Mawsuat Aqwal Abi al-Hasan al-Daraqutni fi Rijal al-Hadith wa Ilalihi
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Mawsuat Aqwal Abi al-Hasan al-Daraqutni fi Rijal al-Hadith wa Ilalihi (Encyclopedia of Abu al-Hasan al-Daraqutni's Statements on Hadith Narrators and Defects) is a multi-author biographical reference work compiling the critical evaluations and defect analyses of the 4th-century hadith scholar Abu al-Hasan al-Daraqutni (d. 385 AH / 995 CE) . It was prepared by a research team comprising Mahmud Muhammad Khalil, Muhammad Mahdi al-Muslimi, Ashraf Mansur Abd al-Rahman, Isam Abd al-Hadi Mahmud, Ahmad Abd al-Razzaq Id, and Ayman Ibrahim al-Zamili .
Background and Purpose
The encyclopedia forms part of a broader scholarly project undertaken by the authors to assemble scattered statements of early hadith critics on narrator evaluation (al-jarh wa-l-ta'dil) and hidden defects ('ilal) . It served as a sequential stage following their three-volume compilation al-Jami' fi al-Jarh wa-l-Ta'dil and the four-volume Mawsuat Aqwal al-Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal fi Rijal al-Hadith wa Ilalihi, before their subsequent compilation of the statements of Yahya ibn Ma'in . The work was intended to make early critical sources accessible and facilitate direct engagement with primary narrator assessments .
Collation, proofreading, and supplementary contributions were carried out with the assistance of Id al-Sayyid Dayf Allah, Muhammad Hasan Khalil al-Sa'idi, and Mahmud Mansur Abd al-Rahman . The book also incorporates an introductory biographical monograph on al-Daraqutni written by Muwaffaq ibn Abd Allah ibn Abd al-Qadir, adapted from his edition of al-Daraqutni's al-Mu'talif wa-l-Mukhtalif .
Structure and Methodology
The encyclopedia is organized alphabetically by the names of the narrators, opening with the letter alif . Under each narrator's entry, the compilers present al-Daraqutni's specific verdicts—such as declaring a transmitter trustworthy (thiqah), weak (da'if), or abandoned (matruk)—accompanied by precise volume, page, or entry citations to the original sources .
To ensure textual accuracy, the compilers collated problematic readings and typographical errors (tashif and tahrif) found in printed question-and-answer texts against manuscript copies they obtained in Baghdad from the library of Subhi al-Badri al-Samarra'i, in addition to standard biographical dictionaries .
Sources
The compilers gathered al-Daraqutni's statements from fourteen primary and secondary sources :
- Direct works by al-Daraqutni: Sunan al-Daraqutni, al-'Ilal al-Waridah fi al-Ahadith al-Nabawiyyah (using both printed volumes and manuscript leaves), al-Mu'talif wa-l-Mukhtalif, al-Du'afa' wa-l-Matrukun, and al-Ilzamat wa-l-Tatabbu' .
- Transmission questionnaires (su'alat) posed to al-Daraqutni by his students: Su'alat al-Hakim al-Naysaburi, Su'alat Abi Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami, Su'alat al-Barqani, and Su'alat Hamzah ibn Yusuf al-Sahmi .
- Major intermediate and later biographical works citing his transmitted judgements: al-Khatib al-Baghdadi's Tarikh Baghdad, al-Mizzi's Tahdhib al-Kamal, Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani's Tahdhib al-Tahdhib and Lisan al-Mizan, and al-Dhahabi's Mizan al-I'tidal .
Publication
The work was published in two volumes by Alam al-Kutub in Beirut, Lebanon, in its first edition in 2001 CE (1422 AH) .
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