Fayit Tashil al-Sabila
- Author died
- 1429 AH
- Editions
- Mu'assasat al-Risalah lil-Tiba'ah wal-Nashr wal-Tawzi'
Fayit Tashil al-Sabila (also referred to as Fayit al-Tashil) is a biographical supplement compiled by the Saudi scholar Bakr Abu Zayd (d. 1429 AH / 2008 CE) to document Hanbali scholars omitted from Salih ibn Abd al-Aziz Al Uthaymin's biographical dictionary Tashil al-Sabila li-Murid Ma'rifat al-Hanabila .
Background and Purpose
While preparing his critical edition of Tashil al-Sabila by Salih ibn Abd al-Aziz Al Uthaymin (d. 1410 AH), Abu Zayd compiled this supplement by extracting entries from his own larger biographical index titled Ulama al-Hanabila min al-Imam Ahmad ila Wafayat Asrina ("Hanbali Scholars from Imam Ahmad to the Deaths of Our Era") . Its purpose was to serve as a comprehensive index and reference guide supplying the names and source references of Hanbali figures omitted in the original work . Whereas Tashil al-Sabila concluded with deaths occurring up to 1380 AH, Abu Zayd extended the chronological coverage of his supplement from the students of Ahmad ibn Hanbal up to deaths in 1418 AH .
Structure and Content
The work contains a total of 1,178 biographical entries organized into three separate lists :
- The Chronological List: Comprises 917 entries arranged by date of death, mirroring the chronological ordering used in Tashil al-Sabila .
- Undated Biographies: Comprises 80 entries for individuals whose exact death years could not be determined .
- Additions from Ulama Najd: Comprises 181 entries for figures documented uniquely in the biographical work Ulama Najd Khilal Thamaniyat Qurun . Abu Zayd segregated these into a distinct list because many of those included were village schoolteachers (kuttab), mosque imams, or merely literate persons rather than scholars or advanced students of law, though the list also preserved notable scholars .
In each entry, Abu Zayd provides the person's name, the date of death when known, and precise cross-references to classical Hanbali biographical sources—such as al-Ulaymi's al-Manhaj al-Ahmad and al-Durr al-Munaddad, al-Maqsad al-Arshad, Ibn Humayd's al-Suhub al-Wabila, Raf' al-Niqab, and general biographical compendia .
Publication
Abu Zayd completed drafting the supplement between 1419 AH (at al-Ta'if and Medina) and 25 Rajab 1420 AH . It was published as an appended volume alongside his edition of Tashil al-Sabila li-Murid Ma'rifat al-Hanabila by Mu'assasat al-Risalah in Beirut in 1422 AH / 2001 CE .
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