Tarajim Muntakhaba min «al-Tahdhib» wa«al-Mizan» - dimn «Athar al-Muallimi»
- Author died
- 1386 AH
- Editions
- Dar Alam al-Fawa'id lil-Nashr wa-al-Tawzi'
Tarajim Muntakhaba min «al-Tahdhib» wa«al-Mizan» (Selected Biographies from al-Tahdhib and al-Mizan) is a specialized compilation of critical hadith-narrator biographies selected and annotated by the Yemeni hadith scholar Abd al-Rahman al-Muallimi (1312/1313–1386 AH / 1894/1895–1966 CE) .
Purpose and Scope
The work is an analytical selection drawn from two classical narrator dictionaries: al-Dhahabi's (d. 748 AH) Mizan al-I'tidal (Balance of Fair Evaluation) and Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani's (d. 852 AH) Tahdhib al-Tahdhib (Refinement of the Refinement) . Rather than serving as an abridgment or standard condensation of these two works, al-Muallimi compiled specific entries to record critical observations regarding narrator criticism (al-jarh wa-l-ta'dil), the analytical methodologies of early hadith critics, the underlying reasons for impugning narrators, and instances of varying verdicts given by a single critic .
In total, the compilation includes 321 biographies chosen out of the thousands present in the original reference works .
Method and Structure
For each selected entry, al-Muallimi typically provides the narrator's name along with his father's name or nisba, occasionally detailing fuller lineage . He mostly omits the conventional transmission symbols employed in al-Tahdhib and al-Mizan . Entries usually open with an overview of critical verdicts of praise and dispraise or mention transmitters who related from the subject, selecting key critical excerpts rather than transcribing the entire original biography .
A significant portion of the entries consists of direct selections where al-Muallimi's intent is conveyed by the choice of quoted material itself . In other entries, he appends personal annotations and evaluations, typically introduced with the phrase "I say" (aqul) or occasionally "Abd al-Rahman said" (qal Abd al-Rahman), ranging from brief remarks to multi-page critical discussions .
Manuscript and Publication
Al-Muallimi left the work as an unpolished draft (musawwada) without assigning it a formal title . Its attribution to him is established through the manuscript's autograph handwriting, the presence of his signature stylistic phrases, and internal references to his other writings, such as his work al-Wuhdan .
The text was edited by Ali ibn Muhammad al-Umran, who supplied its descriptive title, and was reviewed by Muhammad Ajmal al-Islahi and Adil ibn Abd al-Shakur al-Zuraqi . It was published as Volume 14 (comprising 307 pages) of the collected works project Athar al-Muallimi .
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