Bahr al-Dam fiman takallama fihi al-Imam Ahmad bi-madh aw dhamm
- Author died
- 909 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Kutub al-ʻIlmīyah
Bahr al-Dam fiman takallama fihi al-Imam Ahmad bi-madh aw dhamm (The Sea of Blood Concerning Those Whom Imam Ahmad Spoke of in Praise or Blame) is a biographical reference work on hadith narrator criticism compiled by the Damascene Hanbali scholar Ibn al-Mubarrad (Yusuf ibn Hasan ibn 'Abd al-Hadi, 840–909 AH / 1436–1503 CE) . The book collects and organizes the critical remarks, evaluations of reliability (ta'dil), and disparagements (jarh) made by Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal regarding transmission figures and scholars .
Composition and Purpose
Ibn al-Mubarrad framed the work as an abridgment (mukhtasar) gathering reports of Ahmad ibn Hanbal's statements on transmitters . In his preface, the author addresses the legitimacy of evaluating transmitters (al-kalam fi al-rijal), emphasizing that discussing narrators' shortcomings is not prohibited backbiting (ghiba), but a necessary obligation for the verification of hadith authenticity and religious counsel (nasiha) . He supports this principle with statements from earlier hadith critics—including Shu'ba ibn al-Hajjaj, Sufyan al-Thawri, Sufyan ibn 'Uyayna, Malik ibn Anas, and Yahya ibn Sa'id al-Qattan—as well as anecdotes involving Ahmad ibn Hanbal and the ascetic Abu Turab al-Nakhshabi .
He also notes that criticism becomes unlawful when someone is disparaged without truth or verification, citing as an example al-Khatib al-Baghdadi's critique of certain Hanbalis, which was refuted by Ibn al-Jawzi in al-Sahm al-musib fi ta'qib al-Khatib . Before proceeding to the biographical dictionary, Ibn al-Mubarrad classifies weak narrators into distinct categories: those weakened for deliberate fabrication, those who narrated from liars without caution, those abandoned for deficiency in trustworthiness or piety, and those weakened due to religious innovation (bid'a), alongside varying degrees of weakness and reliability .
Structure and Method
The main body of the work is arranged alphabetically according to the names of the narrators, opening with the letter alif . Under each entry, Ibn al-Mubarrad cites Ahmad ibn Hanbal's specific assessments, transmitted through his primary interlocutors and students, such as Abu Bakr al-Marrudhi, Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Athram, and Abu al-Hasan al-Maymuni . The work preserves several narrations of Ahmad's opinions on transmitters that are not documented in other extant biographical compilations .
Manuscripts and Editions
The book is preserved in an autograph manuscript penned by Ibn al-Mubarrad in the Berlin State Library (MS 9957), spanning folios 153 to 200 within a collective volume; the author completed writing it in Dhu al-Qi'da 866 AH (July–August 1462 CE) .
The work has been published in modern editions:
- Edited by Wasiyy Allah ibn Muhammad 'Abbas, published by Dar al-Rayah in Riyadh (1409 AH / 1989 CE) and later by Dar al-Imam Ahmad (1427 AH / 2006 CE) .
- Edited by Rawhiyya 'Abd al-Rahman al-Suwayfi, published by Dar al-Kutub al-'Ilmiyya in Beirut (1413 AH / 1992 CE) .
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