Juz fih dhikr Abi al-Qasim al-Tabarani
- Author died
- 511 AH
- Editions
- Maktabat al-‘Ulūm wa-al-Ḥikam
Juzʾ fīh dhikr Abī al-Qāsim al-Ṭabarānī (Arabic: جزء فيه ذكر أبي القاسم الطبراني) is a specialized biographical monograph composed by the hadith scholar Ibn Mandah Yahya ibn Abd al-Wahhab (d. 511 AH / 1118 CE), dedicated to the life, virtues, and bibliography of the traditionist Abu al-Qasim al-Tabarani (260–360 AH / 874–971 CE) .
Transmission and Transmission Chain
The full title recorded on the work is Juzʾ fīh dhikr Abī al-Qāsim Sulaymān ibn Aḥmad ibn Ayyūb al-Ṭabarānī wa-baʿḍ manāqibih wa-mawlidih wa-wafātih wa-ʿadad taṣānīfih ("A Booklet on Mentioning Abu al-Qasim Sulayman ibn Ahmad al-Tabarani, Some of His Virtues, His Birth, His Death, and the Number of His Compositions") . The text has been transmitted through the authorization (ijāzah) of Abu Jaʿfar Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Nasr al-Saydalani from Ibn Mandah, which was subsequently transmitted on his authority by Abu al-Hajjaj Yusuf ibn Khalil ibn Abd Allah al-Dimashqi .
Contents and Subject Matter
The work serves as a dedicated record of al-Tabarani’s biography and virtues (manāqib):
- Biographical details and travels: It documents al-Tabarani's birth in 260 AH and his arrival in Isfahan, noting that he first entered the city in 290 AH seeking to hear hadith from scholars such as Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn Amr ibn Abi Asim and Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn Zakariyya, though he found that both had died shortly before his arrival . It lists the prominent local teachers he met there, such as Ibrahim ibn Muhammad (known as Ibn Na'ila), Mahmud ibn Ahmad al-Faraj al-Wudnakabadhi, Ibrahim ibn Matwayh, and Muhammad ibn Yahya ibn Mandah . It also records his second return to Isfahan in 310 or 311 AH .
- Career and personal life: Ibn Mandah relates the financial stipend granted to al-Tabarani by the local official Abu Ali Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Rustam, and notes al-Tabarani's subsequent distancing from him after the official spoke unfavorably of the Companions Abu Bakr and Umar . The text also mentions al-Tabarani's children, including his son Muhammad (Abu Dharr, d. 399 AH) and his daughter Fatima .
- Dreams and spiritual encounters: The work records multiple dream accounts (manāmāt), such as al-Tabarani seeing the Prophet ﷺ confirming the authenticity of specific narrations, a vision advising him to travel first to Ishaq ibn Ibrahim al-Dabari, and al-Hakim al-Naysaburi seeing al-Tabarani in a dream in 392 AH .
- Death and burial: It details that al-Tabarani died on a Saturday in Dhu al-Qaʿdah 360 AH and was buried on Sunday with two nights remaining of the month, beside the grave of the Companion Humama ibn Abi Humama al-Dawsi at the Gate of Jayy in Isfahan .
Inventory of Works
A major feature of the treatise is its detailed inventory of al-Tabarani’s writings, where Ibn Mandah lists 108 titles . These include major compilations such as al-Muʿjam al-Kabīr (recorded as 200 parts), al-Muʿjam al-Awsaṭ (24 parts), and al-Muʿjam al-Ṣaghīr (7 parts), alongside specialized titles such as Musnad al-ʿAshara, Musnad al-Shāmiyyīn, Dalāʾil al-Nubuwwa, and Kitāb al-Duʿāʾ . Al-Dhahabi noted that Ibn Mandah had not personally seen most of the works he enumerated in this list .
Printed Editions
The treatise has been published in several formats:
- Edited by Hamdi Abd al-Majid al-Salafi as a supplementary appendix at the end of volume 25 of al-Tabarani's al-Muʿjam al-Kabīr (Maktabat al-Ulum wa-l-Hikam / Maktabat Ibn Taymiyya, 2nd ed. 1404 AH / 1983 CE) .
- Published independently as a standalone volume edited by Abu Hashim Ibrahim ibn Mansur al-Hashimi al-Amir (Muʾassasat al-Rayyan, Beirut, 1422 AH / 2001 CE; 2nd ed. 1428 AH / 2007 CE) .
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