Imta al-Asma bima lil-Nabi min al-Ahwal wal-Amwal wal-Hafada wal-Mata
- Author died
- 845 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyyah
Imta al-Asma bima lil-Nabi min al-Ahwal wal-Amwal wal-Hafada wal-Mata (Arabic: إمتاع الأسماع بما للنبي من الأحوال والأموال والحفدة والمتاع, Delighting the Ears with the Prophet's States, Possessions, Grandchildren, and Belongings) is an extensive biographical and historical treatise on the prophetic biography (sirah) and the life of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, authored by the Egyptian historian al-Maqrizi (d. 845 AH / 1442 CE) .
Composition and Title
Al-Maqrizi conceived his historical work al-Khabar ʿan al-Bashar as an introduction to Imta al-Asma . The book originally spanned six volumes, and al-Maqrizi taught and narrated it in Mecca during his stay (mujawara) there, fulfilling a personal supplication to have the work transcribed and transmitted in the holy city . His student Abu al-Mahasin Ibn Taghribirdi examined the work and praised it as a valuable compilation .
The work is cited under several title variants in bio-bibliographical literature:
- On the first and last pages of the complete manuscript, al-Maqrizi designated the title as Imta al-Asma bima lil-Rasul sallallahu alayhi wa sallam min al-Anba wal-Ahwal wal-Hafada wal-Mata .
- Haji Khalifa recorded it in Kashf al-Zunun as Imta al-Asma fima lil-Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam min al-Hafada wal-Mata .
- Isma'il Pasha al-Baghdadi listed it in Hadiyyat al-Arifin under the title Imta al-Asma fima lil-Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam min al-Hafada wal-Atba .
Sources and Methodology
In compiling the work, al-Maqrizi drew upon major canonical and early hadith compendia, including the Six Books (al-Kutub al-Sittah), al-Mustadrak by al-Hakim al-Nisaburi, Musnad Ahmad, and the Muwatta of Malik ibn Anas . For accounts of prophetic proofs and miracles, he relied on Dala'il al-Nubuwwah by al-Bayhaqi and Dala'il al-Nubuwwah by Abu Nu'aym al-Isfahani .
Al-Maqrizi applied principles of hadith criticism to the narrative, inserting his own evaluations of narrators (al-jarh wal-ta'dil) with the formula "its author said" (qala mu'allifuh) . When organizing reports, he arranged chapters according to the strength of their chains of transmission, hedging uncertain material in chapter headings with phrases such as "if the report is sound" (in sahha al-khabar) or "if the narration is established" (in thabatat al-riwayah) . Incidental jurisprudence issues arising across the biographical narrative were analyzed according to the Shafi'i school .
Manuscripts and Publication
A complete manuscript copied in 968 AH is preserved in the Köprülü Library in Istanbul (MS 1004), alongside other copies in Istanbul libraries such as Esad Efendi and Fazıl Ahmed Pasha .
In 1941, Mahmud Muhammad Shakir edited and published the first volume through the Committee for Writing, Translation, and Publication in Cairo . That same volume was reissued in Cairo by Dar al-Ansar in 1981, edited by Muhammad 'Abd al-Hamid al-Namisi and reviewed by Muhammad Jamil Ghazi . A full edition of the complete work was subsequently published in 15 volumes in Beirut by Dar al-Kutub al-'Ilmiyyah in 1999 (1420 AH), edited by Muhammad 'Abd al-Hamid al-Namisi .
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