of transmission, including those of 'Izz al-Din Ibn Jama'ah (d. 767 AH), Siraj al-Din al-Qazwini (d. 750 AH), Wali al-Din Abu Zur'ah Ibn al-'Iraqi (d. 826 AH), and the collections of Kamal al-Din al-Shumunni . He chose to model the overall arrangement primarily on Ibn Hajar's al-Mu'jam al-Mufahras, ordering the materials through standard classifications:
- Comprehensive hadith compilations (al-Jawami')
- Musnad collections (al-Musnadat)
- Topical monographs (al-Abwab al-mufradat)
- Specialized hadith disciplines (Funun al-hadith)
- Dictation sessions (al-Amali)
- Teacher benefits and compilations (Fawa'id al-shuyukh)
- Hadith booklets and tracts (al-Ajza'), arranged alphabetically by popular title
- Historical chronicles (al-Tawarikh) and related works
- Teacher directories and biographical dictionaries (al-Ma'ajim wa-l-mashyakhat)
- Forty-hadith collections (al-Arba'inat)
- Works in other disciplines, including Islamic jurisprudence, grammar, Arabic lexicography, and Sufism
- Poetry collections (Dawawin al-shi'r) .
To streamline the work, al-Suyuti departed from Ibn Hajar by grouping all treatises of a single author together upon mentioning their primary work . He also marked titles that served as additions (istidrak) beyond Ibn Hajar's catalogue . The book opens with the transmission of Sahih al-Bukhari and concludes with Qasidat al-Faraj by Abu al-Fadl al-Ansari, documenting transmissions received through audition (sama'), recitation (qira'ah), authorization (ijazah), and conveyance (munawalah), including chains passing through female scholars . Al-Suyuti later condensed this vast collection into a smaller abridgment titled Zad al-Masir fi al-Fihrist al-Saghir .
Manuscript and Provenance
A primary surviving manuscript of the work is preserved in the Kütahya Library in Turkey (MS 1340) . It contains 136 folios (27 lines per page) and was copied in Egypt on Wednesday, 16 Jumada al-Akhirah 890 AH, during al-Suyuti's lifetime, by his student Hasan ibn Thabit Badr al-Din al-Zamzami al-Makki al-Shafi'i (d. ca. 921 AH), bearing an authorization (ijazah) note in al-Suyuti's own hand .
Ownership marks on the manuscript trace its historical movement among prominent scholars:
- Yahya ibn Muhammad al-Mallah, a collector of historical manuscripts .
- Ahmad ibn 'Abd al-Halim al-Hasani, judge of al-Gharbiyya and syndic of the Prophet's descendants (naqib al-ashraf) in Egypt .
- Sharaf al-Din Yahya ibn Zakariyya al-Ansari (d. 1092 AH), a manuscript collector and isnad specialist .
- 'Abd Allah, the Mufti of Kütahya, through whose collection the codex settled in Turkey .
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