SUNNI AND SHI`I RIJAL BOOKS- GENERAL

 In basic terms 'Ilm al-rijāl or  'ilm rijāl al-ḥadīth, `the science of thr men of the traditions' concerns the narrators of the traditions and their biographies. 
 

SUNNI RIJAL BOOKS

Ibn Sa'd =  Abū `Abd-Allāh Muhammad ibn Sa'd (d. Baghdad,  230/845)

  • Kitab al-Ṭabaqāt al-Kabīr

  • al-Tabaqat al-kubra, ed. H. Sachau et al., 9 vols., Leiden 1905-40.

  • Kitāb al-Ţabaqat al-Kabīr, ed. Eugen Mittwoch and Edward Sachau. 9 vols. Leiden, 1905-1940.

  • Tabaqãt al-kubr

ā, ed. Ihsan 'Abbas, 9 vols., Beirut: Dar al-Şadir, 1957-60. + 1985.

  • al-Tabaqãt al-kubrã. Edited by Ihsan 'Abbas. 9 vols.
     

    • Radtke, Bernd.

    • Weltgeschichte und Weltbeschreibung im mittelalterlichen Islam. Beiruter Texte und Studien 51. Heinit and Stuttgart: Steiner, 1992.
       

    Ibn 'Asākir (d. 571/1176),

    • Tabyīn kadhib al-muflarī.  Damascus: Matba'at al-Tawfiq, 1928.
    • al-Ta'rīkh al-Kabīr  ed. A. Badrān Damascus:1911 

     

    al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī = Abū Bakr Aḥmad ibn `Alī ibn Thābit ibn Ahmad al-Mahdī, al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī (d. 463/ 1070)

  • Tarikh Baghdād. Cairo 1349/1930.

  • Tarikh Baghdād aw Madinat al-Salām. 14 vols. Cairo: Maktaba al-Khānjī + Beirut: Dar al-Fikr, n.d. *

    • For an extensive bibliography of Ibn `Asakir see :

    Yūsuf al-' Ish,

    • al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī  Mu'arrikh Baghdad wa-Muhaddithuhâ.  Damascus: al-Maktaba al-'Arabiyya, 1945.

     Malti-Douglas,Fedwa

    • `Controversy and its Effects in the Biographical Tradition of al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī' in Studia Islamica XLVI (1977), 115-131; reprinted in Fedwa Malti-Douglas, Power, Marginality and the Body in Medieval Islam (= Variorum Collected Studies Series) , Pt. II., Aldershot, Hampshire: Ashgate, Publishing Co., 2001.

     

    Ibn al-Jawzi (d. 597/1200),

    • al-Munla?am fl ta'rlkh al-muluk wa'l-umam.  Hyderabad: Matba'at Da'irat al-Ma'arif al-'Uthmiiniyya, 1940, 

     

    al-Bundarī al-Iṣfahānī (c. 623/1226),

    • Kitāb Zubdal al-nuṣra wa nukhbal al-'uṣrā .   MS. Paris, Bihliotheque Nalioll:l!e, Arahe '21'lli, folio :L'r.

     

    Ibn Khallikān,  Shams al-Din Abū'l 'Abbās Aḥmad ibn Muhammad al-Irbilī (d. 681/1282).

  • Wafayāt al-A'yān, ed. Muhammad Muhyi al-Din 'Abd al-Hamīd. 6 vols. Cairo, XXXX/1948.

  • Wafayāt al-a'yān wa-anbā abnā' al-zamān, 8 vols.,  ed. Ihsan 'Abbās, Beirut 1968-72,

  • Wafāyāt al-A'yān wa-Anbā' Abnā' al-Zamān. Ed. Ihsān 'Abbās. Beirut: Dar al-Thaqafa, 1968.*

  • trans. Ibn Khallikan ՝s Biographical Dictionary. Trans. W. M. de Slane. Oriental Translation Fund 59. 4 vols. Paris, 1843-71.

  • Reprinted Beirut, Librairie du Liban, 1970.

  • Wafayāt al-a'yān wa-anbā' abnā' al-zamān, 8 vols., ed. Ihsān 'Abbās, Beirut: Dar al-Thaqāfa, rep.1968..

