Juz al-Awham fi al-Mashayikh al-Nubala
- Author died
- 643 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Bukhārī
Juz al-Awham fi al-Mashayikh al-Nubala (The Tract on Oversights Concerning the Noble Shaykhs) is a specialized hadith-biographical monograph by the Damascene traditionist Diya al-Din al-Maqdisi (d. 643 AH / 1245 CE), dedicated to identifying and correcting inadvertent omissions and errors in al-Mashayikh al-nubala by Ibn Asakir (d. 571 AH / 1176 CE).
Background and Purpose
The work was composed as a critical supplement (istidrak) and corrigenda to the biographical dictionary al-Mashayikh al-nubala—also recorded under the fuller title al-Mu'jam al-mushtamil ala asma al-thiqat al-nubal—authored by the historian of Damascus, Abu al-Qasim Ibn Asakir. Diya al-Din explains at the beginning of the text that while transcribing Ibn Asakir's work, he noticed several passages where the author appeared to have fallen into inadvertence or oversight (sahw). A transmission note preserved at the opening records that the text was read back to Diya al-Din al-Maqdisi during the last ten days of Dhu al-Qidah 631 AH (August 1234 CE). In bio-bibliographical and manuscript records, the work is also referred to as Awham al-Mashayikh al-Nubal, Dhikr al-Awham fi al-Mashayikh al-Nubal, and al-Istidrak ala al-Mashayikh al-Nubal.
Structure and Contents
The monograph consists of 41 numbered critical notices arranged alphabetically by the transmitters' given names, following the layout of Ibn Asakir's original work. The entries are distributed across alphabetical chapter divisions, including:
- Bab Ahmad (entries 1–2)
- Bab Ibrahim wa-ghayrihi min al-asma (entries 3–6)
- Bab al-Ba (entries 7–8)
- Bab al-Jim (entry 9)
- Bab al-Ha (entries 10–14)
- Bab al-Dal (entry 15)
- Bab al-Sin (entries 16–18)
- Bab al-Ayn (entries 19–25)
- Bab al-Mim (entries 26–37)
- Concluding notices covering Musa ibn Sahl, Harun ibn Musa al-Farawi, al-Haytham ibn Kharija al-Marwazi, and Abu Bakr ibn Hafs (entries 38–41).
Method
Diya al-Din al-Maqdisi employs standard hadith-critical comparison (muarada) to verify Ibn Asakir's attributions against the six canonical hadith collections and their related reference works. Throughout the text, he uses standard scholarly abbreviations to denote the six compilers: (خ) for al-Bukhari, (م) for Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj, (د) for Abu Dawud al-Sijistani, (ت) for al-Tirmidhi, (س) for al-Nasa'i, and (ق) for Ibn Majah.
His critiques primarily address four categories of error:
- Omission of narrators from a teacher: Noting where one of the Six Books transmitted from a particular shaykh but Ibn Asakir failed to register that transmission (such as transmissions by al-Nasa'i, al-Tirmidhi, Abu Dawud, or Ibn Majah).
- Direct vs. indirect transmission: Correcting instances where Ibn Asakir asserted that an author like Muslim transmitted directly from an authority, when in fact the transmission in the Sahih was through an unnamed intermediary (an rajulin 'anhu), as in the entries for Hajjaj ibn Minhal, Harami ibn Hafs, and 'Ubayd Allah ibn Mu'adh al-'Anbari.
- Entirely omitted teachers: Documenting shaykhs omitted altogether from Ibn Asakir's compendium despite being cited in the canonical works, such as Ahmad ibn al-Mu'alla ibn Yazid, Abbas ibn al-Azraq, and Muhammad ibn Uthman al-Uqayli.
- Scribal corruption (tashif) and discrepant names: Identifying mistranscribed or conflicting names by checking variant manuscripts of the Sunan and comparing them with Atraf compilations and specialized biographical treatises by authorities such as Abu Masud, Ibn Mandah, al-Kalabadhi, and al-Burqani.
Modern Editions
The tract was edited by Badr ibn Muhammad al-'Ammash and published in a single volume by Dar al-Bukhari (Buraydah / Medina, 1413 AH / 1992–1993 CE).
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