Bughyat al-Naqqad al-Naqalah
- Author died
- 642 AH
- Editions
- مكتبة أضواء السلف
Bughyat al-Naqqad al-Naqalah (The Quest of Critical Transmitters) is a work of Hadith criticism and hidden defects (ʿilal) by the Maghrebi traditionist Ibn al-Mawwaq (583–642 AH / 1187–1244 CE) . It serves as a detailed critical commentary and rectification of Ibn al-Qattan al-Fasi’s Bayan al-Wahm wa-al-Iham, which itself was a critique of Abd al-Haqq al-Ishbili’s legal hadith collection al-Ahkam al-Wusta .
Context and Composition
The book forms the third link in a chain of Maghrebi scholarly critique on the legal traditions compiled in al-Ahkam al-Wusta . After Ibn al-Qattan wrote Bayan al-Wahm wa-al-Iham to identify errors and ambiguities in al-Ishbili’s compilation, his student Ibn al-Mawwaq composed this work to scrutinize Ibn al-Qattan's judgments, correct his oversights, and address points that al-Ishbili and Ibn al-Qattan had both missed .
Ibn al-Mawwaq died before he could produce a finalized fair copy from his working draft . Following his death, Ibn Rushayd al-Sabti extracted the text from the draft, completed parts left blank by the author, and added supplementary notes, leading some later bibliographers to associate the work or its title with him figuratively, although the core content remains Ibn al-Mawwaq's . Ibn Abd al-Malik al-Marrakushi also worked on the draft, incorporating the remaining traditions from al-Ahkam into a comprehensive arrangement . The book is also referred to in historical sources under the longer title al-Maʾakhidh al-Hifal al-Samiyah ʿan Maʾakhidh al-Ighfal .
Content and Method
The work focuses on technical hadith criticism, examining defects in transmission chains, narrator reliability, textual misreadings, and hidden deficiencies . Ibn al-Mawwaq relied directly on an authoritative copy of Bayan al-Wahm wa-al-Iham that he had read aloud to Ibn al-Qattan against the author's own holograph .
In the manuscript, specific abbreviations are employed to denote the key figures under discussion:
- Qaf (ق) for Abd al-Haqq al-Ishbili
- ʿAyn (ع) for Ibn al-Qattan al-Fasi
- Mim (م) for Ibn al-Mawwaq
- Shin (ش) for Ibn Rushayd al-Sabti (used occasionally in marginal notes)
The author categorizes his criticisms into points directed solely against al-Ishbili, those directed against Ibn al-Qattan, and shared errors where al-Ishbili erred and Ibn al-Qattan failed to notice . These include identifying additions or omissions in chains of narration, rectifying transmitter names, and assessing the continuity or interruption of narrations .
Reception and Transmission
The book was quoted extensively by prominent later Hadith scholars, including Badr al-Din al-Zarkashi, Zayn al-Din al-Iraqi, Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, and Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti . When Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Abdari al-Hihi travelled to Egypt, he discussed Ibn al-Mawwaq's critique with Ibn Daqiq al-Id .
A surviving manuscript of the work's first volume was preserved in the El Escorial Library in Spain . It was edited by Muhammad Kharshafi and published in two volumes in 2004 (1425 AH) .
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