  • Eng. tr. Baron McGuckin de Slane, Ibn Khallikān' s biographical dictionary, , 4 vols., Paris 1842-71.

    H. Fāhndrich,

    • `Man and Men in Ibn Khallikān, A Literary Approach to the Wafayât al-A'yān,' Doctoral Dissertation, U.C.L.A., 1972
       

    • Shams al-Dĩn Muhammad ibn Aḥmad al-Dhahabī (d. 748/1348)

     

    • Mizan al-Itidāl fī naqd al-rijāl, 4 vols., ed. 'Alî Muhammad al-Bajāwī, Cairo: Maţba'at 'īsā al-Bābī al-Halabī, [1963?].

     

    (1) For some recenL examples, sec

    Little, D. P.

    • `Did Ibn Taymiyya Have a Screw Loose?' Studia Islamica, XLI (1975), 93-111;
    • `Al-Ṣafadi as Biographer of his Contemporaries,' in D. P. Little, ed., Essays on Islamic Civilization (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1976), pp. 190-210.

     

    (2) The most extensive biography is YOsul '11-' Ish, al-Khatib ai-Baghdadi, lvlu'arrikh Baghdad wu-j\1u~wddilll11h(i(Damascus: aI-Maktaba al-'Arabiyya, 1945).

    (3) Sec 'Vmar Ri<:!a Kal,ll,laIa, Mu'jam al-Mu'allifin (Damascus: aI-Maklaba H 1-'Arabiyya, 19f,7), v. 1I, pp. 3-4; Jacob Lassner, The Topography of Baghdad in the Early Middle Ages (DetroiL: Wayne Slale University Press, 1970), noLl' 2S, p.22S. See also Lhl~ editor's noLl' on p. 92 of the Wafayat al-A'yan, cited below.

    5) Yäqüt (d. 626/1229), Kitäb Irshäd al-Arlb ilä Ma'rif al al-Adlbi1)
    6) Ibn al-Athir (d. 630/1233), al-Kämil fï at-Ta'rïkh (2)
    7) Ibn al-Athir (d. 630/1233), al-Lubäb fï Tahdhïb al-Ansäb (3)
    8) Sibt ibn al-Jawzi (d. 654/1256), Mir'ät az-Zamän^)
    9) Ibn Khallikän (d. 681/1282), Wafayät al-A'yän{5)

    10) Abu al-Fidä' (d. 732/1331), al-Mukhtasar fl Akhbär al-Bashar (6)
    11) adh-Dhahabi (d. 748/1348), al-'Ibar fï Khabar man Gha-bar{7)
    12) adh-Dhahabi (d. 748/1348), Kitäb Tadhkirat al-Huffäz{*)
    13) Ibn al-Wardi (d. 749/1349), Ta'rïkh Ibn al-Wardï{9)
    11) as-Safadi (d. 764/1362-3), Kitäb al-Wäfl bil-Wafayäl (10)
    15) al'-Yäfi'i (d. 768/1367), Mir'ät al-Janäni11)
    16) as-Subkï (d. 771/1369), Tabaqät ash-Shäfi'iyya al-Kubrä (12)
    17) al-Asnawi (d. 772/1370), Tabaqät ash-Shäfi'iyya (13)
    18) Ibn Kathir (d. 774/1373), ai-Bidäya wan-Nihäya fï at-Ta'rïkh {")
    19) Ibn Qâdî Shuhba (d. 851/1448), Tabaqät ash-Shäfi'iyya (15)

