Bibliographical Compilations of the Ḥanafī Legal School
The Ḥanafī juridical tradition has produced an extensive corpus of biographical literature documenting its scholarly lineage. Dr. Muḥyī al-Dīn Hilāl al-Sarḥān has catalogued several such works in his introduction to Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanafiyya li-Ibn al-Ḥannāʾī (طبقات الحنفية لابن الحنائي) [Classes of Ḥanafī Scholars by Ibn al-Ḥannāʾī, d. 979 AH, v. 1/p. 81], while Dr. ʿAbd al-Fattāḥ al-Ḥilw has enumerated additional texts in his prefatory analysis of al-Ṭabaqāt al-Saniyya by Taqī al-Dīn ibn ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Tamīmī (d. 1010 AH). A further supplementation to these mainly bibliographical indices with further textual specimens encountered during investigation of biographical compendiums and manuscript catalogues have also been listed below. Texts of unattributed authorship have been methodically excluded from this compilation, as have works whose attribution remains philologically unverified. The following constitutes an enumeration of most of the extant texts:
1. Akhbār Abī Ḥanīfa wa-Aṣḥābihi (أخبار أبي حنيفة وأصحابه) [Historical reports of Abū Ḥanīfa and His Companions] by al-Ṣaymarī (d. 436 AH), which is likely the first book on the biographies of Ḥanafī scholars, and it is in print.
2. Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanafiyya (طبقات الحنفية) [Classes of Ḥanafī Scholars] by Abū ʿĀṣim Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh al-Harawī (d. 458 AH), which exists in manuscript format with a copy in the Aya Sofya collection in Istanbul, number 948.
3. Ṭabaqāt al-Fuqahāʾ (طبقات الفقهاء) [Classes of Jurists] by ʿAbd al-Wahhāb ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Fāmī (d. 500 AH). As mentioned in al-Iʿlān bi-al-Tawbīkh of al-Sakhawi, p. 191.
4. Ṭabaqāt al-Fuqahāʾ (Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanafiyya wa-al-Shāfiʿiyya) (طبقات الفقهاء الحنفية والشافعية)) [Classes of Jurists (Classes of Ḥanafī and Shāfiʿī Scholars)] by Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Ibrāhīm al-Hamadhānī (d. 521 AH), mentioned in Kashf al-Ẓunūn of Ḥājjī Khalīfa and in Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanafiyya by al-Qurashī, p. 478.
5. Wafayāt al-Aʿyān min Madhhab al-Nuʿmān (وفيات الأعيان من مذهب النعمان) [Deaths of Notables from the School of al-Nuʿmān] by Najm al-Dīn Ibrāhīm ibn ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad al-Ṭarṭūsī (d. 758 AH). A copy exists in al-Ẓāhiriyya library, Damascus: section 31/2, general 7149 Ẓāhiriyya.
6. Kitāb fī Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanafiyya (كتاب في طبقات الحنفية) [A Book on the Classes of Ḥanafīs] by Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad al-Muhandis (d. 769 AH), which is a large book. The scholar [ḥāfiẓ] Ibn Ḥajar mentioned that he worked hard on it, as he examined many books in different countries. Al-Durar al-Kāmina 3/6.
7. Al-Jawāhir al-Muḍiyya fī Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanafiyya (الجواهر المضية في طبقات الحنفية) [The Luminous Jewels on the Classes of Ḥanafīs] by Muḥyī al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Qādir ibn Muḥammad ibn Naṣr al-Qurashī (d. 775 AH), which is one of the largest biographical books of Ḥanafīs. It is in print, published in Hyderabad in 1332 AH, in Karachi by Mīr Muḥammad Kutubkhāna, and published with the editing of Dr. ʿAbd al-Fattāḥ al-Ḥilw at ʿĪsā al-Bābī press in Egypt in 1398 AH.
8. Naẓm al-Jumān fī Ṭabaqāt Aṣḥāb Imāminā al-Nuʿmān (نظم الجمان في طبقات أصحاب إمامنا النعمان) [String of Pearls on the Classes of the Companions of Our Imam al-Nuʿmān] by Ṣārim al-Dīn Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad ibn Aydumar ibn Duqmāq al-Qāhirī d. (d. 809 AH), which exists as a manuscript in 3 volumes, dedicating the first to the biography of Abū Ḥanīfa, and the second and third to the biographies of his companions. Ḥājjī Khalīfa said in “Kashf al-Ẓunūn” 2/1098: “I saw the first and second volumes in his handwriting.” It was published by Dar ibn Hazm in 5 volumes in 1445 AH (2024)
9. Al-Mirqāt al-Wafiyya fī Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanafiyya (المرقاة الوفية في طبقات الحنفية) [The Complete Ladder on the Classes of Ḥanafīs] by Majd al-Dīn Abū Ṭāhir Muḥammad ibn Yaʿqūb al-Fīrūzābādī al-Shīrāzī al-Shāfiʿī (d. 817 AH), which is an abridgment of Al-Jawāhir al-Muḍiyya fī Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanafiyya” (الجواهر المضية في طبقات الحنفية of ) . A copy exists in the ʿĀrif Ḥikmat Library in Madina, number 42. It has been published in 2 volumes by Dar al-Fath.
