Mujam al-Kutub
- Author died
- 909 AH
- Editions
- Maktabat Ibn Sīnā lil-Nashr wa-al-Tawzīʻ
Mu'jam al-Kutub (Dictionary of Books) is a Hanbali bibliographical catalog compiled by the Syrian scholar Jamal al-Din Yusuf ibn Hasan ibn Ahmad ibn 'Abd al-Hadi, known as Ibn al-Mubarrad (840 or 841–909 AH / 1436 or 1437–1503 CE) . The work documents titles of Islamic scholarly literature, focusing extensively on the individual corpora of legal responsa and transmissions (masa'il) collected from Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal by his students and companions .
Content and Method
In the author's preface, Ibn al-Mubarrad identifies himself and introduces the text as Mu'jam al-Kutub . The catalog is structured around numbered entries for discrete books and transmissions, opening with the legal collections transmitted directly from Ahmad ibn Hanbal .
For each entry, Ibn al-Mubarrad lists the title of the compilation, identifies the compiler or transmitter with their full genealogy and kunya, notes their standing and reliability, and describes the scope and physical extent of their narrations . The author frequently draws upon the evaluations of earlier authorities, particularly the Hanbali collector Abu Bakr al-Khallal, noting whether an entry contained rare or exclusive questions (ghara'ib) not preserved through other chains . Whenever available, Ibn al-Mubarrad also records the death dates of the authors and transmitters or lists other independent titles they composed in hadith, jurisprudence, and related disciplines .
Among the collections cataloged in the work are:
- Masa'il Abi al-Hasan al-Tirmidhi, compiled by Ahmad ibn al-Hasan ibn Jundub (d. 250 AH)
- Masa'il al-Nasa'i, compiled by Ahmad ibn al-Husayn ibn Hassan al-Nasa'i
- Masa'il al-Mishkani, transmitted by Abu Talib Ahmad ibn Humayd al-Mishkani (d. 244 AH)
- Masa'il Abi Bakr al-Marrudhi, by Abu Bakr al-Marrudhi (d. 275 AH)
- Masa'il al-Athram, arranged by Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Athram (d. ca. 261 AH), alongside his other works such as al-Ilal, al-Sunan, and al-Nasikh wa-l-mansukh
- Masa'il Ibrahim al-Harbi, transmitted by Ibrahim al-Harbi (d. 285 AH), along with his other writings such as Gharib al-Hadith, Dalail al-Nubuwwah, and al-Manasik
- Masa'il Abi Zur'ah, transmitted by Abu Zur'ah al-Razi (d. 264 AH)
Completion and Publication
The text was later supplemented and brought to completion by the Hanbali scholar Abd Allah ibn Dawud al-Zubayri (d. 1225 AH / 1810 CE) . A printed edition of Mu'jam al-Kutub, prepared and edited by Yusri 'Abd al-Ghani al-Bishri, was published by Maktabat Ibn Sina in Cairo in 1409 AH / 1989 CE .
Answer updated