Mashyakhat Abi Bakr al-Maraghi

Author died
816 AH
Editions
Umm Al-Qura University

Mashyakhat Abi Bakr al-Maraghi is a hadith register documenting the teachers and transmissions of the Shafi'i jurist, historian, and judge of Medina, Abu Bakr al-Maraghi (727–816 AH / 1327–1414 CE), compiled by Jamal al-Din Abu al-Barakat al-Marrakushi (789–823 AH / 1387–1420 CE).

Background and Compilation

The subject of the work, Zayn al-Din Abu Bakr ibn al-Husayn ibn Umar al-Qurashi al-Uthmani al-Maraghi, was born in Cairo in 727 AH (with another report citing 728 AH) and later settled in Medina for around fifty years, teaching at the Prophet's Mosque and eventually serving as the city's judge until his death in Dhu al-Hijjah 816 AH. The compilation (takhrij) of his scholarly authorities and narrations was undertaken by Jamal al-Din Abu al-Barakat Muhammad ibn Musa ibn Ali al-Marrakushi al-Makki.

Contents and Scope

The work belongs to the mashyakha genre, which catalogues an individual scholar's teachers, their narrative licenses (ijazat), and selected hadiths and transmitted reports received through them.

Each entry typically introduces a teacher alongside specific narrations transmitted through their chains, noting whether the transmission was received via direct audition (sama') or written authorization (ijaza / mukathaba). The text records isnad analysis, highlighting elevated chains of transmission (uluww), points of convergence (muwafaqat), and substitute lines (abdal) connecting al-Maraghi's transmitters back to classical compilations such as the Sahihs of al-Bukhari and Muslim or the collections of Abu Dawud, al-Tirmidhi, and al-Nasa'i. It also preserves scholarly anecdotes, poetic verses, and biographical notes regarding the teachers and their dates of death, including transmissions tracing back to prominent earlier traditionists such as Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Silafi.

Publication

The work was edited by Muhammad Salih ibn Abd al-Aziz al-Murad and published in a single volume by the Institute of Scientific Research and Revival of Islamic Heritage at Umm al-Qura University in Mecca (first edition, 1422 AH / 2001 CE).

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