A History of

Ibn Sads Biographical Dictionary Kitb al-abaqt al-Kabr*

By
Ahmad Nazir Atassi
Part I Introduction
1. Kitb al-abaqt al-Kabr
The Great Book of Strata or Kitb al-abaqt al-Kabr (KTK) was compiled by the
Baghdadi adth transmitter and historian Muammad ibn Sad (d. 230 AH).1 The book belongs
to the Islamic genre of biographical dictionaries of adth transmitters (tarjim). Within that
tradition, it belongs to a specific sub-genre made up of lists of biographies of adth transmitters
(muaddithn) organized by generation; such books are usually called Books of Strata or Kutub
al-abaqt. The KTK stands out among its contemporaries in this genre, and even among
historically-minded compositions of the late second and early third Islamic centuries; because the
latter are basically lists of names, short lineages, dates of birth and/or death, and possibly some
relevant reports of doubtful historical accuracy;2 whereas the KTK has full biographies organized
according to a number of criteria.3 Being the earliest surviving biographical dictionary, and later
a staple of the Sunn tradition, it is surprising that Ibn Sads KTK has not received the attention
it deserves, or at least as much attention as al-abars Trkh, for example.4 This paper will
remedy some of this injustice by tracing the history of survival and transmission of the KTK.5

* This paper is based on my dissertation: A. N. Atassi, A History of Ibn Sads Biographical Dictionary Kitb alabaqt al-Kabr (Santa Barbara: University of California at Santa Barbara, December 2009).
1
For the most up to date biography of Muammad ibn Sad, see Atassi, A History of, pp. 3495.
2
Surviving examples of such compositions in the abaqt (of muaddithn) genre are: Khalfa ibn Khayya alUfurs (d. 240 AH) abaqt, and Ibn Sads Kitb al-abaqt al-aghr (still in manuscript).
3
For a good description of the KTK see J. W. Fcks article Ibn Sad in Bearman, P. Th. Bianquis , C.E.
Bosworth, E. van Donzel and W.P. Heinrichs eds. Encyclopedia of Islam, second edition, (Leiden:Brill, 2007), vol.
III, pp. 922-923. The first modern edition of the book was issued in eight volumes (plus a volume of indices) in
Leiden by Brill; Muammad ibn Sad, Biographien Muhammeds, seiner Gefhrten und der spteren Trger des
Islams, bis zum Jahre 230 der Flucht, Ed. Sachau ed. (Leiden: Brill, 1904). The first two volumes constitute a
biography of the Prophet Muammad. The third and fourth volumes deal with three strata of Muammads
companions. The fifth volume basically contains biographies of adth transmitters from Medina, the sixth from
Kufa, the seventh from Basra and Baghdad. The eighth is dedicated to women companions and transmitters of
adth.
4
Basically, the existing literature about the KTK amounts to four works written during a period of about one
hundred thirty years: Otto Loth, Das Classebuch des Ibn Sad: einleitende Untersuchungen ber Authentie und
Inhalt nach den Handschriftlichen berresten, (Leipzig: Druck von G. Kreysing, 1869); Eduard Sachaus
introduction to the third volume of the Leiden edition of the KTK, Muammad Ibn Sad, Biographien Muammeds,
(Leiden:Brill, 1904), vol. III, part I, pp. V-XLIII; Izz al-Dn Umar Ms, Ibn Sad wa abaqtuhu, (Beirut: Dr alGharb al-Islm, 1987); and Michael Cooperson, Ibn Sad. In Arabic Literary Culture, pp. 500-925, Michael
Cooperson and Shawkat Toorawa eds. Volume 311 of the Dictionary of Literary Biography; the Arabic Literature
Series is edited by Roger Allen, (Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2005). To these four works one must add Al Muammad
Umars insightful introduction to the Khnj edition of the KTK, Muammad Ibn Sad, Kitb al-abaqt al-Kabr,
Al Muhammad Umar ed. (Cairo: Maktabat Khnj, 2001). For a detailed description of these and other works, see
Atassi, A History of , pp. 1829.
5
Otto Loths short study briefly discussed different transmission routes of the KTK while studying the authenticity
of the books different available manuscripts. In addition to reconstructing the outlines of Ibn Sads life, Loth

In the process, we will also explore what it means to study the history of a medieval Islamic
book and how the notions of transmission and survival fit into that history.
2. History of the Medieval Islamic Book
The history of medieval Islamic books is under-researched despite its importance to our
understanding of the formation of Islams "canonical" books. Most attention has been given to
elucidating the obscure beginnings of that tradition and its recording,6 to discerning the
numerous aspects of the book industry,7 and to characterizing what Shawkat Toorawa called the
writerly culture of the Baghdadi intellectual elite (i.e. bookishness, literary salons, booksellers
and their microcosms, book adoration, libraries etc.).8 Of course, medieval Islamic manuscripts
as physical objects are extensively studied.9 However, books as living objects or as historical
agents of change are much less studied, and so are the vicissitudes of their lives and the
dynamics of their agency.10 It must be made clear here that book history is different from
intellectual history; the latter starts once the ideas within a book begin to be discussed.11
Writing appeared as a mnemonic device; hence books represent an extension to human
memory.12 The book, as memory that can be moved, duplicated and traded (almost like a living
being), acquired with time an existence and an agency of its own, distinct from the particular
ideas it contained and different from its initial function as a memory aid. It thus acquired a life
and a history worthy of being studied. The invention of the printing press constituted a turning
point in the history of that object called the book; for its form has changed, its reliability, and its

discussed the accuracy of the books attribution to Ibn Sad, the issue of Ibn ayyuwayhs role in editing and
popularizing it, and the issue of Ibn Fahms mysterious version of the book.
6
Gregor Schoeler, The Oral and the Written in Early Islam, ed. Uwe Vagelpohl, trans. James E. Montgomery,
Routledge Studies in Middle Eastern Literatures (London ; New York: Routledge, 2006); Gregor Schoeler and
Shawkat M. Toorawa, The Genesis of Literature in Islam: From the Aural to the Read, Rev. ed. (Edinburgh:
Edinburgh University Press, 2009); Gregor Schoeler, The Oral and the Written in Early Islam, ed. Uwe Vagelpohl,
trans. James E. Montgomery, Routledge Studies in Middle Eastern Literatures (London ; New York: Routledge,
2006). Schoeler focuses on the issue of whether or not the early transmitters of the Islamic tradition relied on
writing, and whether they produced full books or just simply lecture notes.
7
Johannes Pedersen and Robert Hillenbrand, The Arabic Book (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1984).
Pedersens work discusses book transmission, book sellers, calligraphers, book painting, and book binding.
8
George N. Atiyeh, ed. The Book in the Islamic World: The Written Word and Communication in the Middle East,
(Albany: State University of New York Press, 1995); Shawkat M. Toorawa, Ibn Ab hir ayfr and Arabic
Writerly Culture: A Ninth-Century Bookman in Baghdad (London; New York: RoutledgeCurzon, 2005)
9
Fanois Droche et al., Islamic Codicology: An Introduction to the Study of Manuscripts in Arabic Script (London:
Al-Furqn Islamic Heritage Foundation, 2006); Adam Gacek, Arabic Manuscripts: A Vademecum for Readers
(Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2009).
10
Aspects of the social and cultural agency of the medieval Islamic book are investigated by studying the ways
medieval religious scholars transformed their book-based knowledge into authority and social status; see M.
Chamberlain, Knowledge and Social Practice in Medieval Damascus (Cambridge; New York: Cambridge
University Press, 1994); and J. Berkey, The Transmission of Knowledge in Medieval Cairo (Princeton,
N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1992).
11
A borderline topic is the study of the authors craft and the construction of authority; an example of such a study
is Hilary Kilpatrick, Making the Great Book of Songs: Compilation and the Author's Craft in Ab 'L-Faraj AlIbahn's Kitb Al-Aghn (London; New York: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003)
12
Walter J. Ong, Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word (London: Methuen, 1982), pp. 8284.
Writing has indeed liberated the human mind from the burden of memorizing; see ibid, pp. 3336, 5666.

life cycle; and hence its agency. Even without being fixed in a printed form, the medieval book,
in the Islamic Middle East, achieved a good degree of accuracy, reliability, and independence
from its function as memory aid and was ready to make the leap toward the faster world of the
printing press thus strengthening its already acquired agency. Leaving the more complex subject
of agency to a later work this paper will explore the medieval Islamic books transformation
from a mere teachers notes to a commoditized textbook. We are not inventing here a new field
of study from scratch, for the history of the printed book is a well established subject of research.
However, we are going to borrow some of the latters concepts and adapt them, using an
appropriate methodology, for studying the history of a particular medieval Islamic book; i.e. the
KTK.
The History of the Book, more specifically the Printed Book, as a sub-discipline of
modern European history, is a new interdisciplinary field which emerged in the 1960s from the
French Annales School when the latters ideas and techniques were applied to historical
bibliography.13 Robert Darnton, one of the foremost book historians in English, summarizes the
fields mission as the study of the social and cultural history of communication by print.14 The
invention of the printing press allowed for the rise of a true industry of the book populated by
authors, publishers, printers, booksellers, and readers, whom Darnton call the Communication
Circuit (i.e. the trajectory of agency), with an impact going beyond highly educated elites to
encompass entire societies. Earlier across the Mediterranean, the intellectual explosion of ninthcentury Baghdad, combined with the earlier arrival of paper from China, produced a large
amount of written material which circulated first as lecture notes and then as commoditized
books.15 Can we then talk about a medieval Islamic book industry? Was there a medieval
Islamic circuit similar to Darntons Communication Circuit? If so, how did it differ from the
latter?
In fact, Darntons Communication Circuit can be paralleled in medieval Islamic times by a
similar, but modified, circuit, in which the first and last ends are obviously the same; however,
publishers, printers, and booksellers must be replaced by the medieval group consisting of
copyists, booksellers, teachers, and students. This modified circuit differs from the modern one
in the fact that its elements are less sharply differentiated; that is, any of its elements can assume
the roles of some or all of its other elements due to the special nature of knowledge transmission
(i.e. oral dictation) of medieval Islamic knowledge. Moreover, a printed books life is measured
in printings and editions, the issuing of which depends on ephemeral cultural trends and on
market dynamics. It can also be revived at any time and re-injected into the market with adequate
marketing techniques. The mechanics of survival are not an issue here, because a machine can
put out exact copies in sufficient numbers as soon as the decision is made, and giant public

