Fihrisat al-Libli
- Author died
- 691 AH
- Editions
- Dar al-Gharb al-Islamiyyah
Fihrisat al-Libli is a scholarly repertoire and catalog of transmissions compiled by the Andalusian grammarian and traditionist Abu Ja'far al-Libli (d. 691 AH / 1292 CE) .
Background and Purpose
The author, Ahmad ibn Yusuf ibn Ali (also given as Ibn Ya'qub ibn Ali) al-Fihri al-Libli, was born in Niebla (Labla) in al-Andalus in 613 AH (with alternative reports giving 623 AH or 610 AH) and later settled in Tunis, where he died in Muharram 691 AH . In the prologue of the work, al-Libli explains that he composed the collection at the request of a group of scholars who wished to have a record of his prominent teachers from the eastern and western lands (Mashriq and Maghrib) . The book primarily focuses on the authorities from whom he received legal theory (usul al-fiqh), theology, and other religious sciences, documenting his transmissions through reading (qira'a), audition (sama'), direct bestowal (munawala), and formal authorization (ijaza) .
Content and Method
The work documents al-Libli's scholarly chains connecting his authorities back to the original authors of foundational texts . Among his principal teachers treated in the text is the Shafi'i jurist and legal theorist Sharaf al-Din Ibn al-Tilimsani (Abdullah ibn Yahya al-Fihri), under whom al-Libli studied in Egypt such works as Imam al-Haramayn al-Juwayni's Kitab al-Irshad and parts of his al-Burhan fi usul al-fiqh, as well as portions of Sayf al-Din al-Amidi's Ghayat al-amal fi ilm al-jadal . Al-Libli quotes the verbatim written authorizations given to him by his teachers, traces their respective masters—such as Taqi al-Din al-Muqtarih and Shihab al-Din al-Tusi—and connects their lineages of transmission back to earlier authorities such as Abu Hamid al-Ghazali . In addition to chains of learning, al-Libli notes biographical details, traits, and available birth and death dates for the scholars he records .
Reception and Editions
The work was transmitted directly by al-Libli's students. Ibn Jabir al-Wadi Ashi records reading the first half of al-Libli's mashyakha—which he describes as covering the teachers from whom al-Libli took usul—directly to the author, receiving an ijaza for the remainder . Later biographical and bibliographic sources, such as Ibn Makhluf's Shajarat al-nur al-zakiyya, cite the Fihrisa among the notable Andalusian repertoires of transmissions .
The work has been edited by Yasin Yusuf 'Ayyash and 'Awwad 'Abd Rabboh Abu Zayna and published by Dar al-Gharb al-Islami in Beirut in 1408 AH / 1988 CE .
Answer updated