Mizan al-I'tidal fi Naqd al-Rijal

Mizan al-I'tidal fi Naqd al-Rijal ("The Balance of Fairness in the Criticism of Men") is a dictionary by Shams al-Din al-Dhahabi of the transmitters of prophetic knowledge and carriers of reports who were criticised; in his preface he calls it "a weighty, ample book making clear the transmitters of prophetic knowledge and the carriers of reports". ¹ He says he wrote it after his book known as al-Mughni, and added many names, most of them taken from Ibn Adi's al-Kamil and the supplement written to it. ¹ The book is arranged alphabetically, and many of its entries close with the author's own judgement after he has set out the sayings of earlier critics. ^{2 3}

Al-Dhahabi opens his introduction with a short history of the science of jarh wa-ta'dil as he sees it. ¹ The first to have his sayings on men collected was, in his account, Yahya ibn Sa'id al-Qattan, of whom he reports Ahmad ibn Hanbal saying that he had never seen his like with his own eyes. ¹ Then his students spoke on the subject: Yahya ibn Ma'in, Ali ibn al-Madini, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Amr ibn Ali al-Fallas and Abu Khaythama (may God be pleased with him). ¹ Then their students: Abu Zur'a, Abu Hatim, al-Bukhari, Muslim and Abu Ishaq al-Jawzajani al-Sa'di. ¹

After them he names al-Nasa'i, Ibn Khuzayma, al-Tirmidhi, al-Dulabi and al-Uqayli, describing al-Uqayli's book on weak transmitters as useful, and mentions a large book by Ibn Hibban. ¹ He holds that Abu Ahmad ibn Adi's al-Kamil is the most complete and the greatest of these books. ² Alongside it he counts the book of Abu al-Fath al-Azdi, al-Jarh wa-l-Ta'dil by Ibn Abi Hatim, and the books on weak transmitters by al-Daraqutni and al-Hakim. ² He notes that Ibn Tahir al-Maqdisi wrote a supplement to al-Kamil, and that Abu al-Faraj ibn al-Jawzi wrote a large book on the subject, which al-Dhahabi first abridged and then supplemented, one supplement after another. ²

Order and symbols. Al-Dhahabi arranged the book alphabetically, down to the fathers' names, to make it easy to use. ² Over the name of everyone cited by the six imams — al-Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawud, al-Nasa'i, al-Tirmidhi and Ibn Maja — he placed their familiar symbols. ² If all of them cite a man, his symbol is "ع"; if the authors of the four Sunan agree on him, it is "عو". ² In al-Bijawi's edition these symbols appear in square brackets after the name, for example "[عو، م معاً]" in the entry on Muhammad ibn Ishaq. ⁴

Whom he includes and whom he leaves out. Al-Dhahabi says his book contains men who were faulted with the slightest softness despite their reliability and standing, and that had Ibn Adi or another author of a book of criticism not mentioned such a man, he would not have mentioned him, because of his reliability. ² He explains that he did not think it right to drop any name that had been mentioned with some softening in the imams' books, for fear of being faulted for it, not because he himself found weakness in the man. ² He makes an exception of the Companions, whom he leaves out because of their standing, even where al-Bukhari and Ibn Adi mention them. ² Nor does he mention any of the imams followed in the branches of law, because of their standing in people's hearts, giving Abu Hanifa, al-Shafi'i and al-Bukhari as examples; if he does mention one of them, it is in fairness, and it harms him neither with God nor with people. ²

The grades of men he includes. Al-Dhahabi lists those his book contains, in order: deliberate liars and forgers; then those who lied in claiming to have heard; then those accused of forgery and falsification; then those who lied in their speech but not in prophetic hadith. ² Then the abandoned, whose errors were many so that their hadith was left; then huffaz with laxity in their religion and weakness in their probity; then transmitters weak in memory, whose reports are accepted as corroboration and for comparison. ² Then truthful transmitters and veiled shaykhs who did not reach the rank of the firm; then many unknown men whom Abu Hatim al-Razi or others declared unknown. ² The last grade is the trustworthy and firm who held an innovation, or the trustworthy who were attacked by someone whose words carry no weight, because of his harshness and his disagreement with the majority of critics. ²