13

Lucien Paul Victor Febvre and Henri-Jean Martin, The Coming of the Book: The Impact of Printing 1450-1800
(London: Verso, 1984). This is the English translation of the original which appeared in French as Lucien Paul
Victor Febvre and Henri-Jean Martin, L'apparition Du Livre (Paris: A. Michel, 1971). One can find a good overview
of the field of Book History in David Finkelstein and Alistair McCleery, An Introduction to Book History (New
York: Routledge, 2005). For a sample of the writings of the main scholars in this field, one can look at David
Finkelstein and Alistair McCleery, The Book History Reader, 2nd ed. (London ; New York: Routledge, 2006).
14
Robert Darnton, "What Is the History of Books?" Daedalus 111, no. 3 (1982), p. 66.
15
Johannes and Hillenbrand, The Arabic Book, pp. 5471.

libraries can extend its availability ad infinitum. However, a medieval books survival is at the
center of its lifes story; the prospect of its disappearance from circulation, and possibly from
human memory, haunts every moment of its life. In fact, the elements of its communication
circuit are the same as the agents of its survival, because transmitting a book by a teacher and its
reception/copying by a student is a conscious choice made for ideological and other reasons
during each generation. Furthermore, few in number are the transmitters, and even fewer are the
available, accessible, and/or reliable copies. Therefore, Darntons Circuit for a medieval book
must become a Communication and Survival Circuit. We should also add the notion of book
evolution or crystallization, since the medieval notion of authorship is more fluid in that it
encompasses the actual author and a number of later contributors and editors, who remain for the
most part anonymous. Finally, the archives of publishers, printers, and book sellers, as well as
biographies and private correspondences of authors, which constitute the data sources upon
which the history of printed books is based, can be partially reconstructed for the medieval book
from transmission chains, ownership deeds written on the cover pages of manuscripts, and from
borrowings and citations in other books. In this manner, we can piece together the story of a
books conception, evolution, diffusion, and transmission; which I call the mechanics of a
medieval books survival.
However, studying the mechanics of a medieval books survival falls short of Darntons goal
of studying the social and cultural history of communication by print; i.e. of studying the
social, economic, and intellectual agency of this object we call the book. Did the medieval
Islamic book have such an agency? Is it at all possible to study it? The large-scale production
enabled by the printing press made the modern books agency felt in the farthest corners of
society. Although the medieval book, in its manuscript format and its aural mode of
transmission, operated in a much smaller and more elitist domain, it nonetheless did have social,
economic, and intellectual agency. The canonical status of some of these books today is a clear
testimony of such an agency. However, the lack of archives and sales data concerning all
components of the medieval survival and communication circuit makes measuring this agency
more dependent upon indirect indicators, smaller samples, and anecdotal evidence; and hence
more based on historical speculation. For this reason, it was much easier to convert borrowings
and chains of transmission into a history of existence and survival than into a history of social
intentions and/or economic transactions. Therefore, pending the advent of new ways to collect
the data necessary for a full study of the medieval Islamic books agency, the scope of this paper
is limited to studying the aforementioned dynamics of survival.
Part II of this paper develops the concepts needed for a systematic study of the mechanics of
survival. It also formulates specific and distinct goals, determines the types of information
needed to reach these goals, specifies the sources that can be mined for raw data, and elaborates
methods for extracting the needed information from these data. In Part III the information is
analyzed and statements are formulated concerning the goals we fixed for the study. These
statements relate to the transmitters of the KTK, their historical context, the books authorship,
its process of crystallization, its geographical and temporal diffusion, and the characteristics of
its usage in later compilations.
4

Part II Concepts and Methodology

1. Concepts
Muslim authors often released their work by publically dictating it. Students would write
after the teacher and then compare notes, borrow the teachers original, attend different sessions
where the same passage would be dictated, or attend sessions were the same passage would be
re-read to the teacher from a students copy in order for the teacher to make any corrections and
then to approve the copy as matching his original. Successive transmitters of the same book
followed similar processes.16 The vagaries of this transmission process led to differences
between existing copies of any single work at any one time. It was even possible for the original
author to rework certain passages of his work, add other material, or change the wording and the
organization of parts of it, because he wanted to or because he had sometimes to dictate it from
memory. Moreover, many later generations of transmitters could add material to the book being
transmitted. In fact, modifications introduced by successive teachers, copyists, editors, and recompilers must be considered as authorial inputs. Therefore, at any time a number of copies of a
book would be circulating. The group of copies that are identical, except for minor differences, I
call a recension.17 After several generations only a very limited number of recensions would
dominate the market because they happened to find a sequence of dedicated teachers/transmitters
to propagate them.
The extant manuscripts of the KTK carry no names of copyists or booksellers, those agents
of circulation (or of the Circuit) who did not have to study the content of the book through either
dictating it as a teacher or writing a teachers dictation as students. However, it is not totally
farfetched to imagine the existence of professionally made copies of the book or parts of it
produced to be displayed and sold at a booksellers store. In fact, the proliferation of ijazas (i.e.
license, permit) as a means of confirming the accuracy of the books transmission chain (and
hence its content) cannot be explained without the existence of copies acquired outside the
dictation circles. Although their names are not available in the case of the KTK, we must not
write off copyists and booksellers from the survival circuit of the medieval book in general.
Owners of a book can be individuals or institutions (libraries for example); they can be
teachers, students, or mere possessors of objects that can confer social prestige on them and
make them the destination of local scholars and students. Apart from teachers and students, it
was not possible to obtain the names of other owners (by purchase, gift, endowment, acquisition
for resale, or inheritance) of the KTK; simply because the extant manuscripts did not supply us
with them. The lists of teachers, students, and users of the KTK that will be constructed hereafter
give us a partial measure of the diffusion of the book as a commodity through space and time.
In any compilation, a report containing the name of our author (i.e. Muammad ibn Sad) in
its transmission chain (i.e. isnd) is called a Sad report. In general, such reports will match, in

16

For a good description of this transmission process see Pedersen, The Arabic Book, pp. 2436.
For a lengthy expos of the possible mechanisms involved in producing different recensions of a certain work see
Atassi, A History of , pp. 137146.

17

one way or another, some reports contained in the KTK.18 It is, however, difficult to know
whether the transmitters (after Ibn Sad) of such reports were involved in transmitting the entire
KTK, parts of it, or just simply the reports at hand.19 Therefore, it is prudent to distinguish the
propagation of Sad reports from the propagation of Ibn Sads works,20 notably the KTK.21
Following the same reasoning, we distinguish between transmitters of the KTK (or teachers) and
transmitters of discrete Sad reports (or mere transmitters). We see here that a book can survive
as a unit, when transmitted in its entirety; or as packets of reports, when included in other
compilations.
Teachers and their students were among the most important readers of medieval books. Their
perspective in reading it influenced their decision to give it another lease on life by studying it
and/or transmitting it. There were also readers who were not involved in transmitting the book
but who felt compelled for some reason to read all or parts of it (e.g. curiosity, or as a source of
some specific information). Those readers are hard to account for in medieval times despite their
importance in creating and propagating the need to preserve a certain book. Nonetheless, there
was a subset of those readers that is visible to us; they are the compilers of other books that
included reports or passages from the book under study (the KTK in our case). It is impossible to
know whether or not they owned the KTK or parts of it, studied it or parts of it, just consulted a
complete or a partial copy of it, or just heard the one or two Sad reports that they included in
their compilations. I call these compilers users of the KTK, if I can connect them to one of its
recensions, or users of Sad reports, in all other cases. I have observed that, user of the KTK
constitutes a dead-end branch in one of its transmission trees (in other words, users are never
teachers). Nonetheless, users contributed tremendously to the popularity of the KTK and helped
to create the need to keep it alive; so they are, therefore, a part of its survival story.
We can measure the intensity of the KTKs survival (i.e. its popularity) as a unit by counting
the number of its transmitters. This number within each generation is the temporal aspect of the

18

In a number of cases, however, we cannot be sure about the provenance of such Sad reports. For reports that do
not belong to any known work of Ibn Sad see Atassi, pp. 109113.
19
Medieval Muslim compilers mostly received a good education in adth and Adab (i.e. literature which also
included history and anecdotes); it is hence quite natural for them to transmit single reports rather than entire
compilations. We can imagine a case where Ibn Sad had decided one day, for a change, to dictate a number of
reports pertaining to one topic, with some taken out of the KTK and others from different material that the he
collected on his travels but did not include in any of his compilations. We can also imagine a traveler passing
through Baghdad who decided to attend a session of Ibn Sad for the sake of claiming that he heard the shaykh
lecturing. This person will end up with a small number of reports that are taken out of their KTK context and that
will be transmitted simply as single reports.
20
A full discussion of the propagation of Sad reports that cannot be connected to the propagation of the KTK is not
included in this paper because it can encumber our subject of book history. The interested reader can find this
discussion in Atassi, chapter 6.
21
Ibn Sads other known work is the Minor Book of Strata or Kitb al-abaqt al-aghr. Only one single
manuscript exists of this work and is located at the Sleymaniye Library (zel 216) in Istanbul. It is the same as the
manuscript that used to be housed at the Istanbul Archaeological Museum, no. 435. Ibn al-Nadm in his Fihrist
ascribed to Ibn Sad a work which he called Trkh; see Ibn al-Nadm, al-Fihrist, Chapter () ,
Tarjama () . I believe, as do most scholars, that he is refereeing to the first part of the printed
KTK, which constitutes a biography of the Prophet Muammad.

