Talkhis Tarikh Naysabur - al-Khalifa al-Naysaburi
- Author died
- 717 AH
- Editions
- Maktabat Ibn Sīnā
Talkhis Tarikh Naysabur (Abridgment of the History of Nishapur) is a Persian abridgment and translation prepared by al-Khalifa al-Naysaburi (alive c. 717 AH / 1317 CE), summarizing the lost biographical history of Nishapur originally composed by al-Hakim al-Naysaburi (d. 405 AH / 1014 CE) .
Background and Authorship
The original work, Tarikh Naysabur, was authored in Arabic by the hadith master al-Hakim al-Naysaburi to document the history, scholars, and hadith transmitters of Nishapur from the beginning of the Islamic era down to his time . Al-Hakim completed the original text in Ramadan 388 AH, subsequently appending a supplement (al-Lāḥiqah) recording teachers and colleagues who died after that date . While the full multi-volume Arabic original was lost over time, its biographical contents largely survived through the abridgment made by al-Khalifa al-Naysaburi (identified as Muhammad ibn Husayn ibn Ahmad, or Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Hasan ibn Ahmad) .
Structure and Content
The abridgment organizes biographical entries into generational classes (ṭabaqāt) of scholars and transmitters who were natives of Nishapur, visited the city, or settled and transmitted hadith there . These include:
- Companions and Successors (al-Tābiʿīn) who arrived in or inhabited Khurasan .
- The followers of the Successors (atbāʿ al-tābiʿīn) connected to Nishapur .
- Subsequent generations down through the sixth class, as well as the teachers directly heard by al-Hakim .
Entries typically record the scholar's name, lineage, kunya, nisba, quarters or mosques in Nishapur where they resided, and travel or death dates when known .
Manuscripts and Editions
The text is preserved in a manuscript in Bursa, Turkey, in the Hüseyin Çelebi collection (MS 778 / 18 Tarih, consisting of 74 folios) . A photographic facsimile of the manuscript was published by Richard N. Frye . It was edited by Bahman Karimi (Tehran, 1339 Sh / 1961) and later edited critically by Mohammad-Reza Shafiei Kadkani (Tehran, 1996) .
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