Qatf al-Thamar fi Raf Asanid al-Musannafat
- Author died
- 1218 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Shurūq
Qatf al-Thamar fi Raf Asanid al-Musannafat (The Gathering of Fruit in Tracing the Chains of Authored Works; also titled Qatf al-Thamar fi Raf Asanid al-Musannafat fi al-Funun wa-l-Athar) is a work of transmission credentials (thabat) compiled by the Hadith scholar Salih ibn Muhammad al-Fulani (1166–1218 AH / 1753–1803 CE) . The book documents his scholarly chains of transmission (isnads) linking him to standard Islamic source texts and foundational manuals across the Islamic sciences .
Composition and Purpose
Al-Fulani states in his introduction that he composed the work in response to an earnest request from a student seeking a formal license (ijazah) and transmission pathways for the books and subjects al-Fulani had studied under his teachers . Hesitant at first out of modesty, al-Fulani resolved to provide a verified record detailing prominent teachers under whom he read or from whom he heard various texts, and then set out the specific chains connecting them back to original authors . He completed the final fair copy (tabyid) of the text in 1203 AH / 1788–1789 CE . In the colophon, he recorded his full ancestral lineage tracing back to the Andalusian scholar Abu al-Qasim Khalaf and ultimately to the companion Umar ibn al-Khattab .
Structure and Content
The work functions as al-Fulani's concise thabat (often designated as his smaller index, al-thabat al-saghir, in contrast to his larger al-Thimar al-Yani') .
Al-Fulani begins the presentation of his transmissions with the Muwatta' of Imam Malik ibn Anas via the transmission of Yahya ibn Yahya al-Laythi, explaining that he gives it precedence because it serves as the foundation and core text, particularly among scholars of his region . He follows it with Sahih al-Bukhari as the second major foundation . Through prominent masters—most notably the centenarian scholar Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Sunnah al-Fulani—he records direct readings, recitations for research and precision (qira'at bahth wa-tahqiq), and general authorizations .
The work covers transmissions for core Hadith compilations, jurisprudential treatises, and other disciplines, concluding with his transmission of al-Shama'il al-Muhammadiyya by al-Tirmidhi through a chain ascending through Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti .
Transmission and Reception
The book and the chains recorded in it were received widely by scholars of both the Islamic East and West (Ahl al-Mashriq wa-l-Maghrib) . Prominent scholars transmitting al-Fulani's credentials included:
- Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad al-Kuzbari, the Hadith scholar of Damascus
- Ismail ibn Zayn al-Abidin al-Barzanji, the mufti of Medina
- Scholars of Mauritania (Shinqit) and the Sahara, such as Muhammad al-Hafiz al-Shinqiti and Abu Zayd Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad al-Shinqiti
- Muhammad ibn Qurd al-Fulani, who noted examining a manuscript of Qatf al-Thamar containing al-Fulani's handwriting at the end
- Muhammad Hashim al-Fulani, from whom Abd Allah ibn Abd al-Rahman Siraj, the Shaykh al-Islam of Mecca, received the book
As noted by Abd al-Hayy al-Kattani in Fihris al-Faharis, multiple subsequent lines of late Ottoman- and modern-era transmission trace back directly to al-Fulani through this register .
Editions and Manuscripts
Manuscript copies of the work are preserved in collections including the Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library in Bankipore (MS 3204/4), the library of Medina (MS 338/2), and Istanbul University (MS 3412) .
The text was printed in Hyderabad in 1328 AH / 1905 CE . A modern critical edition edited by Amir Hasan Sabri was published by Dar al-Shuruq in 1405 AH / 1986 CE .
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