Mujam al-Sahaba li-Ibn Qani

Mu'jam al-Sahaba (The Dictionary of the Companions) is a biographical dictionary and hadith compilation by the Baghdadi judge and traditionist Abu al-Husayn Abd al-Baqi ibn Qani' (265–351 AH / 879–962 CE), documenting the Companions of the Prophet ﷺ and transmitting their narrations with full chains of transmission (isnads) Mujam Tarikh al-Turath al…+1.

Overview and Structure

The work is arranged alphabetically by the names of the Companions Mujam Tarikh al-Turath al…. For each Companion, Ibn Qani' provides biographical notices along with the hadiths narrated by or associated with them, tracing their transmission through his own teachers and authorities in Baghdad and other scholarly centers Nuzhat al-Nazir fi Dhikr …+1. It represents one of the early comprehensive compendiums dedicated specifically to the biographical identification and transmitted reports of the Companions, serving as a primary reference for later hadith collectors and biographical encyclopedists such as Ibn Abd al-Barr, Ala' al-Din Mughaltay, and Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani al-Inaba ila Marifat al-M…+1.

Reception and Critical Assessment

While recognized for its extensive collection of narrations and preserved early isnads, the book has drawn critical scrutiny from traditionists concerning inaccuracies in attributions, chains of transmission, and names al-Nukat al-Jiyad al-Munt…:

• Abu al-Hasan al-Daraqutni remarked that Ibn Qani' possessed extensive memorization but made errors and persisted in them Siyar Aalam al-Nubala+1.
• Al-Barqani stated that while Baghdadi scholars declared him trustworthy, he regarded him as weak Tarikh Baghdad+1.
• Ibn al-Furat reported that Ibn Qani' experienced mental confusion (ikhtilat) roughly two years before his death, causing some contemporaries to cease taking hadiths from him while others continued to hear from him during that period al-Nukat al-Jiyad al-Munt…+1.
• When the Andalusian scholar Ibn Fathun asked his teacher Abu Ali al-Sadafi about reading Ibn Qani's dictionary, al-Sadafi warned him that it contained abundant errors and encouraged him to point them out. Ibn Fathun subsequently authored a dedicated critical work to rectify its mistakes, titled al-I'lam wa-al-Ta'rif bi-ma li-Ibn Qani' fi Mu'jamihi min al-Awham wa-al-Tashif (also cited as Islah Awham Ibn Qani' fi Mu'jam al-Sahaba) al-Nukat al-Jiyad al-Munt…+1.
• In al-Isabah fi Tamyiz al-Sahaba, Ibn Hajar stated that Ibn Qani' is not relied upon as an ultimate authority in genealogies or isnads al-Nukat al-Jiyad al-Munt….

Manuscripts and Editions

Manuscripts of the text are preserved in repositories such as the Köprülü Library in Istanbul (MS 352 / 452) and the Zahiriyya Library in Damascus (under Majmu' 19) Buhuth fi Tarikh al-Sunna…+1.

The work has been edited and published modernly, including an edition edited by Salah ibn Salim al-Misrati published in three volumes by Maktabat al-Ghuraba' al-Athariyya in Medina (1418 AH / 1997–1998 CE), as well as an edition published in Mecca in fifteen parts Mujam Tarikh al-Turath al…+1.