    (1) ed. D. S. Margoliouth (London: Luzac & Co., 1923), v. I, pp. 246-260.
    (2) (Beirut: Dar Sädir, 1966), v. X, p. 68.
    (3) (Cairo: Maktabat al-Qudsï, 1938), v. I, p. 380.
    (4) MS. Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, Arabe 1506, folios 130v-133v.
    (5) ed. Ihsän 'Abbäs (Beirut: Dar ath-Thaqäfa, n. d.), v. I, pp. 92-93.
    (6) (Cairo: al-Matba'a al-Husayniyya, 1907), v. Il, pp. 187-188.
    (7) ed. Fu'äd Sayyid (Kuwait: Matba'at Hukümat al-Kuwayt, 1961), v. III, |>. 253.
    (8) (Hyderabad: Matba'at Majlis Dä'irat al-Ma'ärif al-'Uthmäniyya, 1957), v. Ill, pp. 1135-1146.
    (9) (Najaf: al-Matba'a al-Haydariyya, 1969), v. I, pp. 520-521.
    (10) ed. ll.isän 'Abbäs (Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1969), v. VII, |ip. 190-19».
    II) (Hyderabad: Matba'at Dä'irat al-Ma'ärif an-Nizämiyya, 1920), v. III, |ip. S7-88.
    (12) ed. 'Abd al-Fattäh Muhammad al-Hulw (Cairo: Matba'at 'Isa al-Bâbï ,1 llalabi, 1966), v. IV, pp. 29-37.
    (13) ed. 'Abd Allah al-Jubüri (Baghdad: Matba'at al-Irshäd, 1970), v. I, pp. 201-20.'!.
    II) (Cairo: Matba'at as-Sa'äda, n.d.), v. XII, pp. 101-103.
    15) MS. Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, Arabe 2102, folios 33r-33v.

     

    SHI`I RIJAL BOOKS

    al-Barqī, Muhammad ibn Khalid,   (d. 274/887).

    • Kitāb al-Rijāl.

    Kashshi, Abu Amr Muhammad ibn `Umar ibn `Abd al-`Aziz (fl-10th cent CE).

    • Kitab Ma`rifat al-rijāl
    • Kitab Ikhtiyar Ma`rifat al-rijāl of al-Tusi ed. al-Mustawi, Mashhad:        1348Sh/1969.

    al-Najashi, Ahmad   (372-450).

    • Kitab al-rijal, ed. Jalal al-Din al-Ghirawi. Markaz Nashr Kitab, 196?

    Abu Ja`far Muhammad ibn Ḥasan al Tūsī (d.460/1067) = Shaykh al-Ţa'ifa ("The teacher of the community"). 

    • Ikhtiyār ma`rifat al-rijāl, al-ma`rūf bi-rijāl al-Kashshī  [ li-Shaykh al-Ṭā’ifah al-Imāmiyah Abī Ja`far Muhammad ibn al-Ḥasan ibn `Alī al-Ṭūsī. Mashhad : Danishgah, 1348/ 1970.  35, 616, 343 pp. [Also known as Rijāl al-Kashshi].

    • Rijāl  al-Ṭūsī.  ed. Muhammad Sadiq 'Ali,  Bahr al-'Ulum. Najaf: Maktab`at al-Haydariyya, 1380/1961. 536pp. *

    • Rijāl  al-Ṭūsī.  ed.Jawad al-Qayyumi al-Isfahani. 2nd ed.  Qumm: Muasassah al-Nashr al-Islami, 1420/1999.  (596pp.) *

    Ibn Shahrāshūb, Muhammad ibn `Alī, Abū Ja`far (d. 588/1192). See EI2 III:935 + EIr. ADD.

    • Mu'ālim al-'ulamā '. ed. `Abbas Iqbal. Tehran 1353/1934-5.
    • Manāqib Āl Abī Ṭālib, 3 vols. Najaf, 1956
    • Mutashābih al-Qur'an. Tehran: ADD
    •  

    Tāqī al-Dīn al-Ḥasan ibn `Alī ibn Dāwūd al-Ḥillī (617-c. 707 AH = 1220- c.1302).

    • Kitab al-Rijāl... ed. `Allamah al-Kabir  Sayyid Muhammad Sadiq al-Bahr al-`Ulum. Najaf: Matba`at al-Haydariyya. 1392/1973 (316pp.). *
    • ADD

    Abu Manṣūr al-Ḥasan ibn Yūsuf ibn `Ali al-Muttahar al-Ḥillī = `Allāma al-Ḥillī (648-726 = 1250-1325).

    al-Ḥillī,  Abu Manṣūr al-Ḥasan ibn Yūsuf

    • Rijāl al-`Allāmah al-Ḥillī.  1st . Najaf:  Matbu`at al-Haydariyya,  1381/1961/ 2nd printing   Qum: Dar al-Dakha'ir, 1411/1990. 40+ [= introduction by Muhammad Ṣādiq, Baḥr al-`ulūm] +296pp.  *

    • Rijal al-'Allamah al-Hilli. al-Najaf : Matb'ah al-Haydariyah, 1381/1961.