books survival; we call it the temporal diffusion of the book. There is also a geographical aspect
of this survival which can be measured by tracking its travel within Muslim lands; we call this its
geographical diffusion. A third kind of diffusion that will be studied hereafter is the literary
diffusion; i.e. the number of borrowings from the KTK in later compilations as a function of
these compilations genres. Given that Ibn Sad had basically two works attributed to him, with
the KTK being a vast enlargement of the other one, Kitb al-abaqt aghr, I will take the
literary diffusion of Sad reports as a good approximation of the KTKs literary diffusion.
Through the study of this diffusion, we can gain an insight into how later compilers viewed the
KTK and how they read it; which is a measure of the attitude that successive generations had of
the KTK and probably also an indication of why they took the conscious decision to keep it alive
and propagate it.
Starting from the sixth/thirteenth century the KTK became a staple reference in matters
related to the early Islamic generations, especially those of Muammads companions. However,
it is difficult to determine whether or not it became a textbook for students of the Islamic
tradition within the most renowned centers of propagation of that tradition such as Baghdad,
Damascus, or Cairo. Becoming a textbook for students is not only a measure of a books fame
(and hence ultimate survival), but also a measure of its importance as a historical agent, as well
as a measure of the state of the art of the book industry at a certain time. Furthermore, the notion
of a textbook is intimately related to educational curricula, the rise of universities, and the rise of
orthodoxy. Textbooks are also mass-produced, but with accuracy; they are the products of an
industry dissociated from the process of dictation-copying; and they signal the transformation of
the object that is a book into a commodity, and hence an economic agent. I might even say that
the existence of textbooks is a pre-requisite for the rise of a successful printing press industry.
Unfortunately, we still do not have enough information to judge whether or not the KTK was a
textbook in the sense just elaborated; although we know that it was taught in some teaching
institutions. However, we can infer from the available information that the reproduction of the
KTK reached a level of trusted accuracy that one could acquire a copy of the book and then
obtain an ijza22 to authenticate that copy. As for the KTK making up part of the curriculum at a
teaching institution, and the impact of such a fact on Islamic orthodoxy and the rise of Islamic
university, it must be postponed to a future study.
2. Sources, data, and methodology
The aim here is to study the survival dynamics of the KTK (how, who, when, where, in what
form) through an investigation of its communication circuit in each generation. The elements of
the communication circuit (at least the ones that can be accessed from the available data) are the
KTK author(s), its transmitters/teachers, its copyists/students, and its readers/users. Our first task
then is to establish a pool of candidates for these roles, and assign one or more roles in the circuit
to each person in that pool. To build this pool we need (1) to locate the KTKs extant
manuscripts and extract their different chains of transmission (2) and to locate the later
compilations that contain Sad reports and extract the transmission chains of such reports.

22

An authorization to teach or transmit a particular work, and a certificate of its authenticity, obtained from a person
who is already recognized to have a similar authorization from an earlier authority.

There is no single complete manuscript of the KTK, only fragments of it, with some
overlaps.23 Therefore, for these manuscripts, it is important to figure out whether they represent a
single recension of the work, a number of overlapping recensions, or widely different ones that
cannot be, or should not be, reconciled. Fortunately, this work was done for us by the successive
editors of the printed editions of the KTK.24 Next, several transmission trees of the KTKs
recensions represented by the extant manuscripts are drawn.25 Studying the transmission chains
of Sad reports within later compilations helps add more branches to these trees.26 Using
biographical information of the persons involved in the aforementioned transmission trees
(manuscripts and other recensions), we can study the temporal and geographical diffusion of the
KTK.27
Moreover, analyzing these reports by comparing them to corresponding ones in the printed
edition of the KTK helps to establish the existence of other recensions, to characterize these
recensions compared to the one available to us, and to give an approximate date to their
disappearance from circulation; thus describing the process of crystallization of the book.28
Counting the frequency of Sad reports in different compilations helps draw a picture of the
KTKs literary diffusion according to genre.29 This diffusion is an indication of how different
generations perceived and classified the KTK (whether a work of history, biography, or adth).
This classification, combined with the transmitters historical context, should orient later
investigations concerning the reasons behind the KTKs survival; and hence how and why its

23

For a list of these manuscripts see Atassi, A History of , pp. 211224.

Several editions appeared in the Arab world that were based on the Leiden edition; namely the editions of Dr
Beirut, 1957; Dr Sdir 1960; Dr Bayrt lil-ibah wa-al-Nashr, 1978; Dr al-Tarr, 1968. In 1983, Ziyd M.
Manr published the part missing from the Medinan abaqt. In 1998, Dr al-Kutub al-Ilmiyya, with M. Abd alQdir At as editor, published the more complete, but a worst, version of the KTK. In 1994, Muammad mel alSalam published the fifth stratum of the companions. The fourth stratum of companions appeared in 1995 in a
volume edited by Abd al-Azz al-Salm. Finally, in 2001 Maktabat al-Khnj in Cairo published the most
complete version of the KTK to date, edited by Muammad Umar. For a detailed investigation of the overlapping
of the extant manuscripts, see the introductions to the different volumes of the Leiden edition. In fact, we show here
that the manuscripts and the Sad reports in compilations written after the fifth century come from the fusion of two
recensions.
25
Due to space restrictions, these trees are not included in this paper, only a list of the major transmitters organized
in generations is given. Readers interested in diagrams of these trees are referred to Atassi, A History of ,
Appendices I and II.
26
How can we distinguish between a book-transmission chain and a report-transmission chain? I noticed that a good
number of reports in later compilations share a portion of their transmission chains with those of the extant
manuscripts; i.e. the portion covering the period from Ibn Sads time to the fifth century. Therefore, when
encountering a large number of such reports, I assumed that they were drawn from copies of the same recensions as
those of the manuscripts. In some cases, it was possible to confirm this assumption from biographical dictionaries or
bibliographic dictionaries; for further details, see Atassi, A History of pp. 206208.
27
This required a considerable amount of search in biographical dictionaries in order to locate a name, disambiguate
it (because several persons might share the same name, or because of discrepancies between the name as given in
the KTK and that given in biographical dictionaries), ascertain a birth and a death date for the transmitter, follow
him in his travels, and determine where he learned about the KTK and where he taught or used it.
28
Such analysis is detailed in Atassi, A History of , Chapter 4.
29
The counting was done electronically with the help of digitized versions of the books consulted and the help of a
marvelous search freeware called al-Maktaba al-Shamila; see Atassi, A History of , pp. 208211.
24

authority as a book of tradition was gradually established. Finally, comparing borrowings with
extant manuscripts should give us an idea about the accuracy of book transmission within the
medieval Islamic culture, which is, as we have mentioned, related to the rise of what we called
the textbook.
3. The sample of compilations
Having combed a hundred or so medieval compilations looking for Sad material, I noticed
the existence of two major time periods according to the number of compilations that contained
Sad reports and the number of such reports within each compilation. Beyond the sixth/twelfth
century, the number of compilations containing Sad reports increased dramatically and so did
the number of such reports in each compilation. Therefore, for this period I selected a
representative sample; in particular compilations that supplied the transmission chains of their
Sad reports. Before this date, I included in my study all the compilations containing Sad
material that I could find, except when several of them belonged to the same compiler and
featured similar numbers of Sad reports; in the latter case I selected a representative
compilation of the compilers work. I grouped the compilations in my sample into six genres:
Tarjim (biographies) books30, Sra and Maghz books31, History (or historiography) books32,
adth books33, Fahris (bibliographies) books34, and Sh books. Table 1 features a list of the
compilations in my sample organized chronologically according to their compilers death dates.
According to Table 1, Tarjim books are obviously dispropportionately more represented in
my sample than any other genre, followed by adth compilations, and then historiographies.
Sh books of tradition, Sra and bibliographical lists are almost equally thinly represented in the
sample. This imbalance in the representation of genres may seem a great obstacle facing any
serious conclusion as to the frequency of Sad reports as a function of genre. However, the
representation of the different genres in my sample reflects their real representation in the entire
Islamic tradition. Books of Tarjim, adth and Historiography are the most common. Sra books
are few and well-known given the obvious limitation on their multiplication (i.e. the limited

30

By tarjim books I understand books that contain a succession of indivisible parts (tarjama, or biography) each
containing information relating to one person. In this category I include books from the abaqt genre such as
abaqt Khalfa, Ansb books such as Baldhurs Ansb al-Ashrf, and biographical compilations such as alKhabs Trkh Baghdd.
31
By Sra and Maghz books I understand biographies of Muammad (Sra), monographs about his battles
(Maghz), and books glorifying his personality traits and his acts (Shamil and Fail books).
32
By History books I understand books of reports organized in any format other than the tarjim format. Such books
include Khayys Trkh, Ibn abbs al-Munammaq and his al-Muabbar, al-Wqids Fut al-Shm, alYaqbs Trkh and his Akhbr al-Zamn, abars al-Trkh al-Kabr, and al-Masds Murj al-Dhahab. Other
books containing the word Trkh in their titles, such as al-Khabs Trkh Baghdd and Ibn Askirs Trkh
Dimashq, do not fall in this category because the bulk of them is organized according to the tarjim format.
33
By adth books I understand compilations of prophetic sayings and deeds organized in any way: thematically
like Bukhrs a or the thematic monographs of Ibn Ab al-Duny; the adths transmitted by one rw like the
Masnd; or any book just listing adths without any other kind of reports. In this category I include adth
criticism (Jar wa Tadl) books such as Ibn anbals Ilal, Ibn Shhns Trkh Asm al-Thiqt, Ibn Mklhs alIkml, and Ibn ibbns al-Thiqt and his al-Duaf, and Dhahabs al-Mughn f al-uaf.
34
Ibn al-Nadms al-Fihrist was very useful. However, the Mashyakha (bibliographies) books, such as Fahrasat Ibn
Khayr al-Ishbl and Ibn ajar al-Asqalns al-Mujam al-Mufahras, produced the most spectacular information.