10. Al-Tadhkira (التذكرة) [The compendium] by Taqī al-Dīn Aḥmad ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Maqrīzī (d. 845 AH), to which al-ḥāfiẓ Ibn Quṭlūbughā (d. 879 AH) referred in the introduction to his “Tāj al-Tarājim.”
11. Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanafiyya (طبقات الحنفية) [Classes of Ḥanafī Scholars] by Taqī al-Dīn Abū Bakr ibn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿUmar al-Asadī al-Shahbī al-Dimashqī (d. 851 AH).
12. Kitāb Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanafiyya (كتاب طبقات الحنفية) [Book of the Classes of Ḥanafīs] by al-Qadi Badr al-Dīn Maḥmūd ibn Aḥmad al-ʿAynī d. (855 AH).
13. Tāj al-Tarājim fī Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanafiyya (تاج التراجم في طبقات الحنفية) [Crown of Biographies on the Classes of Ḥanafīs] by Zayn al-Dīn Qāsim ibn Quṭlūbughā (879 AH), which is in print, first published in Leipzig in 1862 CE, and published in al-Muthannā Library in Baghdad in 1962.
14. Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanafiyya (طبقات الحنفية) [Classes of Ḥanafī Scholars] by Muḥammad ibn Maḥmūd ibn Khalīl, Shams al-Dīn al-Qūnawī, known as Ibn Ājā (d. 881 AH), and his book is in 3 volumes.
15. Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanafiyya (طبقات الحنفية) [Classes of Ḥanafī Scholars] by Muḥibb al-Dīn Abī al-Faḍl Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Thaqafī al-Ḥalabī, known as Ibn al-Shiḥna al-Ṣaghīr (d. 890 AH), and his book is in several volumes.
16. Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanafiyya (طبقات الحنفية) [Classes of Ḥanafī Scholars] by al-Hāfiẓ Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad al-Sakhāwī (902 AH). A copy exists in the Film Images Library in the Manuscripts Department of the Islamic University of Madina, number 5/4857.
17. Mukhtaṣar min Manāqib Aʾimmat al-Ḥanafiyya wa-al-Shāfiʿiyya (مختصر من مناقب أئمة الحنفية والشافعية) [Abridgment of the Virtues of the Imams of the Ḥanafī and Shāfiʿī Schools] by Aḥmad ibn Sulaymān ibn Kamāl, known as Ibn Kamāl Pasha (d. 940 AH). A copy exists in the Makkan Sanctuary Library (Maktabat al-Ḥaram al-Makkī), number 82 Biographies, and another in Madina at the Maḥmūdiyya Library, number 16/2650.
18. Al-Ghuraf al-ʿAliyya fī Tarājim Mutaʾakhkhirī al-Ḥanafiyya (الغرف العلية في تراجم متأخري الحنفية) [The Lofty Chambers on the Biographies of Later Ḥanafīs] by Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad ibn Ṭūlūn al-Ṣāliḥī al-Dimashqī (d. 953 AH). A manuscript copy exists in the King Faisal Centre in Riyadh, number B 21477-21483.
19. Talkhīṣ al-Jawāhir al-Muḍiyya fī Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanafiyya (تلخيص الجواهر المضية في طبقات الحنفية) [Summary of the Luminous Jewels on the Classes of Ḥanafīs] by Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Ḥalabī (d. 956 AH). A manuscript copy exists in Riyadh (Film 63) from ʿĀrif Ḥikmat, and he also abridged the aforementioned book of Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn al-Muhandis.
20. Abridgment by Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Ḥalabī (d. 956 AH) – who abridged the book of Ibn al-Muhandis and “Al-Jawāhir al-Muḍiyya.” A copy exists in the Public Library (al-Maktaba al-ʿUmūmiyya) in Syria, number 5055, and another in the Shahīd ʿAlī collection in Turkiye, number 1941, and another in Dār al-ʿUlūm in Pakistan, number 1647, and in the Imperial Library in Vienna 1171, and in the Aya Sofya Library in Turkiye, number 3103, and in the Köprülü collection, Turkiye, numbers 1110 and 1112.
21. Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanafiyya (طبقات الحنفية) [Classes of Ḥanafī Scholars] by Muḥammad, grandson of Āq Shams al-Dīn (d. 959 AH).
22. Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanafiyya (طبقات الحنفية) [Classes of Ḥanafī Scholars] by Aḥmad ibn Muṣṭafā ibn Khalīl, Ṭāshkubrī Zādah (d. 968 AH). A copy exists in the Kuwait Library, number 7 History, and it was published in Mosul, Iraq in 1954.
23. Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanafiyya (طبقات الحنفية) [Classes of Ḥanafī Scholars] by ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn ibn Amr Allāh al-Ḥumaydī, known as Ibn al-Ḥannāʾī (d. 979 AH). Published with the editing of Dr. Muḥyī Hilāl al-Sarḥān at the Dīwān al-Waqf al-Sunnī press in Baghdad in 2005 in 3 volumes.
24. Katāʾib Aʿlām al-Akhyār min Fuqahāʾ Madhhab al-Nuʿmān al-Mukhtār (كتائب أعلام الأخيار من فقهاء مذهب النعمان المختار) [Luminaries of the Righteous Jurists of the School of al-Nuʿmān the Chosen] by Maḥmūd ibn Sulaymān al-Kafawī (d. 990 AH). A copy exists in the Maḥmūdiyya Library in Madina, number 2575, and another in the Qādiriyya Library, number 1242.
25. Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanafiyya (طبقات الحنفية) [Classes of Ḥanafī Scholars] by Quṭb al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Qāḍī Khān ibn Bahāʾ al-Dīn ibn Yaʿqūb ibn Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī al-Nahrawānī al-Hindī then al-Makkī al-Ḥanafī, the scholarly Imam (d. 990 AH).
26. Ṭabaqāt al-Sāda al-Ḥanafiyya (طبقات السادة الحنفية) [Classes of the Ḥanafī Masters] by ʿAbd Allāh al-Suwaydī, from the scholars of the tenth century AH. A copy exists in the Berlin Library in Germany, number 10026, and another copy in the Khudabakhsh Library in India, number 12/761. See here – https://digital.staatsbibliothek-berlin.de/werkansicht/?PPN=PPN1856805212&PHYSID=PHYS_0003
27. Al-Ṭabaqāt al-Saniyya fī Tarājim al-Ḥanafiyya (الطبقات السنية في تراجم الحنفية) [The Sublime Classes on the Biographies of Ḥanafīs] by Taqī al-Dīn ibn ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Tamīmī (d. 1010 AH), which is one of the largest biographical books of scholars of the school. The first part was published with the editing of ʿAbd al-Fattāḥ al-Ḥilw, then reprinted in Dār al-Rifāʿī in Kuwait in 1983, with 3 parts printed, but it was not completed. It was announced in 2021 to be published fully in 8 volumes by Ismaeel books in the UK. See here – https://x.com/Ismaeelbooksuk/status/1467971961880027143
28. Al-Athmār al-Janiyya fī Asmāʾ al-Ḥanafiyya (الأثمار الجنية في أسماء الحنفية) [The Gathered Fruits on the Names of Ḥanafīs] by ʿAlī ibn Sulṭān Muḥammad al-Qārī al-Harawī (d. 1014 AH), which is an abridgment of the book Al-Jawāhir al-Muḍiyya by al-Qurashī. Published in the Khuda bakhsh Library with the editing of Salīm al-Dīn Aḥmad in 2002 in one volume, and also published in the Sunni Endowment press in Baghdad with the editing of Dr. ʿAbd al-Muḥsin ʿAbd Allāh Aḥmad in two volumes in 2009.
29. Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanafiyya (طبقات الحنفية) [Classes of Ḥanafī Scholars] by al-Qadi Khalīl al-Rūmī, known as Ṣūlāq Zādah (d. 1095 AH), and his book is a manuscript with a copy in the Walī al-Dīn Efendi collection in Turkiye.
30. Mahām al-Fuqahāʾ fī Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanafiyya (مهام الفقهاء في طبقات الحنفية) [Important Matters of the Jurists in the Classes of Ḥanafīs] by al-Qadi Muḥammad Kāmī ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Aḥmad ibn Shaykh Sinān ibn Maḥmūd al-Adrinawī al-Rūmī al-Ḥanafī (d. 1136 AH).
