Manaqib Ali li-Ibn al-Maghazli
- Author died
- 483 AH
- Editions
- Dar al-Athar
Manaqib Ali (The Merits of Ali, Arabic: مناقب أمير المؤمنين علي بن أبي طالب) is a collection of hadiths and biographical reports dedicated to the virtues and merits of the fourth Caliph, Ali ibn Abi Talib, compiled by the Maliki jurist, preacher, and historian Ibn al-Maghazli (d. 483 AH / 1090 CE) .
Author and Content
The author, Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Tayyib al-Jullabi al-Wasiti, known as Ibn al-Maghazli, assembled narratives related to the virtues, lineage, and life of Ali ibn Abi Talib, as well as reports concerning members of his household such as Fatimah . The work gathers narrations with chains of transmission (isnad) tracing back through various earlier authorities and books .
Transmission
The work was transmitted by the author's son, the judge Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Ali al-Jullabi, through whom later scholars received it, including Abu Bakr ibn al-Baqillani al-Muqri' in Wasit . Historical biographers note that surviving manuscripts and transmissions of these virtues exhibited textual variation, with different copies containing additions or omissions relative to one another .
Reception and Critical Assessment
Traditional Sunni biographical and hadith authorities evaluated Ibn al-Maghazli's hadith reliability critically. Ibn al-Najjar and Al-Safadi noted that he made frequent errors and possessed limited retention and critical discernment in hadith transmission .
In Minhaj al-Sunnah al-Nabawiyyah, Ibn Taymiyyah strongly criticized the collection, stating that Ibn al-Maghazli was not an expert in hadith methodology and had merely compiled whatever narratives he found in circulating books regarding the virtues of Ali, drawing a comparison between his compilation method and that of al-Khatib al-Khuwarizmi . Ibn Taymiyyah asserted that the work contains numerous fabricated reports (al-ahadith al-mawdu'at) that are readily identifiable as false to scholars of hadith, and stated that scholars agree an isolated transmission by Ibn al-Maghazli cannot serve as authoritative evidence .
Editions
The book has been edited in modern print by Abu Abd al-Rahman Turki ibn Abd Allah al-Wadi'i, published by Dar al-Athar in Sanaa (1424 AH / 2003 CE) .
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