Irshad al-Qasi wa al-Dani ila Tarajim Shuyukh al-Tabarani

Irshad al-Qasi wa al-Dani ila Tarajim Shuyukh al-Tabarani (Guiding the Far and Near to the Biographies of al-Tabarani's Teachers) is a biographical dictionary compiled by the Yemeni scholar Abu al-Tayyib Nayif ibn Salah al-Mansuri, dedicated to documenting the teachers of the hadith master al-Tabarani (d. 360 AH / 971 CE) Irshad al-Qasi wa al-Dani…+2.

Scope and Purpose

The book forms the first installment in al-Mansuri's broader research series, Taqrib Ruwat al-Sunnah bayna Yaday al-Ummah ("Bringing the Transmitters of the Sunnah Closer to the Ummah"), which focuses on compiling biographical dictionaries for fourth-century AH hadith scholars whose transmitters are often difficult to locate in standard biographical literature Irshad al-Qasi wa al-Dani…+2. While earlier hadith transmitters from the six canonical collections are comprehensively covered in works like al-Mizzi's Tahdhib al-Kamal, the transmitters of later tiers (al-asand al-nazilah) are scattered across disparate historical sources Irshad al-Qasi wa al-Dani…+1.

To compile al-Tabarani's teachers, al-Mansuri extracted names across fifteen published works of al-Tabarani, transmissions preserved through Abu Nu'aym al-Isbahani, and Ibn Kathir's Jami' al-Masanid for missing portions of al-Tabarani's al-Mu'jam al-Kabir, alongside external biographical references Irshad al-Qasi wa al-Dani…+2. The work contains 1,170 sequentially numbered biographical entries, adding more than 300 entries beyond those collected by Hammad al-Ansari in his earlier work Bulghat al-Qasi wa al-Dani al-Salsabil al-Naqi fi Ta…+1.

Structure and Methodology

The entries are organized alphabetically according to the Arabic alphabet Irshad al-Qasi wa al-Dani…. In presenting each biography, al-Mansuri adopted the following method:

• Recording the teacher's name as it appears in the transmission chains (asanid), noting any scribal corruptions (tashif) or attributions to distant grandfathers Irshad al-Qasi wa al-Dani….
• Cross-referencing to the primary entry where the subject's full lineage is detailed Irshad al-Qasi wa al-Dani….
• Stating the subject's kunyah (or multiple kunyahs if applicable), titles (alqab), and genealogical or regional affiliations (nisbahs), prioritizing tribal, vocational, or physical attributions before geographic ones Irshad al-Qasi wa al-Dani…+1.
• Listing the teacher's own authorities (beginning with the first authority mentioned in al-Tabarani's al-Mu'jam al-Saghir) and their notable students, heading the student list with al-Tabarani Irshad al-Qasi wa al-Dani….
• Noting whether Abu Bakr al-Isma'ili narrated from the teacher in his Mu'jam without criticism, and documenting classical assessments of impungment and validation (al-jarh wa al-ta'dil) Bulugh al-Amani bi-Taraji…+1.

Review and Publication

The work was reviewed by the Yemeni hadith scholar Abu al-Hasan Mustafa ibn Isma'il al-Sulaymani al-Ma'ribi, who appended reasoned editorial verdicts evaluating the reliability of each transmitter and contributed an introductory foreword Irshad al-Qasi wa al-Dani…+2. The book also contains a foreword by the scholar Sa'd ibn 'Abdullah al-Humayyid Irshad al-Qasi wa al-Dani…+1. It was published in a single volume (711 pages) in 1427 AH (2006 CE) jointly by Dar al-Kiyan in Riyadh and Maktabat Ibn Taymiyyah in the United Arab Emirates Irshad al-Qasi wa al-Dani…+1.