31. Khulāṣat al-Jawāhir fī Ṭabaqāt al-Aʾimma al-Ḥanafiyya al-Akābir (خلاصة الجواهر في طبقات الأئمة الحنفية الأكابر) [Summary of the Jewels on the Classes of the Great Ḥanafī Imams] by ʿAbd al-Salām ibn Muḥammad Amīn ibn Shams al-Dīn al-Dāghistānī (d. 1202 AH).
32. Al-Fawāʾid al-Bahiyya fī Tarājim al-Ḥanafiyya (الفوائد البهية في تراجم الحنفية) [The Splendid Benefits on the Biographies of Ḥanafīs] by Abū al-Ḥasanāt ʿAbd al-Ḥayy al-Laknawī d. (1304 AH). This book is a summary and refinement of Katāʾib Aʿlām al-Akhyār by al-Kafawī, in which he wrote biographies of about six hundred of the famous scholars of the school. It is in print, published in Lucknow, India, in 1993 AH, with “Al-Taʿlīqāt al-Saniyya ʿalā al-Fawāʾid al-Bahiyya” [The Sublime Annotations on the Splendid Benefits] in the margin, which is also by him, and published in Pakistan and Egypt.
33. [Additional works by al-Laknawī] who dedicated a book to the men of al-Hidāya, which he included in the introduction to al-Hidāya, then made an appendix for it called Mudhayyilat al-Dirāya (مذيلة الدراية) and he also singled out the commentators of “Al-Jāmiʿ al-Ṣaghīr” (الجامع الصغير) [The Small Compendium] and the authors of the texts, and books of biographies included in his book “Al-Nāfiʿ al-Kabīr fī Sharḥ al-Jāmiʿ al-Ṣaghīr” (النافع الكبير في شرح الجامع الصغير) [The Great Benefit in the Explanation of the Small Compendium], then he wrote biographies of those mentioned or their books in “Sharḥ al-Wiqāya” (شرح الوقاية) along with its commentators and annotators, in the introduction to his book “Al-Siʿāya li-Sharḥ al-Wiqāya” (السعاية لشرح الوقاية).
34. Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanafiyya (طبقات الحنفية) [Classes of Ḥanafī Scholars] by ʿAfīf al-Dīn al-Shirwānī. A copy exists in the Egyptian National Library, number 5/248.
35. Tadhkirat al-Ṭabaqāt (تذكرة الطبقات) [Memoir of Classes] by Muḥammad ibn Yāsuf al-Ṣāliḥī (d. 942 AH). A copy exists in the Library of the Makkan Sanctuary (Maktabat al-Ḥaram al-Makkī), number 3543, and in the Mahmudiyya Library in Madina, number 2544, and it is focused on the biography of Abū Ḥanīfa and his companions.
36. Al-Ṭabaqāt al-Jaliyya fī Tarājim al-Sāda al-Ḥanafiyya (الطبقات الجلية في تراجم السادة الحنفية) [The Clear Classes on the Biographies of the Ḥanafī Masters] by Kamāl al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Ghazzī d. (1061 AH). It is among the books mentioned in al-Muḥibbī’s history.
37. Silsilat al-Dhahab fī Tarājim Aʿyān al-Madhhab (سلسلة الذهب في تراجم أعيان المذهب) [The Golden Chain on the Biographies of Notables of the School] by Abū al-Saʿādāt ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥīm al-Madrasī al-Makkī (d. 1185 AH).
38. Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanafiyya (طبقات الحنفية) [Classes of Ḥanafī Scholars] by Bahāʾ al-Dīn Muḥammad Amīn al-Baghdādī known as al-Suwaydī (d. 1246 AH).
39. Asmāʾ al-Kutub al-Maʿrūfa bi-Kashf al-Ẓunūn fī al-Dhayl wa-al-Mutūn (أسماء الكتب المعروفة بكشف الظنون في الذيل والمتون) [Names of Books by unveiling obscurities in Appendices and Texts] by Ismāʿīl Pasha al-Baghdādī (d. 1339 AH). It contains many biographies of Ḥanafī scholars.
40. Al-Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanafiyya wa-Taṭawwur al-Fiqh al-Ḥanafī (الطبقات الحنفية وتطور الفقه الحنفي) [The Ḥanafī Classes and the Development of Ḥanafī Jurisprudence] by ʿAbd al-Majīd al-Turkmānī.
