Tashifat al-Muhaddithin - Bashanfar
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Tashifat al-Muhaddithin (Misreadings of the Hadith Scholars) is a study of scribal and reading errors (tashif) in hadith transmission, written by the scholar Saeed Bashanfar.
Composition and Purpose
The work was completed by Abu Hamzah Saeed ibn Abd al-Qadir ibn Salim Bashanfar in Jeddah in Rajab 1444 AH. In his introduction, the author observes that earlier literature on the subject mostly confined itself to tashif in transmission chains (asānīd) and lists of narrator names, with few works devoted to comprehensive surveys of textual misreadings (mutūn). The stated purpose of the book is to safeguard Prophetic traditions against misreadings, dispel mistaken legal rulings and strained interpretations caused by textual corruptions, and highlight the methods used by early hadith critics to detect and rectify these errors.
Structure
The book consists of two principal parts:
- Theoretical Study (al-Dirāsah al-Taʾṣīliyyah): Comprising ten sections covering the linguistic and technical definition of tashif; the origin of citing it as a defect (ʿillah); critical terminology; the causes and indicators of misreadings; the difference between tashif and textual alteration (taḥrīf); categories of misreadings; the impact of tashif on texts and chains; and significant historical works on the discipline.
- Applied Study (al-Dirāsah al-Taṭbīqiyyah): A collection of 287 hadiths containing misreadings in either their chains or their texts.
Methodology
For each entry in the applied study, the author cites the narration from authoritative collections of the Sunnah with an abridged chain leading up to the narrator who committed the error. He identifies the misread word, notes the responsible transmitter when ascertainable, and provides the correct version along with parallel transmissions. He establishes the correct reading by citing statements from classical hadith scholars, commentators on the Sunnah collections, and lexicographers, weighing conflicting opinions when present. In instances where scholars derived a legal ruling based on a misread text, he notes those juristic deductions.
The work concludes with specialized indices, including an index of misread words accompanied by summaries of critics' assessments, an index of words misread due to shifted diacritical dots, and an index of words misread because of vocalization markings (tashkīl).
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