Tarikh Ulama Ahl Misr

Tarikh Ulama Ahl Misr (The History of the Scholars of the People of Egypt) is a biographical dictionary authored by the Egyptian hadith scholar and historian Abu al-Qasim Yahya ibn Ali al-Hadrami, known as Ibn al-Tahhan (d. 416 AH / 1025 CE) Tarikh Ulama Ahl Misr+1.

Purpose and Scope

The work was composed as a biographical continuation (dhayl) to the two historical dictionaries compiled by Abd al-Rahman ibn Ahmad ibn Yunus (d. 347 AH): his major history dedicated to native Egyptians (Tarikh Misr al-Kabir) and his minor history devoted to foreign scholars who entered Egypt (Tarikh al-Ghuraba'). While titled as a Tarikh in manuscript copies, it became widely known among later scholars as a dhayl and was also referred to by Abu Sa'd al-Sam'ani as Ziyadat Tarikh al-Misriyyin (Additions to the History of the Egyptians) Tarikh Ulama Ahl Misr.

The book focuses primarily on Egyptian scholars and visitors active between the death of Ibn Yunus in 347 AH and Ibn al-Tahhan's own time in the early 5th century AH, with the latest explicit death date preserved in the extant text being that of Abd al-Ghani ibn al-Fa'fa' in 411 AH Tarikh Ulama Ahl Misr. In addition to continuing Ibn Yunus's coverage, Ibn al-Tahhan supplemented (istadraka) earlier figures overlooked by his predecessor, including scholars who died in 313 AH and 338 AH, as well as an entry for a Companion of the Prophet ﷺ Tarikh Ulama Ahl Misr+1.

Structure and Contents

The surviving portion of the work contains 521 biographical notices organized alphabetically according to the first letter of each subject's given name Buhuth fi Tarikh al-Sunna…+1. The internal sequencing within chapters is not strictly alphabetical Tarikh Ulama Ahl Misr. The biographical notices are generally concise, frequently spanning only a line or two, and typically document the scholar's name, primary teachers, and students al-Alam lil-Zirikli+1. Ibn al-Tahhan occasionally cites hadith narrations through their transmission lines, notes his personal audition (sama') from contemporary teachers, and incorporates critical evaluations (al-jarh wa-l-ta'dil) of transmitters Tarikh Ulama Ahl Misr+1.

Manuscript Transmission and Reception

The work survives in an incomplete unique manuscript preserved at the Zahiriyya Library in Damascus (Majmu' 116, fols. 220–249) Tarikh Ulama Ahl Misr. Originally divided into two parts, the first part concludes with entry 279, while the second part begins on folio 231a with the letter Sin and breaks off incomplete on folio 249a at the beginning of the letter Mim under the name Muhammad Tarikh Ulama Ahl Misr. The manuscript was once in the possession of the hadith scholar Isma'il ibn Abd Allah ibn al-Anmati (570–619 AH) and was later endowed by Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Mas'ud ibn Nafis (d. 704 AH) Tarikh Ulama Ahl Misr. Ownership and reading records inscribed on the title page show that it was studied and excerpted by several scholars, including Shams al-Din al-Dhahabi, Muhammad ibn al-Muhibb, Muhammad ibn Sanad, Ahmad ibn Ahmad ibn Abd al-Hadi, and Yusuf ibn Abd al-Hadi Tarikh Ulama Ahl Misr.

The book served as an important biographical source and was cited by later historians and biographers, including al-Sam'ani in al-Ansab, Kamal al-Din Ibn al-Adim in Bughyat al-Talab fi Tarikh Halab, al-Udfuwi in al-Tali' al-Sa'id, al-Dhahabi in al-Ibar and Tadhkirat al-Huffaz, and Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani in Lisan al-Mizan Bughyat al-Talab fi Tarik…+1.

The surviving text was edited by Abu Abd Allah Mahmud ibn Muhammad al-Haddad and published by Dar al-Asimah in Riyadh in 1408 AH (1988 CE) Tarikh Ulama Ahl Misr+1.