Tasmiyat man ruwiya anhu min awlad al-ashara
- Author died
- 234 AH
- Editions
- t al-Jawabira
Tasmiyat man ruwiya anhu min awlad al-ashara (Naming Those From Whom Narrations Were Related Among the Offspring of the Ten) is a biographical treatise on hadith transmitters by the Iraqi traditionist and critic Ali ibn al-Madini (161–234 AH / 778–848 CE) . The work documents the early generations of narrators descended from prominent Companions of the Prophet, alongside transmitting sibling groups, shared names, and related narrator categories .
Structure and Contents
The work is organized into thematic chapters addressing specific categories of narrators:
- Offspring of the Ten and Other Companions: The treatise opens with the transmitters descended from the Prophet's daughter Fatima—beginning with al-Hasan and al-Husayn and continuing through their children and grandchildren . It then systematically enumerates the transmitting progeny and descendants of Abu Bakr, Umar ibn al-Khattab, and the remainder of the ten promised Paradise, before turning to the offspring of other Companions and concluding with those of al-Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib .
- Fathers and Sons Sharing Companionship: A section listing Companions who heard directly from the Prophet alongside their sons and transmitted hadith, beginning with Abu Bakr and ending with Sa'd ibn Khaythama .
- Transmitting Siblings (Tasmiyat al-Ikhwa): The largest division of the book, comprising roughly half its text, which details brothers among the Companions and later generations who transmitted hadith, opening with Ali ibn Abi Talib, Ja'far ibn Abi Talib, and Aqil ibn Abi Talib .
- Transmitters Sharing Given Names: Successive short sections dedicated to Companions, Successors, and later narrators sharing the same given name, such as Hisham, Salim, Qays, Ma'bad, al-Mughira, Muslim, Iyas, al-Ash'ath, Wahb, Yunus, and Ayyub .
- Supplementary Sections: A chapter listing the teachers of Mis'ar whom Shu'ba ibn al-Hajjaj did not meet, queries addressed to Ali ibn al-Madini on narrator identities and patronymics (kuna), critical statements on sibling transmitters from Yahya ibn Ma'in, and several miscellaneous narrated reports transmitted by Hanbal ibn Ishaq .
Transmission and Reception
The book has been preserved through two primary recensions:
- The transmission of Abu Ali Hanbal ibn Ishaq from Ali ibn al-Madini, preserved in a complete manuscript in the Zahiriyya Library (no. 27) . Its chain of transmission passes through Abu Amr Uthman ibn Ahmad al-Daqqaq (known as Ibn al-Sammak, d. 344 AH), al-Mubarak ibn Abd al-Jabbar al-Sayrafi (d. 498 AH), and Yahya ibn Ahmad al-Saqlatuni, who recited it in Baghdad in 563 AH .
- The transmission of Muhammad ibn Hisham ibn Abi al-Dummik (d. 289 AH) from Ali ibn al-Madini, preserved in an incomplete manuscript in the Zahiriyya Library (no. 67), narrated down through al-Tabarani, Abu Nu'aym al-Isbahani, Abu Tahir al-Silafi, and Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn al-Mufaddal al-Maqdisi .
The text was examined by Ahmad ibn Hanbal, who praised Ali ibn al-Madini's mastery, expressing admiration at his ability to identify and differentiate these specific names and his thorough knowledge of their lines of transmission . It was also utilized and cited by later scholars such as al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, who brought a copy to Damascus .
Modern Editions
The work has been published in several critical editions based on the Zahiriyya manuscripts:
- Edited by Ali Muhammad al-Jammaz, published in a single volume by Dar al-Qalam in Kuwait (1402 AH / 1982 CE) .
- Edited by Basim Faysal al-Jawabira, published alongside Abu Dawud al-Sijistani's work on sibling narrators in a combined volume titled al-Ruwat min al-ikhwa wa-l-akhawat by Dar al-Raya in Riyadh (1408 AH / 1988 CE), with biographical entries and supplementary cross-references .
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