number of reports about Muammads life and person). Finally, the number of Sh books of
tradition in the sample could be viewed as a reflection of the proportion of Sh Muslims within
the Muslim communities around the world.35
Table 1 Compilations containing Sad reports, the number of these reports in each
compilation, its genre, and its compiler; the compilers death dates, and main places of residence.
Death
262
272
279
282
306
310
317
327
4th
360
356
365
374
385
385
405
409
430
430
450
458
463
463
571
575
734
748
852

Reports
2
1
>250
3
22
250
20
2
2
>20
3
2
2
1
1
6
1
10
20
1
4
>250
>250
>250
>250
>250

Compilation title
Trkh al-Madna
Sunan
Ansb al-Ashrf **
al-Musnad
Akhbr al-Qu **
Trkh al-Rusul wa l-Mulk **
Mujam al-aba **
al-Jar wa l-Tadl
Kifyat al-Athar **
Al-Mujam al-Kabr **
Maqtil al-libiyyn **
al-Kmil f uaf al-Rijl **
al-Makhzn f Ilm al-adth
Trkh Asm al-Thiqt
Sunan
al-Mustadrak **
Kitb al-Mutawrn
ilyat al-Awliy **
Marifat al-abah
Rijl al-Najsh
Dalil al-Nubuwwa **
Trkh Baghdd
al-Istb f Marifat al-Ab
Trkh Dimashq
Fahrasat Ibn Khayr
Uyn al-Athar
Tadhkirat al-uff
al-Mujam al-Mufahras

Compiler
Ibn Shabba
Ab Dwd
Al-Baldhur
Ibn Ab Usma
Wak
abar
al-Baghaw
Ibn Ab Htim
Ab al-Qsim al-Qumm
abarn
Ab al-Faraj al-Ifahn
Ibn Adiyy al-Jurjn
Ab al-Fat al-Azd
Ibn Shhn
Al-Drqun
Al-kim al-Nsbr
Abd al-Ghan al-Azd
Ab Nuaym al-Ibahn
Ab Nuaym al-Ibahn
Al-Najsh
Al-Bayhaq
Al-Khab al-Baghdd
Ibn Abd al-Barr
Ibn Askir
ibn al-Khayr al-Ishbl
Ibn Sayyid al-Ns
Dhahab
Ibn ajar al-Asqaln

Genre
history
adith
tarjim
adith
tarjim
history
tarjim
tarjim
Sh
tarjim
Sh
tarjim
adith
tarjim
adith
adith
history
tarjim
tarjim
Sh
Sra
tarjim
tarjim
tarjim
Biblio
Sra
tarjim
Biblio

Residence
Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad
Reyy
Reyy
Ibahn
Aleppo
itinerant
Mosul
Baghdad
Baghdad
Nshpr
Cairo
Ibahn
Ibahn
Baghdad
Nshpr
Baghdad
Andalusia
Damascus
Andalusia
Andalusia
Damascus
Cairo

** Compilations that use recensions different from those used in the printed edition of the KTK.
Part III Results of analysis Elements of the Circuit
1. Transmitters of the KTK
According to the chains of transmission of the KTKs extant manuscripts,36 the material
contained in these manuscripts is the fusion of two recensions, the first transmitted by Ab

35

We should also acknowledge the fact that most scholars of Islam and Islamic history, including myself, have a
limited knowledge of the rich Sh tradition, since the focus on the Sunn tradition seems to be prevalent; which is a
regretable fact of the state of our field in general.

10

Muammad al-rith ibn Muammad ibn Ab Usma al-Tamm (186-282 AH),37 and the
second transmitted by Ab Al al-usayn ibn Muammad ibn Abd al-Ramn ibn Fahm (211289 AH); who is the more problematic of the two.38 Both transmitters were second-tier
muaddiths and possibly teachers by vocation. In the second generation, Ab al-asan Amad
ibn Marf al-Khashshb (d. 321/322) transmitted on the authority of both Ibn Ab Usma and
Ibn Fahm. He was an obscure muaddith from Baghdad. It is difficult to ascertain his profession
from the designation al-Khashshb (the carpenter or the wood handler/cutter); however, it would
not be far-fetched for the muaddithn of the pre-madrasa (university) era to teach adth and
related material as an avocation.39 Also in the second generation is Ab Ayyb Isq ibn
Sulaymn al-Jallb (d. 334), another minor muaddith from Baghdad, whose profession could
have been a carrier given his designation al-Jallb; he transmitted on the authority of Ibn Ab
Usma only.40 Al-Jallbs role as a transmitter of the KTK is inferred from transmission chains
of Sad reports in later compilations; especially Ibn Askirs Trkh Madnat Dimashq.
The third generation is even more problematic than the first two for it contains one person
only; namely Ab Umar Muammad ibn ayyuwayh al-Khazzz (295-382). Both manuscripts
and Sad reports give us this one transmitter. He lived in Baghdad and might have been a maker
of silk yarn (Khazzz). We have no one complete manuscript of the KTK with only Ibn Ab
Usma or Ibn Fahm in the chain of transmission; however, all available manuscripts include Ibn
ayyuwayh in their transmission chains as a knot towards which all previous strands converge
and from which all subsequent strands diverge.41 It is possible that Ibn Marf had collected the
entire KTK before Ibn ayyuwayh; but it is the latter who seems to have propagated it. Al
36

For details about the transmitters of the KTK inferred from manuscripts and Sad reports included in later
compilations see Atassi, A History of , pp. 211250 and references therein; see also Appendix II for transmitters
of the extant manuscripts only.
37
He resided in Baghdad and was probably a copyist and a tutor for hire. He has a musnad compilation (adths
organized according to selected transmitters, usually the first after Muammad) attributed to his name; but generally
he was not a major figure of the Baghdd adth scene. It is noteworthy that the Sra part of the extant manuscripts
is transmitted by Ibn Ab Usma alone, the eldest of the two transmitters of the KTK. This lends credence to the
claim that the Sra part of the Leiden edition of the KTK used to be circulated as a separate book.
38
An akhbr (transmitter of historical reports), a minor adth transmitter, and a well learned person, Ibn Fahm was
19 years of age when Ibn Sad died (in 230 AH). This puts him at around age fifteen when he started studying under
Ibn Sad; this is a typical age for third/ninth century youngsters to start their advanced studies. Does that make the
fate of the KTK dependent on one teenager? Not necessarily, because many students of different ages may have
attended the dictation of the book (or parts of it), but only two persons decided to teach it and Ibn Fahm is one of
them.
39
We have a confirmation that Ibn Marf had taught Ibn Sads Sra: the KTKs transmission chain in Ibn Sayyid
al-Ns Uyn al-Athar states that Ibn Sads Sra was recited back to Ibn Marf in the month of Shabn of the
year 318 AH. The same date is given in one of the extant manuscripts; Atassi, A History of , p. 234.
40
In both al-Khabs Trkh Baghdd and Ibn Askirs Trkh Dimashq, al-Jallab transmits Sad reports
exclusively from Ibn Ab Usma. He also frequently transmits reports from Ibrhm al-arb (d. 285), a famous
compiler from Baghdad. Therefore, we can safely claim that al-Jallb was a teacher and not a compiler himself,
which is something we will note about most transmitters of the KTK.
41
If it were not for earlier books that mentioned Ibn Sad and his KTK with numerous borrowings that matched the
KTK verbatim, I would have suggested considering Ibn ayyuwayh as the real compiler of the KTK.
Nonetheless, it is possible that he had an impact on the KTK in terms of selection of recensions, organization of
reports, and addition of some information. For a discussion of Ibn ayyuwayhs partition of the KTK in twenty four
parts (ajz, singular juz), as well as other known partitions, see Atassi, A History of , pp. 239241.

