Diwan al-Duafa
- Author died
- 748 AH
- Editions
- Maktabat al-Nahdah al-Hadithah
Diwan al-Duafa (Dīwān al-Ḍu‘afā’ wa-al-Matrūkīn) is a biographical dictionary of weak, abandoned, and criticized hadith transmitters compiled by the Syrian historian and hadith scholar Shams al-Din al-Dhahabi (d. 748 AH / 1348 CE) .
Scope and Structure
The book carries the expanded title Dīwān Asmā’ al-Ḍu‘afā’ wa-al-Matrūkīn wa-Khalq min al-Majhūlīn wa-Umayyah [wa-Unās] Thiqāt Fīhim Līn (A register of the names of the weak, the abandoned, a multitude of unknown figures, and trustworthy transmitters who have some mild weakness) . It covers multiple categories of hadith narrators, notably:
- Transmitters deemed weak (al-ḍu‘afā’) or abandoned (al-matrūkīn) .
- Obscure or unknown transmitters (al-majhūlūn) .
- Transmitters generally regarded as trustworthy but criticized or noted for slight leniency or softness (thiqāt fīhim līn) .
Al-Dhahabi arranged the biographical entries alphabetically according to their given names (‘alā tartīb ḥurūf al-mu‘jam), beginning under the letter alif with transmitters named Ahmad . The text is designed as an abridged reference, utilizing concise phrasing and condensed assessments for each transmitter .
System of Symbols
To indicate whether a narrator's transmissions appear in any of the six major Sunni hadith compendia (the Six Books), al-Dhahabi instituted a standardized shorthand notation placed over or alongside the names :
- (خ) for Sahih al-Bukhari
- (م) for Sahih Muslim
- (د) for Sunan Abi Dawud
- (ت) for Jami al-Tirmidhi
- (س) for Sunan al-Nasa'i
- (ق) for Sunan Ibn Majah
- (عه) for inclusion across the four Sunan works
- (ع) for inclusion across all six works, which al-Dhahabi noted is very rare for weak transmitters
Supplement (Dhayl)
Al-Dhahabi later authored an addendum titled Dhayl Dīwān al-Ḍu‘afā’ . In its opening remarks, he stated that he extracted its entries from several compilations, noting that exhaustive coverage of all criticized transmitters is unobtainable and that the work reflects what he encountered and evaluated according to the critical discernment of hadith masters .
Editions
The work was edited by Hammad al-Ansari and published by Maktabat al-Nahdah al-Hadithah in Mecca . Al-Ansari also edited and published al-Dhahabi's Dhayl Dīwān al-Ḍu‘afā’ under the same publishing house . Another edition of the main text was prepared by a scholarly committee and published by Dar al-Qalam in Beirut .
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