Intikhab Kitab man Wafaqat Kunyatuhu Ism Abihi lil-Khatib
- Author died
- 762 AH
- Editions
- مركز المخطوطات والتراث
Intikhab Kitab man Wafaqat Kunyatuhu Ism Abihi lil-Khatib (The Selection from al-Khatib's Book on Those Whose Kunya Matched Their Father's Name) is a specialized hadith onomastics treatise by the Hanafi traditionist Ala al-Din Mughaltay (d. 762 AH / 1361 CE), abridging an earlier work by al-Khatib al-Baghdadi (d. 463 AH / 1071 CE) ().
Background and Purpose
In the sciences of hadith transmission, identifying narrators whose agnomen (kunya) corresponds to their father's given name (ism) constitutes a specialized subdiscipline (). The primary objective of this genre is to prevent orthographic corruption (tashif) and misattribution in chains of narration (isnad), where an uninitiated reader might confuse the particles Ibn ("son of") and Abu or Abi ("father of"), or falsely assume a copyist error when encountering unusual patronymic phrasing ().
Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi authored an extensive monograph on this subject titled Man Wafaqat Kunyatuhu Ism Abihi mimma la Yu'man Wuqu' al-Khata' fih (Those Whose Kunya Matched Their Father's Name, Regarding Which Errors Are Not Safe from Occurring) (). Mughaltay produced an abridgment (intikhab) of the treatise, stating in his preface that his intention was to preserve every biographical entry contained in al-Khatib's original text while condensing the material to avoid tedious length and harmful omissions ().
Structure and Method
The text is organized alphabetically by the given name of each transmitter into alphabetical chapters (abwab), opening with Bab al-Alif and continuing through Bab al-Ba', Bab al-Ta', and subsequent letters ().
Under each letter, Mughaltay pairs contrasting names—such as a figure identified as "So-and-so son of X" alongside "So-and-so Abu X"—and clarifies whether they represent two distinct contemporaries or a single narrator whose kunya matches his father's name (noting the latter with the explicit remark "they are one" [هما واحد]) (). Each entry provides concise biographical indicators, including the narrator's regional origin, generational tier, primary teachers from whom he transmitted, and key students who narrated on his authority ().
Publication
The work was edited by Basim Faysal Ahmad al-Jawabirah and published in 1408 AH / 1988 CE by the Center for Manuscripts and Heritage (Markaz al-Makhtutat wa-al-Turath) in Kuwait (). It was issued in a single volume alongside two related onomastic treatises by Abu al-Fath al-Azdi (d. 374 AH / 984 CE): Man Wafaqa Ismuhu Isma Abihi and Man Wafaqa Ismuhu Kunyata Abihi ().
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