Nuzhat al-Albab fi al-Alqab
- Author died
- 852 AH
- Editions
- Maktabat al-Rushd
Nuzhat al-Albab fi al-Alqab (The Promenade of the Intellects Regarding Sobriquets) is a biographical reference work on hadith narrator titles and nicknames (al-alqab) by the Egyptian Shafi'i hadith scholar Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani (773–852 AH / 1372–1449 CE) .
Background and Sources
Knowledge of narrator titles was cultivated within hadith criticism to identify narrators known by unusual designations and to prevent mistaking a single figure cited under both a formal name and a sobriquet for two different people . Prior works in this subdiscipline included compositions by Ahmad ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Shirazi (abridged by Abu al-Fadl ibn Tahir), Abu al-Fadl al-Falaki, Ibn al-Faradi, and Ibn al-Jawzi in his extensive Kashf al-Niqab . Ibn Hajar summarized the material collected by these predecessors while contributing substantial additions of his own .
Structure and Content
The work begins with the doxology: "Praise be to God, to whom belong the most beautiful names, supreme glory, and transcendent attributes" (al-hamdu li-llah alladhi lahu al-asma' al-husna wa-l-'izz al-asma wa-l-sifat al-'ulya) . Ibn Hajar opens the text with an introductory chapter (fasl) discussing the definition of a sobriquet (al-laqab) and its legal status under Islamic law, citing the Quranic prohibition: وَلَا تَنَابَزُوا بِالْأَلْقَابِ ("nor insult one another by nicknames") [al-Hujurat: 11] alongside the hadith related by Ahmad and Abu Dawud on the authority of Abu Jubayrah ibn al-Dahhak regarding its revelation in reference to the Banu Salimah .
The core material is organized alphabetically within three primary chapters (abwab):
- Part One: Sobriquets taking the form of personal names (al-alqab bi-alfaz al-asma'), appended with entries covering crafts and occupations (such as al-Baqqal, "the grocer") and personal physical attributes (such as al-A'mash, "the blear-eyed") .
- Part Two: Sobriquets taking the form of agnomens or patronymics (al-alqab bi-alfaz al-kuna) .
- Part Three: Sobriquets taking the form of relational genealogies and geographic nisbas denoting tribes, localities, and countries (al-alqab bi-alfaz al-ansab ila al-qaba'il wa-l-buldan wa-ghayriha) .
Reception and Transmission
Ibn Hajar's student al-Sakhawi characterized Nuzhat al-Albab as an exquisite compilation, subsequently writing an independent work comprising extensive supplementary entries to it .
Manuscripts of the text are preserved across several collections, including a 53-folio copy transcribed by Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Khaydari with title annotations in Ibn Hajar's own hand, held in the Feyzullah collection in Istanbul (MS 1548), as well as copies in Dar al-Kutub al-Misriyya (MS 166 Mustalah) and in Riyadh . The book was edited by Abd al-Aziz Muhammad al-Sudayri and published by Maktabat al-Rushd in Riyadh (1409 AH / 1989 CE) .
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