Bulugh al-Amani bi-Tarajim Shuyukh Abi al-Shaykh al-Asbahani
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- Dār al-‘Āṣimah lil-Nashr wa-al-Tawzī‘
Bulugh al-Amani bi-Tarajim Shuyukh Abi al-Shaykh al-Asbahani (The Attainment of Hopes in the Biographies of the Teachers of Abu al-Shaykh al-Asbahani) is a biographical dictionary compiled by Abu al-Tayyib Nayif ibn Salah al-Mansuri, devoted to identifying and profiling the direct teachers (shuyukh) of the hadith scholar Abu al-Shaykh al-Asbahani (d. 369 AH) .
Background and Context
The book forms the fifth volume in the mashyakhat division of al-Mansuri's biographical project, Silsilat Taqrib Ruwat al-Sunnah bayna Yaday al-Ummah . The author compiled the biographies of Abu al-Shaykh's teachers from ten of his published works, from writings transmitted by his student Abu Nu'aym al-Asbahani (d. 430 AH), and from biographical works across the broader rijal literature . The author completed the compilation on 11 Sha'ban 1429 AH (12 August 2008 CE) at the library of Dar al-Hadith al-Khayriyyah in Ma'rib .
Methodology and Structure
The work opens with an introductory study of Abu al-Shaykh al-Asbahani, examining his lineage, names, birth, upbringing, travels, teachers, students, creed, works, standing among biographical critics, and death . In the main biographical entries, al-Mansuri documents each teacher's name, their teachers and students, and their status in hadith criticism .
To indicate which of Abu al-Shaykh's works transmitted a report from a given teacher, al-Mansuri devised a system of single-letter abbreviations :
- (أ) for Akhlaq al-Nabi wa-Adabuh
- (ث) for al-Amthal fi al-Hadith al-Nabawi
- (ج) for Juz' fihi Ahadith Abi Muhammad 'Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn Ja'far ibn Hayyan
- (ز) for Juz' fihi Ahadith Abi al-Zubayr 'an Ghayr Jabir
- (ط) for Tabaqat al-Muhaddithin bi-Asbahan wa-al-Waridin 'Alayha
- (ع) for al-'Azamah
- (ف) for a portion of al-Fawa'id
- (ق) for Dhikr al-Aqran wa-Riwayatihim 'an Ba'dihim Ba'dan
- (ل) for Juz' fihi 'Awali Abi al-Shaykh
- (و) for al-Tawbikh wa-al-Tanbih
Teachers identified from sources beyond Abu al-Shaykh's printed works are marked with the letter (ن) alongside a distinct internal numbering sequence .
Reception and Publication
The work includes a foreword by Badr ibn 'Abd Allah al-Badr, written on 23 Ramadan 1429 AH (23 September 2008 CE), praising the author's identification of obscured and distorted narrator names . Abu al-Hasan al-Sulaymani reviewed the work and provided an introductory essay and concise critical assessments (ahkam) on narrators across the entries to assist readers in evaluating transmitters .
The book was published in its first edition by Dar al-'Asimah in Riyadh in 1433 AH / 2012 CE .
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