Rijal Sahih Muslim
- Author died
- 428 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Maʻrifah
Rijal Sahih Muslim (The Transmitters of Sahih Muslim), also referred to as Asma' rijal Sahih Muslim, is a specialized biographical dictionary written by Ibn Manjuyah (d. 428 AH / 1037 CE) dedicated to documenting the transmitters of hadith found in Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj’s Sahih Muslim .
Scope and Subject Matter
The work belongs to the genre of biographical literature focusing on the narrators of specific canonical hadith compilations (kutub makhsusah) . Ibn Manjuyah compiles entries for the transmitters whose reports appear in the Sahih, covering their names, genealogies, teachers, and transmission paths, allowing hadith scholars and critics to establish narrator identities and differentiate between primary narrators and those utilized for corroborating chains (mutaba'at and shawahid) . Later hadith critics frequently consult the work to verify whether a particular narrator was included by Muslim or erroneously attributed to him .
Integration and Reception in Hadith Literature
Ibn Manjuyah’s compilation served as the principal reference for the narrators of Sahih Muslim, standing alongside Abu Nasr al-Kalabadhi’s (d. 398 AH) Rijal Sahih al-Bukhari .
Subsequent scholars utilized and built upon the work in several ways:
- Ibn Tahir al-Maqdisi (d. 507 AH) merged Ibn Manjuyah’s Rijal Sahih Muslim with al-Kalabadhi’s work in Al-Jam' bayna rijal al-Sahihayn (also titled Asma' rijal al-Sahihayn), rearranging the combined entries in alphabetical order and supplementing them with rectifications (istidrak) .
- Hibat Allah ibn al-Hasan al-Lalaka'i (al-Tabari, d. 418 AH) similarly authored a work combining the transmitters of both Sahih compilations .
- Al-Dhahabi later focused on the subset of narrators whom Muslim cited exclusively, compiling Tasmiyat rijal Sahih Muslim alladhina inforada bihim 'an al-Bukhari .
Manuscripts and Publication
Manuscript copies of the work are preserved in repositories including the Alexandria Municipal Library and the Institute of Arabic Manuscripts in Cairo . The text was printed in Hyderabad in two volumes (1323 AH) , and later published in Beirut in two volumes edited by 'Abdullah al-Laythi (1407 AH / 1987 CE) .
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