Mujam Abi Yala al-Mawsili
- Author died
- 307 AH
- Editions
- Idārat al-ʿUlūm al-Athariyyah
Mu'jam Abi Ya'la al-Mawsili (The Dictionary of Abu Ya'la al-Mawsili) is a biographical hadith collection compiled by the hadith master Abu Ya'la al-Mawsili (210–307 AH / 825–919 CE) to document the authorities from whom he received and transmitted hadith .
Scope and Method
The work belongs to the mu'jam (or mashyakhah) genre, arranged to record the compiler's direct teachers. As noted by al-Dhahabi, Abu Ya'la compiled this inventory of his transmitters in three parts (ajza') . In addition to citing narrations through his shaykhs, Abu Ya'la provided occasional biographical evaluations and critical verdicts (al-jarh wa-al-ta'dil) on their reliability . Examples of his explicit assessments in the text include declaring Muhammad ibn Abi Ma'shar to be trustworthy (thiqah), describing Muhammad ibn Jami' ibn Abi Kamil as an upright teacher (shaykh sidq), and identifying narrators such as Muhammad ibn Jami' al-'Attar, Isma'il ibn Sayf, and 'Abd Allah ibn Abi Bakr al-Muqaddami as weak (da'if) .
Transmission
The Mu'jam was transmitted from Abu Ya'la through several scholarly lines:
- One direct transmission was recorded by Abu al-Husayn Muhammad ibn al-Nadr ibn Muhammad ibn Sa'id al-Mawsili al-Nakhkhas, who heard it from Abu Ya'la's dictation in the year 307 AH . It was subsequently read to Abu Muhammad al-Hasan ibn 'Ali ibn Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Jawhari in Rajab 383 AH, passing down through later authorities including Abu Mansur Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Malik ibn Khayrun and Siraj al-Din al-Qazwini .
- Another chain passed through Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn 'Ali ibn 'Asim Ibn al-Muqri', as documented in the isnad records of Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalani . Ibn Hajar also documented an abridgment of its third part (al-Muntaqa min al-juz' al-thalith) traced through Abu Bakr Yusuf ibn al-Qasim al-Miyanaji from Abu Ya'la .
Modern Editions
The work has been published in modern scholarly editions, including:
- An edition edited by Irshad al-Haqq al-Athari, published by Idarat al-'Ulum al-Athariyyah in Faisalabad (1407 AH / 1987 CE) .
- An edition titled Mu'jam shuyukh Abi Ya'la al-Mawsili, edited by Husayn Salim Asad al-Darani and published by Dar al-Ma'mun li-l-Turath in Beirut (1410 AH / 1989 CE) .
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