Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani
Mujam al-Shaykha Maryam
- Author died
- 852 AH
- Editions
- Ta al-Thaqafa
Mujam al-Shaykha Maryam (The Biographical Hadith Dictionary of Shaykha Maryam) is a hadith biographical dictionary compiled by the Egyptian scholar Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani (773–852 AH / 1372–1449 CE) to document the teachers and transmissions of his teacher, the female hadith authority Maryam bint Ahmad al-Adhraiyya .
Subject and Composition
The subject of the work is Umm Isa Maryam bint Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Adhraiyya al-Misriyya al-Hanafiyya (719–805 AH / 1319–1403 CE) . Born in Cairo into a scholarly family of Syrian origin from Adhriat, she lived to become one of the most prominent transmitters of her era, surviving until she was the last living direct transmitter with continuous audition (sama') from figures such as Ali ibn Umar al-Wani and Abu al-Nun Yunus ibn Ibrahim al-Dabbusi .
Ibn Hajar studied extensively under her, reading many of her auditioned works and transmissions obtained through scholarly authorization (ijaza) . He composed this dictionary for her in a single volume (mufallad), organizing and recording the authorities from whom she had received transmissions . Later biographical sources and catalog records occasionally confused her with another female scholar, Sitt al-Qudat Maryam bint Abd al-Rahman al-Nabulsiya (691–758 AH / 1292–1357 CE) .
Structure and Content
The work is organized as a mashyakha (roster of teachers), divided into distinct parts (ajza', such as al-Awwal, al-Thani, al-Rabi', up to al-Hadi 'ashar and beyond) . For each teacher, Ibn Hajar provides a concise biographical entry detailing their name, lineage, birth, prominent teachers, auditioned works, teaching activities, and death date, followed by representative hadith narrations transmitted through Maryam’s chain from that teacher .
The authorities listed in the work include prominent eighth-century AH figures, such as:
- Abu al-Fath Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Maydumi
- Ahmad ibn Abi Talib al-Hajjar (known as Ibn al-Shahna)
- Ali ibn Hasan al-Armawi
- Muhammad ibn Jabir al-Wadi Ashi
- Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Ahmad al-Maqdisi al-Khalili
In several entries across the manuscript draft, Ibn Hajar left blank spaces (bayad) after mentioning a narrator or beginning a profile without returning to complete the entry .
Publication
The work has been preserved in manuscript form and was published in Cairo edited by Muhammad Uthman (Maktabat al-Thaqafah al-Diniyyah, 2010), in addition to being edited in academic dissertations .
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