Nathl al-Nibal bi Mujam al-Rijal
- Author died
- 1446 AH
- Editions
- Dar Ibn Abbas
Nathl al-Nibal bi-Mu'jam al-Rijal (The Extraction of Arrows: A Biographical Dictionary of Transmitters) is a four-volume hadith biographical dictionary compiled by Abu 'Amr Ahmad ibn 'Atiyyah al-Wakil, collecting the biographical evaluations, narrator criticisms (al-jarḥ wa-l-taʿdīl), and chain-analysis rulings of the Egyptian hadith scholar Abu Ishaq al-Huwayni .
Background and Compilation
The work was conceived at the request of students seeking a concise, consolidated reference that brought together al-Huwayni's dispersed critical remarks and verifications on hadith narrators and historical figures across his various published books, research papers, and articles in Majallat al-Tawhid .
In preparing the collection, al-Wakil drew upon al-Huwayni's printed output—such as Badhl al-Ihsan bi-Taqrib Sunan al-Nasa'i, Ghawth al-Makdud fi Takhrij Muntaqa Ibn al-Jarud, Tanbih al-Hajid, and Junnat al-Murtab—as well as four then-unpublished manuscripts provided directly by al-Huwayni :
- An edited monograph on the second part of the hadiths of the vizier Abu al-Qasim 'Isa ibn 'Ali ibn Dawud ibn al-Jarrah .
- Al-Huwayni's three-volume edition of Ibn Kathir's Tafsir al-Qur'an al-'Azim (of which two volumes had appeared in print at the time) .
- Tasliyat al-Kazim bi-Takhrij Ahadith Tafsir al-Qur'an al-'Azim, a four-volume companion takhrij work .
- Tanbih al-Hajid ila ma Waqa'a min al-Nazar fi Kutub al-Amajid, a twelve-volume critical work (of which six volumes had been published at the time) .
Scope and Structure
In its expanded form, the dictionary covers 5,217 biographical entries across four volumes, organized alphabetically :
- Volume 1: Transmitters whose names begin with the letter Hamzah through the letter Ra' .
- Volume 2: Transmitters from the letter Zay through the letter 'Ayn .
- Volume 3: Transmitters from the letter Ghayn through the letter Ya' .
- Volume 4: Transmitters identified by filiation (al-abna' and al-aba'), titles and nisbas (al-alqab wa-l-ansab), ambiguous or unnamed narrators (al-mubhamat), and female transmitters (al-nisa'), each arranged alphabetically in dedicated sections .
In addition to classical narrators, the dictionary includes al-Huwayni's assessments of selected modern scholars (such as Abd al-Aziz ibn Baz, Muhammad Nasir al-Din al-Albani, Ahmad Muhammad Shakir, and Abd al-Rahman al-Mu'allimi), discussions regarding certain Companions, and his research concerning al-Khidr .
Methodology
Al-Wakil recorded al-Huwayni's exact words regarding each narrator without alteration, placing any editorial clarifications inside square brackets and relegating his own remarks and corrections to footnotes . When al-Huwayni addressed a narrator in multiple works across different phases of his career, the compiler generally prioritized the statements in later writings over earlier publications .
To resolve homonymous transmitters (al-mutashabih), al-Wakil added identifying lineage details, titles, regional nisbas, or direct transmission links (the narrator's immediate teacher and student) in brackets, particularly for obscure (majhul) or unverified figures . Where relevant, the compiler cited the specific hadiths that prompted critics or al-Huwayni to fault a narrator or declare an addition anomalous (shadhdh) .
Editions and Revisions
The work was first published by Dar al-Muhaddithin in 1428 AH / 2007 CE . A revised and expanded edition was completed by al-Wakil in late Sha'ban 1432 AH and published in 1433 AH / 2012 CE by Dar Ibn 'Abbas in Cairo and Mansoura . In this edition, the compiler corrected typographical and alphabetical misplacements, rectified misidentified narrator names, separated erroneously merged entries while uniting erroneously duplicated ones, incorporated previously omitted biographies, and adjusted cross-references to newer printings of al-Huwayni's books .
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