11

Baghdd mentions that Ibn ayyuwayh heard plenty and wrote [i.e. copied] all his life and
transmitted large compilations such as the abaqt of Ibn Sad, the Maghz of al-Wqid, the
compilations of Ab Bakr ibn al-Anbr, the Maghz of Sad al-Umaw, the History of Ibn Ab
Khaythama, and many others.42 One of the manuscripts transmission chain states that Ibn
ayyuwayh copied the KTK (or just parts of it) while the text was being recited back to Ibn
Marf in the month of Shabn of the year 318 AH. This means that Ibn ayyuwayh was then
twenty years old and that Ibn Marf was at the end of his life (d. 321/322). We notice here the
same pattern we observed in the transmission of the KTK from Ibn Sad to Ibn Fahm; i.e. a
young student tries to get the teachers book as early as possible in his career and as late as
possible in the teachers life. This is a common practice among muaddithn because it lowers
the number of transmitters between the last one in a chain and the Prophet. We must also remark
that collecting and transmitting such large works possibly needed full time dedication. It is
difficult however, given the dearth of information about these transmitters, to ascertain their
professions, and whether or not they practiced teaching as a profession.
In the fourth generation we encounter three transmitters of the KTK, all of whom seem to
have been full-time teachers. The two transmitters supplied by the manuscripts are Ab
Muammad al-asan ibn Al al-Jawhar (363-454), and Ab Isq Ibrhm ibn Umar alBarmak (361-445). The one transmitter supplied by Sad reports is Ab al-Qsim Ubaydullh
ibn Amad al-Azhar (355-435). According to al-Khabs Trkh Baghdd, al-Jawhar resided in
Darb al-Zafarn, where many muaddithn used to live. Al-Dhahabs Siyar Alm al-Nubal
adds that he dictated a large number of reports (he was steeped in transmission, he transmitted
abundantly, and held many dictation sessions). Al-Barmak resided in Baghdad and was a
anbalite muft (jurisprudent), with a teaching circle (alaqa) at al-Manrs mosque.43 AlKhab also alludes to the fact that al-Azhar taught large compilations, such as the KTK, when
he says: we heard from him large compilations and long books.44
In the fifth generation, we know of five transmitters of the KTK; three of them through the
manuscripts and two through Sad reports. All of these transmitters were from Baghdad, and
most of them seem to have been teachers. For example, Ab Bakr al- Q Muammad ibn Abd
al-Bq (442-535) was a scholar and a teacher.45 Ab Nar Mummad ibn al-asan (434-510)
had two teaching circles in Baghdad (he took them over after his father), one of them was at the
famous al-Manrs Mosque.46 To this generation belongs al-Khab al-Baghdd (d. 463), the
compiler of the famous Trkh Baghdd.47 In the sixth generation, we know of five transmitters;
all of them from Baghdad. The manuscripts give us only one, but the most renowned. He is Ab

42

Al-Khab al-Baghdd, Trkh Baghdd, vol. 3, p.121, no. 1139.

Atassi, A History of , pp. 218220. The Mosque of al-Manr, which should be located close to al-Manrs
palace (Qar al-Khuld), was the main mosque on the western side (i.e. the old city) of the Tigris. Major teachers of
all disciplines had teaching circles in that mosque.
44
Al-Khab al-Baghdd, Trkh Baghdd, vol. 10, p. 385, no. 5559.
45
Al-Dhahab, Siyar Alm al-Nubal, vol. 20, p. 23. He mentions in page 28 that Ab Bakr al-Q taught Ibn
Sads abaqt; see also Atassi, A History of , pp. 221.
46
Atassi, A History of , p. 232.
47
Ibid, p. 229 for a discussion of whether al-Khab taught the KTK or not, and his probable role in introducing it to
Damascus.
43

12

Muammad Abdullh ibn Duhbul ibn Kra (d. 599).48 To this generation belongs Ibn Askir
(499-571), the compiler of the famous Trkh Madnat Dimashq.49 The sixth generation is
practically the last of the known Baghdadi generations of KTK transmitters.50 Beyond the
sixth/thirteenth century the book was taught mostly in Syria and Egypt.
The seventh generation would see the book appearing in the Islamic west through three
persons who acquired it in Baghdad and then later passed it on in their cities of residence. Ab
al-Faraj al-arrn (587-672 AH) brought it to Cairo.51 Ibn Abd al-Dim (575-668 AH)
brought it to Damascus.52 But, most important among them is Ab al-ajjj ibn Khall (555-648
AH), who brought it to Aleppo.53 Most transmitters in the eight generation received the KTK in
Aleppo from Ab al-ajjj. The most notable teacher of the KTK in the eight generation is
Sharaf al-Dn Ab al-Dimy (613-705 AH), who received it from Ab al-ajjj.54 The
transmitters of the eighth generation and beyond (up to the ninth/late fifteenth century) acquired
the KTK and passed it on either in Aleppo, Damascus, or Cairo.55
2. Aspects of transmission
Whether in Baghdad or in the west (Aleppo, Damascus, and Cairo), transmitters of the KTK
who spent time actually teaching it were second-tier muaddithn and/or scholars. None of them
had a major compilation or any compilation at all. They were muaddithn who specialized in
transmitting large works; such as al-Khashshb, Ibn ayyuwayh, Ab Bakr al-Q, al-Jawhar,
Ibn Kra, Ab al-ajjj, and al-Dimy to name a few). It is also noteworthy that many
Baghdadi transmitters of the KTK, such as al-Barmak, Ab Bakr al-Q, and Ab Nar, were
anbalites. Moreover, both al-Barmak and Ab Nar taught at al-Manrs Mosque.56 Although
al-Madrasa al-Namiyya was built in 459 AH, none of the aforementioned teachers taught
there; because the vizier Nam al-Mulk, the founder of the school, prohibited non-Shfiites
from teaching at al-Nimiyya. Before the rise of the madrasa system, these transmitters can be
considered as proto-universities with a curriculum and a focus on teaching rather than

48

Ibid, pp. 222, 244-245, 247. We know from Ibn ajar al-Asqalns transmission chain of the KTK that Ibn Kra
taught the book to a certain Ibn al-ajjj.
49
Ibid, p. 232-3 for a discussion of Ibn Askirs popularization of the KTK in Syria.
50
In fact, Ibn ajar al-Asqaln supplies us with a name, Ibn al-Khayyir (563-648), who could be viewed as a
seventh generation of Baghdadi transmitters; see Atassi, A History of , p. 247.
51
Ibid, p. 236-37. This information is contained in the transmission chain supplied by Ibn Sayyid al-Ns (d. 734),
who was a resident of Cairo, in his Uyn al-Athar, vol. 2, p. 440. It is possible that this al-arran was not a true
teacher of the KTK, for Ibn Sayyid al-Ns mentions that the former supplied him with a part of the book through an
ijza (a license to relate on ones authority).
52
Ibid, p. 247.
53
Ibid, p. 223.
54
Al-Dhahab mentions that al-Dimy has related to him Ibn Sads Kitb al-abaqt al-Kubr on the authority
of Ibn Khall (Ab al-ajjj); see al-Dhahab, Tadhkirat al-uff, vol. 2, p.11, no. 431.
55
Atassi, A History of , pp. 224, 245-8 and references therein. Our information about these later generations
comes from two very detailed transmission chains, one is supplied by Ibn Sayyid al-Ns (d. 734) in his Uyn alAthar and the other is supplied by Ibn ajar al-Asqaln (d. 852) in his al-Mujam al-Mufahras, vol. 1, p. 168-70.
56
It is probable that this mosque and the neighboring district of Bb arb, at whose cemetery some of these
transmitters were buried, had strong anbal affiliations. It is possible that the anbalites strong attachment to
tradition may explain their interest in the KTK, given that it was one of the earliest works to deal with early Islamic
history. This intellectual, and maybe social, aspect of the KTKs history still needs further investigation.

13

composing. Studies interested in the propagation of strands of Islamic thought must take these
teachers into consideration.
In Syria and Egypt, we know that transmitters of the KTK were also full-time teachers, while
famous compilers remained mostly users of the KTK. While many Baghdd transmitters of Ibn
Sads work taught in the industrial neighborhood of al-Karkh (south of Baghdad where the
aforementioned Darb al-Zafarn was located) or in al-Manrs Mosque in the walled city, their
Syrian and Egyptian counterparts taught in institutions sponsored by the ruling elite, such as the
network of schools (sg. madrasa) sponsored by the Mamlk rulers and their princes. Moreover,
while the Baghdd transmitters were possibly free-lance teachers, their Syrian and Egyptian
counterparts were professional teachers, judges, and members of the religious elite (the hallmark
of the late middle ages in the Middle East) who succeeded in converting their educational capital
into social capita (connection and prestige), as well as economic capital (jobs and wealth).
The Islamic tradition has a well-known fragmentary nature. The prevalent way of
transmitting this tradition continued to be the individual report, which consisted of a transmission
chain attached to the reports text. Instead of continuous narratives, what emerged are
compilations of reports, which preserved the fragmentary nature of the original reports, and
made possible their own re-fragmentation. Medieval Muslim compilers tended to fragment the
works of their predecessors into individual reports (the same report could even be fragmented
into many smaller ones to suit the needs of the user), and then include these fragments into their
own works. Compiling and fragmenting knowledge were two distinct and opposing processes
always active in the production and transmission of medieval Islamic knowledge. It is puzzling,
but it seems that students of medieval knowledge had an aversion toward teaching books that
they collected in their travels; they instead fragmented what they learned and wrote their own
compilations which they later taught. In the current study, I suggest that people who chose to
teach others compilations tended not to write any of their own.
Attempting to explain this observation, I suggest that in medieval Muslim societies,
intellectual prestige was built through the writing of compilations and legal texts and dictating
them rather than teaching older compilations. Legal texts required competency, but compilations
only required fragmenting older works and reassembling them. Seekers of intellectual capital
(converted later into social and financial capitals) did just that. Otherwise, in the presence of Ibn
Sads KTK, why would al-Baghaw produce his Mujam al-aba, or al-abarn his alMujam al-Kabr, or Ibn Shhn's Trkh Asm' al-Thiqt, or Abu Nuamy's Marifat al-aba,
or Ibn Abd al-Barr's al-Istb f Marifat al-Ab? These authors could not possibly have
known more about any of Muammads companions than did Ibn Sad.57
In this atmosphere of building ones reputation as a scholar by absorbing and building upon
the works of predecessors, the survival of older books becomes quite difficult. For that to

57

The competition between compilers, as I see it, was not about the text of a report but about the chain of
transmission: Who is going to get the best chain for the same text? Who is going to make a weak chain stronger?
Who is going to make a long chain short (awl)? Transmission of adths and historical reports is an intellectually
sterile environment.

