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We should recall that these are the elements of a name that most depend on personal decisions by
the authors of biographical dictionaries. Works whose author or authors are unknown are
designated “anonymous.”
- Dates. Dates of birth and death are given if they are known. If these vary in different
sources, we have listed them all in ascending order. Where a study has established a definitive
date, we do not include those variants. Where no concrete dates are available, we supply an
approximate one. In harmonizing the Hijra date (A.H.) with that of the Western calendar (C.E.) –
which often covers more than one year – we have recorded only the first year.
- Bibliographic references. The acronyms used are explained in the Abbreviations, the list
of Sources, and the Bibliography.
90
- Works. There are titles that refer to two or more subjects, for instance ᶜAbd al-Jalīl b.
Mūsā al-Qaṣrī’s Mushkil al-Kitāb wa-l-sunna and Kutub samāᶜ ᶜAm. b. Ḥabīb fī l-ḥadīth wa-l-
fiqh; in these cases the work appears in the sections of both disciplines. If a single book is known
by more than one title, all titles are recorded. When it is not known whether different titles
pertain to the same work they have been classified as separate works. Works in verse are listed
under the appropriate discipline, e.g., Wahb b. Lubb b. Mūsā’s Manẓūm fī abwāb al-ᶜibādāt
appears in III. Fiqh. In addition to sources that mention each work and existing studies of it, any
editions and translations are noted. We also include information about available manuscripts,
with reference to the Catalogue of Catalogues that we have created, as well as information about
related works such as commentaries, summaries, refutations. The abundance of such references
reveals a high degree of intertextuality.
91
- Transmitters and others. We record information about the chains of transmission
found in the bibliographical dictionaries, as well as the evidence that the individual in question
studied, copied, taught or owned a particular work. In some cases the information comes from a
study of that individual’s output: for example Ibn al-ᶜArīf, in his Maḥāsin, makes use of ᶜAa. al-
90 Some recent studies on the concept of the book in Islamic culture are: S. Gunther in JAL 25 (1994), pp. 197-98;
Konrad Hirschler, “Catching the Eel—Documentary Evidence for Concepts of the Arabic Book in the Middle
Period,” in Antonella Ghersetti and Alex Metcalfe (eds.), The Book in Fact and Fiction in Pre-Modern Arabic
Literature, Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies 12/1 (2012), www.lancs.ac.uk/jais/volume/index.htm
91 There is a discussion of the meaning of the terms “transmitter” and “source” in S. Günther,
Quellenuntersuchungen zu den “Maqàtil aṭ-ṭālibiyyin” des Abū ‘l-Faraǧ al-Iṣfahānī (gest. 356/967). Ein Beitrag
zur Problematik der mündlichen und schriftlichen Überlieferung in der mittelalterlichen arabischen Literatur
(Hildesheim, 1991).
We should recall that these are the elements of a name that most depend on personal decisions by
the authors of biographical dictionaries. Works whose author or authors are unknown are
designated “anonymous.”
- Dates. Dates of birth and death are given if they are known. If these vary in different
sources, we have listed them all in ascending order. Where a study has established a definitive
date, we do not include those variants. Where no concrete dates are available, we supply an
approximate one. In harmonizing the Hijra date (A.H.) with that of the Western calendar (C.E.) –
which often covers more than one year – we have recorded only the first year.
- Bibliographic references. The acronyms used are explained in the Abbreviations, the list
of Sources, and the Bibliography.
90
- Works. There are titles that refer to two or more subjects, for instance ᶜAbd al-Jalīl b.
Mūsā al-Qaṣrī’s Mushkil al-Kitāb wa-l-sunna and Kutub samāᶜ ᶜAm. b. Ḥabīb fī l-ḥadīth wa-l-
fiqh; in these cases the work appears in the sections of both disciplines. If a single book is known
by more than one title, all titles are recorded. When it is not known whether different titles
pertain to the same work they have been classified as separate works. Works in verse are listed
under the appropriate discipline, e.g., Wahb b. Lubb b. Mūsā’s Manẓūm fī abwāb al-ᶜibādāt
appears in III. Fiqh. In addition to sources that mention each work and existing studies of it, any
editions and translations are noted. We also include information about available manuscripts,
with reference to the Catalogue of Catalogues that we have created, as well as information about
related works such as commentaries, summaries, refutations. The abundance of such references
reveals a high degree of intertextuality.
91
- Transmitters and others. We record information about the chains of transmission
found in the bibliographical dictionaries, as well as the evidence that the individual in question
studied, copied, taught or owned a particular work. In some cases the information comes from a
study of that individual’s output: for example Ibn al-ᶜArīf, in his Maḥāsin, makes use of ᶜAa. al-
90 Some recent studies on the concept of the book in Islamic culture are: S. Gunther in JAL 25 (1994), pp. 197-98;
Konrad Hirschler, “Catching the Eel—Documentary Evidence for Concepts of the Arabic Book in the Middle
Period,” in Antonella Ghersetti and Alex Metcalfe (eds.), The Book in Fact and Fiction in Pre-Modern Arabic
Literature, Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies 12/1 (2012), www.lancs.ac.uk/jais/volume/index.htm
91 There is a discussion of the meaning of the terms “transmitter” and “source” in S. Günther,
Quellenuntersuchungen zu den “Maqàtil aṭ-ṭālibiyyin” des Abū ‘l-Faraǧ al-Iṣfahānī (gest. 356/967). Ein Beitrag
zur Problematik der mündlichen und schriftlichen Überlieferung in der mittelalterlichen arabischen Literatur
(Hildesheim, 1991).
