Majlisan min Amali Nizam al-Mulk
- Author died
- 485 AH
- Editions
- Maktabat Ibn Taymiyyah
Majlisan min Amali Nizam al-Mulk (Two Dictation Sessions from the Dictations of Nizam al-Mulk) is a short hadith compilation by the Seljuk vizier Nizam al-Mulk (408–485 AH / 1018–1092 CE), containing prophetic traditions he dictated in Baghdad .
Background and Dictation
Nizam al-Mulk studied hadith under several scholars, including Abu Muslim Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Mihryazd al-Adib in Isfahan, Abu al-Qasim al-Qushayri in Nishapur, and Abu al-Khattab ibn al-Battr in Baghdad . Despite his political office, he convened dictation assemblies (amali) for hadith in different cities, including Rayy and Baghdad .
The two sessions recorded in this work took place in Baghdad: one in the Mahdi Mosque (Jami‘ al-Mahdi) in al-Rusafa and the other in his newly established institution, al-Madrasa al-Nizamiyya . Leading scholars and hadith masters (huffaz) attended the dictation sessions . Nizam al-Mulk expressed his humility regarding this scholarly role, stating upon completing his dictation: "I know that I am not worthy of what I undertake in dictating, but I wish to hitch myself to the train of the transmitters of the hadith of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ" .
Transmission
The sessions were transmitted directly from Nizam al-Mulk by students and contemporaries, including Nasr ibn Nasr al-Ukbari, the vizier Ali ibn Tirad al-Zaynibi, Abu Muhammad al-Hasan ibn Mansur al-Sam'ani, and Abu al-Fadl Muhammad ibn Umar al-Urmawi . Subsequent hadith scholars, including Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani and Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti, documented their chains of transmission for the first and second sessions back to Nizam al-Mulk through al-Ukbari .
Manuscripts and Publication
The work is preserved in a manuscript held at the Zahiriyya Library in Damascus, spanning six folios written in a clear calligraphic hand . The manuscript contains numerous audition notes (sama‘at) recorded by various scholars, among them Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani .
The text was edited by Abu Ishaq al-Huwayni and published in a single volume of 58 pages jointly by Maktabat Ibn Taymiyyah in Cairo and Maktabat al-Ilm in Jeddah in 1413 AH (1993 CE) .
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