Tadhkirat al-Huffaz li-Ibn al-Qaysarani = Atraf Ahadith Kitab al-Majruhin li-Ibn Hibban
- Author died
- 507 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Ṣumay‘ī lil-Nashr wa-al-Tawzī‘
Tadhkirat al-Huffaz (also known as Atraf Ahadith Kitab al-Majruhin li-Ibn Hibban) is a specialized hadith reference work compiled by the Palestinian scholar Ibn al-Qaysarani (448–507 AH / 1056–1113 CE), indexing the flawed and fabricated narrations recorded in Ibn Hibban’s biographical dictionary of weak transmitters, Kitab al-Majruhin .
Purpose and Scope
Ibn al-Qaysarani prepared the work as an early index (fihris) and reference manual for hadith critics and scholars . In his opening statement, he explains that the collection gathers narrations transmitted by liars, discredited figures, weak narrators, and abandoned transmitters (al-kadhaba wa-l-majruhun wa-l-du'afa' wa-l-matrukun) that circulated widely in people's arguments and debates . He compiled their opening phrases (atraf) so that researchers seeking to evaluate any such narration could quickly locate it and identify its defects .
The surviving transmission of the text opens through the narration of the traditionist Abu Musa al-Madini al-Isfahani from Ibn al-Qaysarani .
Structure and Method
The book is arranged strictly in alphabetical order according to the initial letters of each hadith text (huruf al-mu'jam) rather than by narrator names . Under each alphabetical entry, Ibn al-Qaysarani:
- Cites the opening phrasing (taraf) of the narration .
- Identifies the specific narrator in the chain responsible for the defect or fabrication .
- Summarizes the critical verdict (jarh) given by Ibn Hibban and often includes judgments from earlier authorities such as Yahya ibn Ma'in, al-Bukhari, and al-Nasa'i .
- Occasionally adds his own independent critical notes, differentiating homonymous transmitters or commenting on the chain .
Ibn al-Qaysarani authored a companion work on a much larger scale, Dhakirat al-Huffaz, which applied the same alphabetical atraf indexing method to Ibn 'Adi’s al-Kamil fi Du'afa' al-Rijal .
Distinctions and Publication
Due to sharing the exact title Tadhkirat al-Huffaz, Ibn al-Qaysarani's single-volume indexing work is sometimes erroneously confused with al-Dhahabi's biographical dictionary of hadith memorizers (Tadhkirat al-Huffaz) .
The work has been edited by Hamdi Abd al-Majid al-Salafi and published in a single volume by Dar al-Sumay'i in Riyadh (first edition, 1415 AH / 1994 CE) .
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