Lesser and greater innovation. In the entry on Aban ibn Taghlib of Kufa, near the start of the book, al-Dhahabi explains how critics could declare an innovator trustworthy. ⁵ He divides innovation in two: lesser, such as Shi'ism with or without excess, which was widespread among the Successors and their followers together with religion, piety and truthfulness — were the hadith of such men rejected, a body of the prophetic reports would be lost. ⁵ And greater, such as complete rafd and excess in it, disparaging Abu Bakr and Umar and calling others to that; men of this kind, in his view, are not relied on. ⁶ The question is set out in narration from people of innovation.

The terms of criticism and vindication. Al-Dhahabi lists the grades of expression from the highest: "firm, a proof", "firm, a hafiz", "trustworthy, exact", "trustworthy, trustworthy", then "trustworthy", then "truthful", "no harm in him" and "there is no harm in him". ⁵ Then "his place is truthfulness", "good in hadith", "sound in hadith", "a middling shaykh", "a shaykh, fair in hadith", "truthful, God willing", "fairly sound" and the like. ⁵ The lowest terms of criticism for him are "imposter" and "liar"; lighter terms follow, such as "not strong", "not a proof", "there is talk about him", "soft", "of poor memory" and "disputed". ⁵ He fixes the dividing line between early and late transmitters at the turn of the year 300. ⁵

Al-Bukhari's "munkar al-hadith". Al-Dhahabi reports al-Bukhari saying that it is not permitted to narrate from anyone of whom he said "munkar al-hadith" (his hadith is denounced). ⁶ He adds that when he writes "trustworthy", "truthful", "sound", "soft" and the like without naming who said it, the judgement is his own. ⁶

Part three of al-Bijawi's edition begins with the continuation of the letter 'ayn at "Ubayd Allah", entry 5337, and ends among the Muhammads at entry 8044. ^{7 8} Its index shows that it covers the letters 'ayn, ghayn, fa', qaf, kaf, lam and the beginning of mim. ^{9 10} Among its longest and most revealing entries:

• Muhammad ibn Ishaq, author of the Sira: al-Dhahabi gathers those who declared him trustworthy and those who attacked him, rejects Hisham ibn Urwa's charge against him, and concludes that he is fair in hadith, upright and truthful, and that what he alone reports carries something objectionable. ^{11 12 3}
• al-Waqidi: he sets out the severe criticism of him, then the testimonies to his memory and breadth, and ends by saying that consensus settled on his weakness. ^{13 14}
• Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari: he rejects al-Sulaymani's charge that al-Tabari forged reports for the Rafida, and suggests that al-Sulaymani meant his namesake Muhammad ibn Jarir ibn Rustam. ¹⁵
• Ibn Hibban: he records what was held against him on the question of the "limit" and his saying "prophethood is knowledge and action", and gives the saying an acceptable reading, under a condition. ^{16 17}
• Muhyi al-Din ibn Arabi: he sets out the differing views of scholars on him and on Fusus al-Hikam, then his own. ^{18 19}
• Ikrima, client of Ibn Abbas: he states that Ikrima was criticised for his opinion, not his memory, and gathers both the praise and the attacks. ²⁰

• The Indian lithograph in two volumes, printed by order of al-Mawlawi Muhammad Khadim Husayn al-Azimabadi according to its title page. ²¹ Volume 1 ends with the last of the letter za' and a printer's colophon. ²² Volume 2 begins with the letter 'ayn and ends with the unnamed women, then "the book is complete". ^{23 24} The publisher's note after it says the book had been rare, that it was printed by collating two manuscripts, and that its account of al-Dhahabi and his works is drawn from the books of Abu al-Hasanat Muhammad Abd al-Hayy. ²⁵ The text of this scan reads poorly, so only what is clear is taken from it.
• The edition of Ali Muhammad al-Bijawi in four parts, Dar Ihya' al-Kutub al-Arabiyya of Isa al-Babi al-Halabi and Partners; the museum holds its third part, and the pages cited from it are the printed pages. ⁹