Mashayikhat al-Bayani

Mashayikhat al-Bayani (Arabic: مشيخة البياني) is a hadith repertory compiled by the Syrian traditionist and biographer Ibn Rafi al-Salami (704–774 AH / 1304–1372 CE) to record the shaykhs and transmitted narrations of the hadith transmitter Shams al-Din Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Bayani Kashf al-Zunun an Asami a…+1.

Background and Subject

The collection was assembled (takhrij) for Shams al-Din Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr al-Khazraji al-Bayani al-Dimashqi al-Maqdisi (686–766 AH / 1287–1365 CE), a notary and transmitter popularly known as Ibn Imam al-Sakhrah ("the son of the Imam of the Dome of the Rock") Kashf al-Zunun an Asami a…+1. Having attended hadith auditions from early childhood before authorities such as Zaynub bint Makki and Ibn al-Bukhari, al-Bayani attained elevated chains of transmission (uluww al-isnad) and transmitted hadith extensively in Cairo and Damascus al-Hafiz al-Iraqi wa Atha…+1. Ibn Rafi recorded in his biographical chronicle al-Wafayat that he compiled this mashayikhah for al-Bayani, who subsequently transmitted it in his hadith sessions Kashf al-Zunun an Asami a…+1.

Supplements and Reception

The hadith scholar Zayn al-Din al-Iraqi composed a supplement (dhayl) to Ibn Rafi's work, known as Dhayl Mashayikhat al-Bayani, as well as an indexed repertory of al-Bayani's auditioned and authorized narrations (Fihrist marwiyyat al-Bayani) al-Hafiz al-Iraqi wa Atha…+1. Al-Iraqi's son, Abu Zur'ah Ibn al-Iraqi, noted that his father composed a comprehensive and beneficial index (fihrist) for al-Bayani's narrations, though he died before bringing it to final completion al-Hafiz al-Iraqi wa Atha….

The work has also been cataloged under the alternative title Mashayikhat Ibn Imam al-Sakhrah al-Ima ila Zawaid al-Amal…+1. It was edited by Muhammad ibn Nasir al-Ajami and published under this title by Dar al-Basha'ir al-Islamiyyah in 1425 AH / 2004 CE al-Ima ila Zawaid al-Amal….