41. Al-Madhhab al-Ḥanafī, Madārisuhu wa-Muʾallafātuhu, Khuṣūṣiyyātuhu wa-Khaṣāʾiṣuhu (المذهب الحنفي، مدارسه ومؤلفاته، خصوصياته وخصائصه) [The Ḥanafī School, Its scholarly institutions, Its authors, Specificities and Characteristics], a doctoral dissertation by Aḥmad al-Naqīb. Printed by the Office of Islamic Press and Distribution, Cairo, in two volumes, 2001.
42. Madkhal ilā Dirāsat al-Madhhab al-Ḥanafī (مدخل إلى دراسة المذهب الحنفي) [Introduction to the Study of the Ḥanafī School] by Aḥmad Saʿīd Ḥawwā, Dār al-Andalus al-Khaḍrāʾ, Jeddah, 1st edition, 1999.
43. Al-Madhhab al-Ḥanafī (المذهب الحنفي) [The Ḥanafī School] in 2 volumes, by Dr. ʿAbd al-Karīm ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Lāḥim, Dār al-ʿĀṣima, Riyadh, 1st edition, 2002.
44. Muʿjam Taṣānīf al-Ḥanafiyya (معجم تصانيف الحنفية) [Dictionary of Ḥanafī Works] by Khayr al-Dīn Ziriklī, Riyadh University, 1983.
45. Muʿjam al-Maṭbūʿāt al-ʿArabiyya wa-al-Muʿarraba fī al-Fiqh al-Ḥanafī (معجم المطبوعات العربية والمعربة في الفقه الحنفي) [Dictionary of Arabic and Arabized Printed Materials in Ḥanafī Jurisprudence] by Muḥammad ibn Saʿūd al-Baṣīrī, Maktabat al-Rushd, Riyadh, 1st edition, 2001.
46. Al-Muʿjam al-Jāmiʿ fī Tarājim al-ʿUlamāʾ wa-Ṭalabat al-ʿIlm al-Muʿāṣirīn (المعجم الجامع في تراجم العلماء وطلبة العلم المعاصرين) [The Comprehensive Dictionary on the Biographies of Contemporary Scholars and Students of Knowledge] by Dr. ʿAbd Allāh al-Zāyidī, which includes biographies of some contemporary Ḥanafī scholars. Printed in 2004.
47. Tarājim al-Muʾallifīn al-Tūnisiyyīn (تراجم المؤلفين التونسيين) [Biographies of Tunisian Authors] by Muḥammad Maḥfūẓ, Dār al-Gharb al-Islāmī, Beirut, 2nd edition, 1994. It contains biographies of some Tunisian Ḥanafī scholars.
48. Al-Jawāhir al-Naqiyya fī Tarājim al-Ḥuffāẓ al-Ḥanafiyya (الجواهر النقية في تراجم الحفاظ الحنفية) [The Pure Jewels on the Biographies of Ḥanafī Preservers], Supervision and Review by Muftī Abū al-Qāsim al-Nuʿmānī, Correction and Revision by Shaykh Niʿmat Allāh al-Aʿẓamī, Preparation by Shaykh Abū ʿAbd Allāh Maʿrūf Mujīb al-Fīnawī, published by Maktaba al-Ittihād, India, 1st edition, 2019 CE.
49. Al-Yawāqīt wa-al-Jawāhir fī Tarājim Nubalāʾ Bangāl wa-al-Akābir (اليواقيت والجواهر في تراجم نبلاء بنغال والأكابر) [The Rubies and Jewels on the Biographies of Bengal’s Nobles and Elite Scholars], published in 2021 CE in 8 volumes by Shaykh Muḥammad Ḥifẓ al-Raḥmān al-Kumillāʾī, Head of the Department of Fatwa Issuance at al-Jāmiʿa al-Raḥmāniyya al-ʿArabiyya, Dhaka, Bangladesh. The work contains mainly biographies of Ḥanafī scholars from around the last 150 years.
50. Al-Budūr al-Muḍiyya fī Tarājim al-Ḥanafiyya (البدور المضية في تراجم الحنفية) [The Luminous Full Moons on the Biographies of Ḥanafīs], also by the last author, Shaykh Muḥammad Ḥifẓ al-Raḥmān al-Kumillāʾī, Publisher: Dār al-Ṣāliḥ (Cairo – Egypt), Maktabat Shaykh al-Islām (Dhaka – Bangladesh), 1439 AH – 2018 CE, number of volumes: 23 (last 2 are indexes). This is probably the largest work to date on the subject matter. The pdf copy is available here to download – https://archive.org/details/bodourmadia
Abul Hasan Hussain Ahmed
22-4-25/Shawwal 1446 AH
London, UK
Download as a PDF file – HERE