    • Sharḥ Minhaj al-Karāma fi Ma`rifat al-Imama.  ed. Sayyid `Ali Husayni al-Milani. vol. 1.  Qum: Mu`assasah-i intisharat-i Hejrat, 1997.  (582pp.). *

    • al-Alfayn fi'l Imamat Amir al-Mu`minin `Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib. 2nd ed. [printing] Najaf: Matba`at al-Haydariyya, 1388/1969 (437pp.). Has a 63 pp. prolegomenon on al-Hilli and his  100 or so writings by Allamah Sayyid Muhammad Mahdi al-Khurasan *

    •  

    • Risālat al-sa`idiyya. ed. `Abd al-Husayn Muhammad `Ali Baqa'i.  Qum: Bahman, 1410/1989-90. (172pp.).  *

       

    Yusuf al-Baḥrānī : Yusuf ibn Ahmad ibn Ibrahim Dirāzī, al-Baḥrānī (1107-1186 = 1695/6-1772).

    EIr. III:529-530.

    • Ḥadā'iq al-nāḍira fi aḥkām al-`itra al-ṭāhira. 3rd. ed. Muhammad Taqi al-Iyrawai,  25 vols.  [Beirut/ Qumm?] Dar al-Adwa' 1413/ 1993. (incomplete legal work)*.
    • Lu`lu`at al-Bahrayn fi'l-ijāzāt tarājim rijāl al-ḥadīth.ed. Sayyid Muhammad Sadiq Bahr al-Ulum, Najaf: ADD., 1386/1966.  *

    Muhammad-Bāqir Khwānsārī,

    Mīrzā Muhammad Bāqir al-Mūsawī Chaharsuqi  al-Khwānsārī (1811-1895).

    Born Khwānsār, 27 Safar  1226/ 23rd March 1811. Died 8th Jamadī I 1313 / 27 October 1895.  Khwānsārī moved in late 1253/ 1838 to Najaf.   He wrote around 20 (largely Arabic and a few Persian) works mostly relating to Shī`ī  doctrine, ethics and legalism ( aqā'id, adab, fiqh uṣūl al-fiqh...). His  8 volume rijāl  work has been frequently printed. Only a few editions can be mentioned here:

    • Rawḍāt al-jannat fī aḥwāl al-`ulamā' wa'l-sādāt.  Tehran: ADD. 1304/1887.
    • Rawdat al-jannāt fi ahwäl al-'ulama wa Ί-sādāt. Tehran: ADD 1306/1888-89
    • Rawḍāt al-jannat fī aḥwāl al-`ulamā' wa'l-sādāt.  8 vols. Tehran: ADD. 1390-2/1970-2.
    • Rawdat al-jannat fi ahwal al-'ulama ' wa al-sadat, ed. Asad Allah Isma'iliyan, 8 vols.Qum, 1391/ 1979?).

    • Rawḍat al-jannāt fi aḥwāl al-`ulamā' wa'l-sādāt.  8 vols.  ed. A. Ismā'iliyyan, Tehran: al-Matba`ah al-Haydariyya, 1390-92/1970-72.

    • Rawḍat al-jannāt fi aḥwāl al-`ulamā' wa'l-sādāt.  X vols.  ed. A. Ismā'iliyyan, Qumm: ADD.,, 1390-92/1970-72,

    • Rawḍāt al-jannat fī aḥwāl al-`ulamā' wa'l-sādāt.  8 vols. Beirut: Dar al-Islamiyya. 1411/1991.  In this recent Beirut edition the section on `...Shaykh  Aḥmad ibn Shaykh Zayn al-Dīn ibn Shaykh Ibrāhīm al-Aḥsā'ī'  is in vol.1 section 22, spanning pp. 97-103.  

