Asma man yuraf bi kunyatihi
- Author died
- 374 AH
- Editions
- al-Dār al-Salafiyyah
Asmāʾ man yuʿraf bi-kunyatih (The Names of Those Known by Their Kunya) is a biographical hadith tract by the Mosul-born traditionist Abū al-Fatḥ al-Azdī (d. 374 AH / 984 CE; another report gives 367 AH / 977 CE), dedicated to identifying the given names of the Prophet’s Companions who were predominantly known by their agnomens (kunyās).
Purpose and Scope
In his introduction, al-Azdī states that the purpose of the work is to document those Companions whose kunya had overtaken their actual name, organizing the entries in alphabetical order to make it easy for researchers seeking to identify them. Identifying the personal names of individuals known by their agnomens is a recognized branch of hadith nomenclature (ʿilm al-rijāl), designed to resolve ambiguity and prevent transmitters from being mistaken for two different individuals when mentioned once by name and once by kunya.
Al-Azdī composed a complementary companion treatise titled al-Kunā li-man lā yuʿraf lahu ism (or Man yuʿraf bi-kunyatih wa-lā yuʿlamu ismuh), which he devoted to Companions known exclusively by their kunya whose proper names remained unknown. In the preface to that work, he explicitly cross-references this book as Kitāb man yuʿraf bi-kunyatihi fī al-ḥadīth wa-ʿarafnā ismah.
Structure and Content
The entries are structured alphabetically by the first letter of the kunya (alif, bāʾ, tāʾ, thāʾ, and so forth).
- The text opens under the letter alif with prominent figures such as Abū Ayyūb al-Anṣārī (identified as Khālid ibn Zayd), Abū Umāmah al-Bāhilī (Ṣudayy ibn ʿAjlān), and Abū Usayd al-Sāʿidī (Mālik ibn Rabīʿah).
- Following the alphabetical chapters of male Companions, the book concludes with a dedicated section listing female Companions known primarily by their agnomens or whose kunyās required clarification. This section includes figures such as Umm Ḥabībah (Ramlah bint Abī Sufyān), Umm Maʿbad al-Khuzāʿiyyah (ʿĀtikah bint Khulayf), Umm Hāniʾ (Fākhitah bint Abī Ṭālib), and Umm al-Faḍl (Lubābah bint al-Ḥārith).
Each entry typically supplies the agnomen, states the subject's proper name and patronymic, notes major differences of opinion where applicable, and occasionally cites a brief hadith or identifying transmission detail associated with the narrator.
Manuscripts and Editions
A manuscript of the work is preserved in a composite codex held at King Saud University (formerly Riyadh University, MS 1280). The treatise was edited by Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Iqbāl Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad Isḥāq Baskūbarī and published by al-Dār al-Salafiyyah in Bombay, India, in 1410 AH (1989 CE).
Answer updated