14

happen, a group of dedicated transmitters, whose task is to popularize a selected group of works,
has to exist. What would then make transmitting rather than compiling attractive to these
teachers? This is a hard question to answer, but the transmission of entire books transformed
these books into authoritative sources of tradition by virtue of a process of "natural selection," at
the heart of which were those dedicated teachers. In fact, such dedicated transmitters defined and
preserved the "canonical" books of tradition. This exact process transformed the KTK into an
authoritative source of the Islamic tradition.
3. Methods of transmission of the KTK
It is noteworthy that by the ninth century and beyond, the transmission of the KTK happened
mostly by ijza (permission). The clearest example is Ibn ajar, who obtained five different
permissions to use the KTK. It was also common for calculating parents to take their young boys
(at age three or four) to hear a famous and old teacher for a while and then obtain a permission
from this teacher for their son. This was the case, for example, of Ibn Sayyid al-Ns (671-763)
who obtained a permission from Ab al-Faraj al-arrn (587-672 AH).58
The use of ijza in the transmission of the KTK was known since the third century; and,
according to Ibn ajar, even Ibn ayyuwayh (in the fourth Islamic century) obtained parts of the
KTK by an ijza from Ibn Marf al-Khashshb. Tracking the use of ijza in Ibn Sayyid al-Nas'
and Ibn ajar's chains of transmission, we notice a steady increase in this usage as time
progressed. By Ibn ajar's time (the ninth Islamic century), it was possible to obtain an ijza by
mail and without even seeing the person granting the ijza. This is an indication that the KTK
had acquired such stability in its form that one could acquire a copy of it somehow and then
authenticate that copy through one or multiple ijzas from different teachers. It was not required
for the grantor of the ijza to have heard the entire book from a teacher either, only a status of
scholarship and a reputation of trustworthiness sufficed for the chain of authentication to be valid
and to carry the weight of sam (hearing), the ultimate source of authenticity.59
By the ninth century, the KTK had become fixed; no one could alter its content or form
without attracting the attention of scholars and copyists both in Syria and in Egypt, who were
capable of detecting such a change. The KTK had become a staple of the Islamic tradition, and
possibly even textbook. Not many books attained that level, where survival was not an issue
anymore and did not depend on the random existence of the valiant effort of a few dedicated
transmitters. Beyond the seventh century, the survival of the KTK was assured by the increase in
the number of students copying it, as well as by the multiplication of copies later authenticated
by permissions from reputed scholars.
4. Authorship of the KTK
The bibliographer Ibn al-Nadm (d. 385) in his al-Fihrist claims that Ibn Sad has only one
book, which coincides with the Sra part of the printed edition of the KTK.60 If an authority in

58

Atassi, A History of , pp. 237 and references therein.

Lists of the different methods of acquiring the KTK by later generations of transmitters (beyond the ninth Islamic
century) are given in Atassi, A History of , pp. 137-8, 250.
60
Ibn al-Nadm, al-Fihrist, Chapter () , biography of () .
59

15

books such as Ibn al-Nadm claims that he has never heard of the KTK, who did then write this
voluminous work? In fact, Ibn al-Nadm contradicts himself by saying that Ibn Sad compiled
his books, thus insinuating that Ibn Sad might have had more than one book.61 Furthermore,
Ibn al-Nadm claims that Ibn Sad was very knowledgeable about the aba (Muammads
companions) and the Tbin (their successors). Since the bulk of the KTK is composed of
biographical information about the two classes of persons identified by Ibn al-Nadm as Ibn
Sads area of expertise, it is then possible that the latter wrote something about that topic in
order to establish his authority. Ibn al-Nadm also attributes a book of abaqt (strata or
generations) to Ibn Sads teacher and main source, al-Wqid (d. 207).62 Given that he is the
only bibliographer who has ever made such a claim, and since he considered that Ibn Sads
works were mere plagiarism of al-Wqids work, it is possible that he attributed the abaqt
work (one of possible two) to the teacher rather than to the student. Finally, when listing the
books of which he was aware and whose authors were not known to him, Ibn al-Nadm names a
certain Kitb al-abaqt and attributes it to a certain Muammad ibn Sad.63 It seems to me that
Ibn al-Nadm either did not double check his sources or intentionally downplayed Ibn Sads
importance.64
If Ibn al-Nadm cannot be trusted in ascribing books to their rightful authors, it is then
necessary to use other sources in order to confirm that our Ibn Sad had in fact written a work of
abaqt that can be identified with the KTK with a high degree of confidence. This was indeed
possible since the third/tenth century genealogist al-Baldhur (d. 279) in his Ansb al-Ashrf
mentions in passing that Muammad ibn Sad, the scribe of al-Wqid, has to his name a book
of abaqt of muaddithn and fuqah (i.e. jurisprudents),65 from which he has extensively
borrowed. The borrowed material exists in the KTK; which proves that the third/ninth century
compiler Muammad ibn Sad is indeed the author of the KTK, a recension of which we have in
our hand which is different from the recension used in al-Baldhurs book.66

61

Ibn al-Nadm also claims that these alleged works were a mere reworking of al-Wqids compilations (d. 207, he
is Ibn Sads main teacher and source of reports).
62
Ibid, Chapter () , biography of () .
63
Ibid, Chapter () , Section () .
64
In fact, in comparing Ibn al-Nadms biography of al-Wqid and the latters two biographies in the KTK, we are
led to conclude that Ibn al-Nadms biography of al-Wqid is a sort of a summary of the two biographies given in
the KTK. Ibn al-Nadm also mentions that his source was none other than Ibn Sad, al-Wqids scribe; see Atassi, A
History of , pp. 100102.
65
Baldhur, Ansb al-Ashrf, vol. 2, p. 263. Another third century author, Wak (d. 306), in his Akhbr al-Qut
mentions, also in passing, that Muammad ibn Sad, the scribe of al-Wqid, has a book of abaqt attributed to
his name. Wak, Akhbr al-Qut, vol. 2, p. 397; vol. 3, p. 269.
66
In Atassi, A History of , pp. 106108, and 164-5, I conjecture that Ibn Sad started writing the KTK sometime
after 207 AH, finished the bulk of it sometime around 213 AH (and started teaching it, which accounts of Ibn Ab
Usmas recension); and kept editing and adding new material to it until 228 AH, or until shortly before he died in
230 AH (I dated the writing of Ibn Fahms recension to around the interval 226-230 AH).

16

The Egyptian author Ibn Khallikn (d. 681), in his Wafayt al-Ayn,67 mentions that Ibn
Sads abaqt was a large, kabr book of fifteen volumes. Moreover, we learn there that
there existed another work of abaqt that is a shorter version, ughra, of the first. Here
kabr and sughr are used simply as adjectives; i.e kitb kabr, abaqt ughr, respectively.
It is Ibn Sayyid al-Ns (d. 734) in his Uyn al-Athar who first calls Ibn Sads book Kitb alabaqt al-Kabr.68 Al-Dhahab (d. 748), in his Siyar Alm al-Nubal, gives us a summary of
the different biographies previously written about Ibn Sad, interspersed with praise words fit for
the now famous author of al-abaqt al-Kabr and al-abaqt al-aghr.69 Ibn Sads works
are no longer large and small but are named al-abaqt al-Kabr and al-abaqt alaghr. The earlier adjectives of these title-less works have metamorphosed into grandiose
titles. Al-Dhahab, in his Tadhkirat al-uff, states that Ibn Sad is the compiler of al-abaqt
al-Kabr and al-aghr and the compiler of al-Trkh our teacher Sharaf al-Dn al-Dimy
has dictated to us his [Ibn Sads] al-abaqt al-Kubr.70 Is this a play on adjectives, or
alkubr really is different from the KTK? We have previously concluded, when discussing Ibn
al-Ndms claims, that Ibn Sads Trkh and Sra (the first two volumes of the Leiden edition of
the KTK) are most likely one and the same book. But it is curious that Dhahab mentions the
Trkh as if it were separate from the abaqt. Cooperson thinks that the Sra book may have
been intended to stand as a separate text.71 We also know that the manuscripts upon which the
Leiden team depended for their edition of the KTK were either transmitted or approved by alDimy,72 al-Dhahabs teacher who taught him al-abaqt al-Kub. It is then possible that
when the Sra was added to Kitb al-abaqt al-Kabr, the two together became known as Kitb
al-abaqt al-Kubr. This lumping together of the Sra and the abaqt in one book may have
been the work of al-Dimy. It is also possible that the two books, despite being separate
entities, were transmitted together by the same teachers (al-Dimy, for example), and were
thereafter treated as one book.
In al-Khab al-Baghdds Trkh Baghdd, we encounter a report that matches verbatim the
biography of Ibn Sad that appears in the printed edition of the KTK at the end of the section
dedicated to Baghdadi transmitters.73 However, the reports chain of transmission (isnd) says
explicitly that Ibn Fahm, a major transmitter of the KTK manuscripts, was the writer of the
biography. It seems that Ibn Fahm has added it after the death of his teacher. It seems normal that
the student pays homage to his teacher by informing the reader about him. However, there is
more. The best example of a biography that Ibn Sad could not have written is that of Amad ibn

67

Ibn Khallikn, Wafayt al-Ayn, vol. 4, pp. 160, no. 645. In fact, al-Khab al-Baghdd (d. 463), in a biography
of Ibn Sad, in his Trkh Baghdd mentions that Ibn Sad has compiled a large (kabr) book in the abaqt genre.
Al-Khab, Trkh Baghdd, vol. 5, p. 321, no. 2844.
68
Ibn Sayyid al-Ns, Uyn al-Athar, vol. 2, p. 440.
69
Dhahab, Siyar Alm al-Nubal, vol. 10, p. 664, no. 242.
70
Dhahab, Tadhkirat al-uff, vol. 2, no. 431. Sharaf al-Dn Ab Muammad Abd al-Mumin ibn. Khalaf alDimy (613-705). He is a famous Egyptian teacher who resided in Cairo.
71
M. Cooperson, Ibn Sad, p. 201. This claim finds additional support in the fact that the manuscript of Kitb atabaqt al-aghr (Sleymaniye Library, Ozel 216) does not include the Sra or any abridgement of it; which could
mean that the original abaqt project that materialized in the KTK did not include a Sra part.
72
Atassi, A History of , pp. 211224 (the eighth generation of transmitters).
73
Al-Khab al-Baghdd, Trkh Baghdd, vol. 5, no. 876, p. 370. Ibn Sad, KTK, vol. 7, p. 258.