    Tunukābunī, Muḥammad ibn Sulaymān (c. 1234-1302 AH =1819-1884 CE).

    • Qiṣas al‑`ulamā. 1st ed.  [Tehran] n.p.n.d.

    • Qiṣas al‑`ulamā.  Tehran: Kitābfurūshī‑ i `Ilmiyyah‑i Islāmiyyih, N.d. 

    • Qiṣaṣ al-`ulamā'   (Stories of the Ulama'). Tehran: Kitāb-furūshī  `Ilmiyya Islamiyya.,.n.d. [1887-8]
    • Qiṣas al‑`ulamā.  Tehran:  Islamiyya,  1364/1944??
    • Qiṣas al‑`ulamā. ed. Muhammad Rida' Barzgar Khaliqi and Uffat Karbasi. Tehran:  Intisharat `Ilmi va Farhang, 1383Sh/2004 (xxxiv+777+1 pp.)

    This important Persian Shi`i  rijāl  book includes a lengthy treatment of Shaykh Aḥmad al-Ahsa'i and his doctrinal position by one sympathetic to his person and teachings. Numerous sometimes bowdlerized editions and Arabic translations of his Qiṣaṣ al-`ulamā'   exist.  

    including,  ADD            Tehran 1319/1901. 

    Ar. trans.  Qiṣaṣ al-`ulamā' . trans by Shaykh   ADD  Beirut: Dar al-Hujjat al-Bayḍā',

    1992/1413. pp. 9-490 + index (491-6).

    Muhammad Taqī Tustarī

    • Qamũs al֊-rijāl, Tahran, 1379/ 1959.

    • Risala fī sahw al-Nabī, Tehran, 1349 sh/ 1970 -- together with Vol. 11 of the author's Qamus al-rijāl.
       

    al-Ha'irî al-Mazandaranî, Muhammad b. Ismā'īl,

    • Muntahä al-maqäl fi ahwäl al-rijäl, 7 vols., Qum, xxxx/ 1995.

    al-Ghaḍā'irî,  

    • Kitab al-Ḍu`afā'

     

    Abbās b. Muhammad-Riḍā Qummī,

    • Hadīyat al-aḥbāb, Najaf, 1349/1930, p. 100.

    Mīrzā Muhammad-`Alī Modarris,

    • Rayḥānat al-adab, Tabrīz, n.d., I, pp. 51-52.

     Muḥammad-`Alī Mu`allim Ḥabībābādī,

    • Makārem al-āthār dar aḥwāl-e rijāl dawra-ye qājār, Isfahan, 1337./1958

     A`yān al-Shī`a XLIV, pp. 94-96.

    Muḥammad Hirz-al-Dīn,

    • Ma`ārif al-rejāl, Najaf, 1384/1964, I, pp. 121-23.

    Tehrānī, Āqā Buzurg, Muhammad Muḥsin (d. 1389/1969),

    • al‑Dharī`a ilā taṣānif al‑shī`a. Tehran and Najaf, 1353-98.
    • al‑Dharī`a ilā taṣānif al‑shī`a. Tehran 1941-1978 + Na jaf, 1353-8/1936-8..

    • al‑Dharī`a ilā taṣānif al‑shī`a.  26 vols. Beirut: Dār al‑Aḍwā’, 1403/1983.

    Shaykh `Abbās al-Qummī (d. 1319/1901).

    • Mafātīḥ al-Jinnān. Dar Ihya al-Turath al-`Arabi, 1422/2001 (807pp.) 

    Bāmdād, Mehdī.

    • Tārīkh-i rijāl-i Īrān dar qarn-i 12, 13, 14 Ḥijrī. 6 vols. Tehran, 1347 Sh. / 1968-9 -1351 Sh/ 1971-2.
    • Sharḥ-i ḥāl-i- Rijāl-i Īrān dar qarn-i 12, 13, 14 Ḥijrī., 6 vols. (5th printing) [Tehran:] Intishārāt-i  Zavvār,   1378/ 1999. *

     

    Modarressi, Hossein.

    • 2003 Tradition and Survival, A Bibliographical Survey of Early Shī`ite Literature. Vol.1 Oxford: Oneworld, 2003.