17

anbal (d. 240).74 First of all, Ibn anbal died ten years after Ibn Sads death. Second, the
biography mentions that Ibn anbal was summoned to appear before al-Mutawakkil and was
later offered money which he refused to take. The Abbasid Caliph al-Mutawakkil took office
in 232 AH, two years after Ibn Sads death; therefore, Ibn Sad could not have known this
information. Moreover, the biography contains a description of Ibn anbals funeral. There are
also many biographical entries dedicated to persons who died after 230 AH. Their author is
possibly Ibn Fahm, but other transmitters of the book should not be totally dropped from
consideration.75
Now, we must deal with the question of who put together the recension represented in the
KTKs printed edition from different available recensions. Although all the transmission trees
converge to a focal point at Ibn ayyuwayh (295-382 AH), I think that Ibn Marf al-Khashshb
started the process.76 All reports coming from Ibn Fahm were related by Ibn Marf only,
without any exception. Moreover, we have not detected any Sad report transmitted by Ibn
Fahm with a chain different from that of the extant manuscripts. Therefore, it seems that Ibn
Fahm bequeathed his recension of the KTK only to an otherwise ordinary student, namely Ibn
Marf. Furthermore, Ibn Marf also transmitted reports from Ibn Ab Usma, who also passed
on a large number of Sad reports, if not the entire KTK, to many students such as Wak and alabar. These reports came, as we will show in the next section, from Ibn Ab Usmas own
recension of the KTK. Why then would Ibn Marf be the only person interested in collecting
two different recensions and passing them on to future generations? If Ibn Marf was interested
in teaching the KTK, why did he then bequeath his collection or recensions only to Ibn
ayyuwayh, who later took charge of its distribution on a large scale? Ibn ayyuwayh also
collected parts, or all, of Ibn Ab Usmas recension from al-Jallb. What impact did Ibn
ayyuwayh, or for that matter Ibn Marf, have on the KTK, in addition to transmitting it?
The discovery of Ibn Hajar's detailed transmission chain of the KTK puts everything back
into question.77 It shows that Ibn Marf transmitted the two recensions of the KTK (those of Ibn
Fahm and Ibn Ab Usma) with sizeable lacunae, even at the biography level. It also shows that
Ibn ayyuwayh used most of Ibn Marfs material except for certain sections that he obtained
from al-Jallb. In fact, we can say the same thing about Ibn Marf; that is, he had the complete
recensions of Ibn Fahm and Ibn Ab Usma but preferred to combine them, just as Ibn
ayyuwayh did. It seems that there is enough room for arguing that the KTK was actually put
together by Ibn Marf and later improved upon by Ibn ayyuwayh. This conclusion is
confirmed by the analysis of individual Sad reports in compilations written before the fifth
century, as the next section will show. Ibn Ab Usmas recension differs in many instances from
the one available to us, because Ibn Fahms recension was the one relied upon in our version of

74

Ibn Sad, KTK, vol. 7, p. 253.

For an extensive discussion of biographies contained in the printed edition of the KTK, but that were possibly
added after Ibn Sads death, see Atassi, A History of , pp. 113129.
76
In a report in al-Najshs Rijl we encounter the first mention of the chain Ib Ab Usma and Ibn FahmIbn
Marf. This strengthens my claim that Ibn Marf was the first to harmonize the two recensions of Ibn Ab Usma
and Ibn Fahm; a work that was completed by Ibn ayyuwayh; see. Atassi, A History of , p. 182.
77
For a detailed analysis of Ibn ajars transmission chain see Atassi, A History of , pp. 238250.
75

18

the KTK and not that of Ibn Ab Usma.78 Therefore, we can say that the work of Ibn Marf and
Ibn ayyuwayh was a process of selection and fusion of the two recensions of the KTK available
to them. Finally, we have showed earlier that Ibn Fahm, and possibly Ibn Ab Usma, had added
to the KTK. It is possible then to say that all members of these three generations of transmitters
had an impact on the form and content of the KTK.79
5. History of Crystallization of the KTK
Since our first encounter with Sad reports we notice that expecting verbatim match between
the reports found in a consulted compilation and the corresponding report in the printed KTK is
unrealistic. The differences range from minor difference in word selection to major rewording of
the report (while at the same time preserving certain core sentences). Other minor changes
involve changing the order of a number of reports in a sequence, or changing the last transmitter
(i.e. the source of the compiler). Major changes involve truncation of a long report,
fragmentation of several reports and regrouping of selected fragments, grouping of several
reports, and finally an extensive rewording of one or more reports. These changes can be
consciously induced by the compilers or due to differences between the recensions used in the
compilations consulted.80
We can distinguish three phases in the history of the KTKs recensions. The first phase
stretches from the books compilation by Ibn Sad early in the third Islamic century until the
writing of Trkh Baghdd by al-Khab al-Baghdd in the first half of the fifth century. This is a
period of relative obscurity and possible openness of the book. Any additions and/or
modifications to the KTK must date to this phase. During this phase, we can actually talk about
the possible existence of six recensions of the KTK that exhibit differences from the printed
edition.81 The two most important recensions of which we have numerous quotes are those of alBaldhur and Ibn Ab Usma (as we have seen this recension was not fully incorporated in the
available manuscripts).82 There are also two possible recensions of unknown provenance: one
used by Ab al-Qsim al-Baghaw (d. 317),83 and the other used by al-Bayhaq (d. 458).84 The

78

For the analysis of Ibn Ab Usmas recension and how it differs from the Leiden edition of the KTK see Atassi, A
History of , pp. 160165, 166, 168, 169-170.
79
This agrees with Schoelers conclusion in The Oral and the Written in Early Islam, p. 45, that the sources of these
compilations (for example of Malik's Muwaa', of abar's History and Qurn Commentary, of Ab l-Fara alIsbahn's K. al-An) are in most cases lessons given by the shaykhs (teachers) on the basis of written notes
(jottings), that they read or recited and which the pupils heard and wrote down (or took notes of). Most of them were
not written works in book form, which authors definitively composed and published. Most of them were not purely
oral transmission, meaning that the shaykh and his audience did not keep the transmitted material exclusively in
their memories.
80
A lengthy and detailed discussion of the different recensions of the KTK that may have been used by later
compilers is given in Atassi, A History of , pp. 146193.
81
For a description of these differences see Atassi, A History of , pp. 159-160, 165.
82
Ibid, pp. 152-160 for al-Baldhurs recension; and pp. 160-165, 166, 168, 169171, 172-173, 174177 for Ibn
Ab Usmas recension. The later recension was used by Wak, al-abar, al-Qumm, Ab al-Faraj al-Ibahn, Ab
al-Fat al-Azd and al-kim al-Nsbr.
83
Ibid, pp. 167, 171-2, 172-3, 179-81. The recension used by al-Baghaw was also used by al-Jurjn, Ab al-Fat
al-Azd, and Ab Nuaym al-Ibahn.
84
Ibid, pp. 182186.

19

remaining two possible recessions can be attributed to the Baghdadi transmitters (1) Ubayd ibn
Muammad al-Yazd (d. 284), used by al-abarn (d. 360);85 and (2) al-usayn ibn al-Faraj (d.
3rd century), used by al-kim al-Nsbr (d. 405).86
This period was covered in the manuscripts by the following transmitters: Ibn Ab Usma
and Ibn Fahm; Ibn Marf and al-Jallb; Ibn ayyuwayh; and finally al-Jawhar. The book has
crystallized during this period with only one recension surviving, i.e. the one compiled by Ibn
ayyuwayh based on Ibn Ab Usmas and Ibn Fahms recensions. This recension of the KTK
was actually the only one to have survived. Although many persons acquired the KTK from Ibn
Sad or from Ibn Ab Usma, very few of them decided to teach it to future generations. Most
Sad reports encountered between the third and fifth centuries were transmitted individually, not
as part of a wholesale transmission of the KTK. It is actually a miracle worth investigating that
Ibn Marf al-Khashshb learned the KTK from Ibn Ab Usma and Ibn Fahm then taught it to
Ibn ayyuwayh, who collected the material and divided it into systematic sections and then
taught it to al-Jawhar, al-Azhar and few others. Beyond al-Jawhars generation, many persons
will be involved in teaching the KTK. In summary, we can say that the KTK crystallized by the
process of dying out of all other recensions and the fusion together of Ibn Ab Usmas and Ibn
Fahms recensions in a book that found generations of dedicated teachers.
The second phase stretches from the fifth century to the seventh century, ending with alDimy. During this phase the crystallized book spread outside Baghdad to Syria and Egypt, the
two main centers of its later teaching. This phase saw an accurate and precise transmission of the
KTK through the dictation-writing procedure. All our extant manuscripts go back to the end of
this period. The third phase stretches from the seventh to the fourteenth centuries. During this
phase the KTK continued being transmitted with the old dictation-writing procedure but also saw
the transformation of manuscripts into commodities bought, sold and inherited; this is how the
extant manuscripts reached us.
6. Geographical Diffusion of the KTK
We have seen that the KTK remained in Baghdad, and was kept alive by the efforts of
generations of valiant transmitters, until the end of the sixth or beginning of the seventh century.
It then moved to Aleppo, Damascus, and Cairo, the new centers of its diffusion. It was not the
Mongol invasion that pushed the book west to Syria and Egypt, but it was certainly the reason
that made Syria and Egypt the only centers of its diffusion. We have also seen that the
appearance of the KTK in Aleppo, Damascus, and Cairo was almost simultaneous: Ab al-ajjj
(555-648 AH) in Aleppo; Ibn Abd al-Dim (575-668 AH) in Damascus; and Ab al-Faraj alarrn (587-672 AH) in Cairo. Although all of these transmitters have passed the KTK to local
and traveling students, Ab al-ajjj is the most frequently mentioned for the beginning of the
seventh century. For example, all extant manuscripts were transmitted via Ab al-ajjj. Many
Cairene and Damascene scholars came to Aleppo to learn the KTK under this teacher. Notable

85
86

Ibid, pp. 169.

Ibid, pp. 174177.

20

among them is al-Dimy (613-705 AH), a resident of Cairo, who became the main source of
authentication of the KTK in the seventh century.87
We have evidence (from Ibn Sayyid al-Ns and Ibn ajar al-Asqaln) that both Ibn Abd
al-Dim and Ab al-Faraj al-arrn taught the KTK during the seventh century in Damascus
and Cairo, respectively. These two cities became centers for the diffusion of the KTK. However,
the trend for the seventh, eighth, and ninth centuries is the increased influx of Syrian scholars
into Cairo. For example, al-Uqayl (632-704) acquired the KTK from Ab al-ajjj and then
moved to Cairo because of a judgeship appointment; al-Dasht (634-713), also a student of Ab
al-ajjj, also ended up as a teacher in Cairo after a long stay in Damascus; al-Dhahab (673748) actually went to Cairo to learn the KTK under al-Dimy; Ibn Ab al-Majd (707-800), a
famous preacher and teacher in Damascus, was invited to teach in Cairo by an official of the
Mamlk establishment; and Ibn ajar al-Asqaln (d. 852), who acquired the KTK through
multiple channels (mostly from Damascus), later settled and taught in Cairo. This is not a
surprise since power shifted from Baghdad to Cairo during the reigns of the Ayybids
(564/1168-659/1260) and the Bar Mamlks (648/1250-784/1382).88
7. Literary diffusion of Sad reports
Although we differentiated between the KTK and individual Sad reports, the diffusion of
Sad reports is an accurate measure of the diffusion of the KTK, since most Sad reports came
from the KTK; and after the fifth century most of them came from one recension of the KTK.
The most fruitful in terms of producing Sad reports are Tarjim books. Sra and Maghz books
and Historiography books produced less Sad reports than I originally expected. adth
compilations produced the least amount of information about the KTK or about Ibn Sad (books
of adth criticism only produced short quotes and some clarifications). In fact, very few adths
were transmitted on Ibn Sads authority; most of them come from one source, i.e. one of Ibn
Sads students, namely al-rith ibn Ab Usma (also a transmitter of the KTK).89 The Majority
of Sad reports were biographical in nature. It came as a surprise to me that Sad reports were
less represented in historiography and adth books than in biographical disctionaries. It is a
common practice in our field, when having general, collegial discussions of topics related to
early Islamic periods, to talk in equal terms about historiographies and about biographical
dictionaries; the latter books being usually valuable sources of historical information. Moreover,
given the lengthy biographies of the KTK, it is always considered a book of historiography. The
previous results constitute a strong reminder that the two genres, namely historiography and
biography, are not to be confused. They are actually very different in nature and often serve very
distinct purposes. It seems that traditionalists have always regarded the KTK as a source for
biographical information that is best suited for writing other biographical dictionaries.
Even as a biographical dictionary, the KTK is different from the ones dedicated to adth
transmitters such as Khalfas abaqt, Bukhrs al-Trkh al-Kabr, or al-abarns al
87

Ibid, pp. 236-8, 244-5, 247-8.

Ibid, pp. 236, 2458.
89
Bibliographical books only contain chains of transmission and not reports; therefore, this category will be dropped
from the analysis of the KTKs literary diffusion.
88

21

Mujam al-Kabr. The latter books are terse and usually focus on the trustworthiness of
transmitters. Biographies written by Ibn Sad are longer, contain more biographical and historical
information, and follow a general model. At least for the biographies of Muammads,
companions and the Medinan adth transmitters, the model seems to be Ibn Sads biography of
Muammad, since it is organized thematically rather than chronologically. These biographies are
best described as hagiographies; the epic life-stories of the founders of the adth movement.
After all, most of the book is dedicated to the companions and the Medinan transmitters; only
two shorter sections are dedicated to Kufan and Basran transmitters; and even shorter sections
are dedicated to all other transmitters from the rest of the vast expanses of the Abbasid Empire.
It is no surprise then that most borrowings from the KTK come from the sections dedicated to
Muammads companions.
Part III - Conclusion
Studying the history of Ibn Sads Kitb al-abaqt al-Kabr, to which most of this paper is
dedicated, is to be considered as an illustrative example of a systematic methodology intended as
the basis of what I called the History of the Medieval Islamic Book. The introduction explained
what is to be the aim of this field; that is the study of the survival and agency of books produced
within the medieval Islamic culture. Given the nature of my research up to now, I restricted the
paper to the mechanics of survival of a benchmark book (the KTK). The main concept was the
Survival and Communication Circuit, which is a modification of Darntons Communication
Circuit, designed for the study of the history of the printed book. This survival circuit includes a
books teachers/transmitters, its students/copyists, and its users/readers. The circuit is to be
repeated each generation for the book to remain in circulation, i.e alive. Given the open nature
of medieval works, a books original compiler is its first teacher, and its subsequent teachers can
add authorial input to it. The form and content of the book is fixed after a long process of
crystallization that could take several generations.
For the KTK, the paper showed Ibn Sad was indeed its original compiler, but also showed
that three successive generations of transmitters had contributed to or modified it. Many
recensions of the book circulated until the fourth century when a well known Baghdd teacher
called Ibn ayyuwayh produced an authoritative recension. Beyond the fifth century, only this
recension dominated the market until modern times. Studying the geographic and temporal
diffusion of the KTK, it became clear that its real popularity was ushered in by al-Khab alBaghdds (4th century AH) intensive borrowing from it in his Trkh Baghdd. It was the
Damascene scholar Ibn Askir (6th century AH) who brought the book from Baghdad to
Damascus and extensively borrowed from it in his Trkh Dimashq, thus popularizing it in the
Muslim west. It is possible that he found in it a great help in his quest to implement the jihd
agenda of Nr al-Dn Zengi against the Crusaders. The KTK was taught exclusively in Baghdad
until the early seventh century when almost simultaneously it started being taught in Aleppo,
Damascus, and Cairo where it reached the zenith of its popularity. Studying the KTKs
transmission methods showed that, by the ninth century, it was mostly transmitted by ijza
(authentication, permission to teach). Starting from the third century, this usage increased as time
progressed. By the ninth century, it was possible to obtain an ijza by mail. This is an indication
that the KTK has acquired a stable form and has possibly become a textbook. Finally, the paper
22

observed the fact that tarjim books (biographical dictionaries) showed the most frequency of
occurrence of Sad reports. Sra books and Historiography books produced less Sad reports.
adth compilations produced the least number of such reports. It seems that traditionalists have
always regarded the KTK as a source for biographical information that is best suited for writing
other biographical dictionaries.
Bibliography
Al-Asqaln, Ibn ajar. Al-Mujam al-Mufahras. Muammad Shakkr al-Maydn ed. Beirut:
Mu'assasat al-Risla, 1998.
Atassi, Ahmad Nazir. A History of Ibn Sads Biographical Dictionary Kitb al-abaqt alKabr. Dissertation, University of California at Santa Barbara, December 2009.
Al-Baldhur, Amad ibn Yahy. Ansb al-Ashrf. Muammad Bqir al-Mamd ed. Beirut:
Mu'assasat al-Alam, 1974.
Darnton, Robert. "What Is the History of Books?" Daedalus 111, no. 3 (1982): 65-83.
Al-Dhahab, Muammad ibn Amad. Tadhkirat al-uff. Zakarriy Umayrt ed. 4 volumes.
Beirut: Dr al-Kutub al-Ilmiyya, 1998.
__________________. Siyar Alm al-Nubal. Bashshr Awwd Maruf ed. Beirut: Mussasat
al-Risla, 2001.
Cooperson, Michael. Ibn Sad. In Arabic Literary Culture, 500-925, Michael Cooperson and
Shawkat Toorawa eds. Volume 311 of the Dictionary of Literary Biography; the Arabic
Literature Series is edited by Roger Allen. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2005.
Ibn Khallikn, Amad ibn Muammad. Wafayt al-Ayn wa Anb Abn al-Zamn. Isn
Abbs ed. Seven volumes. Beirut: Dr adir, 1994.
Ibn al-Nadm, Muammad ibn Isq. Al-Fihrist. Beirut: Dr al-Marifa, 1978.
Ibn Sad, Muammad. Al-abaqt al-Kubr. Edited and prefaced by M. Abd al-Qdir A.
Beirut: Dr al-Kutub al-Ilmiyya, 1998.
Ibn Sayyid al-Ns, Muammad ibn Abdullh. Uyn al-Athar f Funn al-Maghz wa-'lShm'il wa-'l-Siyar. Beirut: Mu'assasat Izz al-Dn, 1986.
Al-Khab al-Baghdd, Ab Bakr Amad ibn Al. Trkh Baghdd aw Madnat al-Salm.
Muaf Abd al-Qdir A ed. Beirut: Dr al-Kutub al-Ilmiyya.
Pedersen, Johannes, and Robert Hillenbrand. The Arabic Book. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton
University Press, 1984.
Wak, Ab Bakr Muammad ibn Khalaf. Akhbr al-Qut. Abd al-Azz Muaf al-Murgh
ed. 3 volumes. Cairo: al-Maktaba al-Tijriyya al-Kubr, 1366/1947.

23