Al-Mizzi

المزي

Abu al-Hajjaj

Abu al-Hajjaj Jamal al-Din Yusuf ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Yusuf al-Kalbi al-Qudai al-Mizzi (10 Rabi II 654 AH / 7 May 1256 – 12 Safar 742 AH / 28 July 1341 CE) was a leading Shafii hadith scholar and specialist in narrator criticism. Born near Aleppo, he moved in childhood with his family to al-Mizza near Damascus, from which his nisba derives. After early Quran and Shafii legal study, he turned seriously to hadith in 675 AH / 1276–1277 CE and travelled widely through Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Alexandria and the Hijaz. He developed exceptional expertise in hadith transmission, hidden defects, difficult vocabulary and especially the biographies and evaluation of narrators. He maintained close scholarly ties with Ibn Taymiyya, al-Birzali and al-Dhahabi. In 705 AH / 1305–1306 CE he was briefly imprisoned after publicly reading passages from al-Bukharis Khalq afal al-ibad amid controversy surrounding Ibn Taymiyya. In 718 AH / 1318–1319 CE he became head of the Ashrafiyya Dar al-Hadith in Damascus and retained that post until his death; from 739 AH / 1338–1339 he also taught at the Nuriyya Dar al-Hadith. His two greatest works are Tahdhib al-Kamal fi asma al-rijal and Tuhfat al-ashraf bi-marifat al-atraf. He died in Damascus during a plague outbreak and was buried in the Sufi cemetery near Ibn Taymiyya.

1256 — 1341

Names and variants

Al-Mizzi· canonicalAl-Mizzi· canonicalالمزي· canonicalYusuf ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Yusuf· birth nameيوسف بن عبد الرحمن بن يوسف· birth nameAbu al-Hajjaj· kunyaأبو الحجاج· kunyaJamal al-Din· laqabجمال الدين· laqabal-Kalbi al-Qudai al-Mizzi· nisbaالكلبي القضاعي المزي· nisbaMizzi· variant

A master of narrator criticism

Al-Mizzi was a leading Shafii hadith scholar whose mastery of narrator biography and hadith reference literature made him one of the most important specialists of his age.

Sources: [4] bio evidence, [5] bio evidence, [8] bio evidence

Name and nisbas

He was Abu al-Hajjaj Jamal al-Din Yusuf ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Yusuf al-Kalbi al-Qudai al-Mizzi. The nisba al-Mizzi derives from al-Mizza near Damascus, where he grew up.

Sources: [4] bio evidence, [5] bio evidence, [8] bio evidence

Birth near Aleppo

Al-Mizzi was born near Aleppo on 10 Rabi II 654 AH / 7 May 1256 CE.

Sources: [4] bio evidence, [5] bio evidence, [8] bio evidence

Childhood move to al-Mizza

While still young he moved with his family to al-Mizza near Damascus and was raised there.

Sources: [4] bio evidence, [5] bio evidence, [8] bio evidence

Qurʾan and Shafii law

His early education included the Qurʾan and a period of Shafii legal study before hadith became his principal field.

Sources: [4] bio evidence, [5] bio evidence, [8] bio evidence

Beginning intensive hadith study

Al-Mizzi began intensive hadith study in 675 AH / 1276–1277 CE.

Sources: [1] training evidence, [6] training evidence, [8] training evidence

Early hadith teachers

Among his early hadith teachers was Abu al-Abbas Ahmad ibn Salama al-Dimashqi, with whom he read major transmitted works.

Sources: [1] training evidence, [6] training evidence, [8] training evidence

Study journeys in Syria

Al-Mizzi travelled to centers including Jerusalem, Homs, Hama and Baalbek in pursuit of hadith and related disciplines.

Sources: [4] travel evidence, [5] travel evidence, [8] travel evidence

Egypt and Alexandria

His study journeys also took him to Cairo, Alexandria and Bilbays, where he learned from prominent Egyptian scholars.

Sources: [4] travel evidence, [5] travel evidence, [8] travel evidence

Mecca and Medina

Al-Mizzi also travelled to Mecca and Medina and benefited from scholars of the Hijaz.

Sources: [4] travel evidence, [5] travel evidence, [8] travel evidence

A broad teacher network

His teachers included specialists such as al-Nawawi, Ibn Khallikan, Ibn Daqiq al-Id, al-Dimyati and other leading scholars of the thirteenth century.

Sources: [1] training evidence, [6] training evidence, [8] training evidence

Reading the major hadith collections

He read and transmitted the canonical hadith collections as well as works such as the Muwatta, Musnad Ahmad and al-Tabaranis al-Mujam al-kabir.

Sources: [1] training evidence, [6] training evidence, [8] training evidence

Arabic language expertise

Al-Mizzi also developed substantial expertise in Arabic language and philology, which supported his work on narrator names and hadith wording.

Sources: [1] training evidence, [6] training evidence, [8] training evidence

Mastery of narrator biography

He became especially renowned for identifying hadith narrators, their teachers and students, dates, reliability assessments and biographical relationships.

Sources: [1] training evidence, [6] training evidence, [8] training evidence

Hadith defects and discrimination

Sources praise his ability to distinguish reliable from unreliable material and to recognize defects and difficult features in hadith transmission.

Sources: [1] training evidence, [6] training evidence, [8] training evidence

Ibn Taymiyya, al-Birzali and al-Dhahabi

Al-Mizzi maintained close scholarly relations with Ibn Taymiyya, al-Birzali and al-Dhahabi. Their circles overlapped, and they benefited from one another’s expertise.

Sources: [2] circle evidence, [3] circle evidence, [8] circle evidence

Support for Ibn Taymiyya

During the controversies surrounding Ibn Taymiyya in Damascus, al-Mizzi publicly took positions that were understood as supportive of his colleague.

Sources: [2] circle evidence, [3] circle evidence, [8] circle evidence

Brief imprisonment in 705 AH

In 705 AH / 1305–1306 CE, after reading passages from al-Bukharis Khalq afal al-ibad in the Umayyad Mosque, al-Mizzi was complained against and briefly imprisoned before being released.

Sources: [2] circle evidence, [3] circle evidence, [8] circle evidence

A reported early influence

Biographical reporting states that in his youth al-Mizzi was influenced for a time by Afif al-Din al-Tilimsani before later abandoning those views. The episode is preserved as a report rather than a central feature of his mature scholarship.

Sources: [2] circle evidence, [3] circle evidence, [8] circle evidence

Head of the Ashrafiyya Dar al-Hadith

In 718 AH / 1318–1319 CE, al-Mizzi became head of the Ashrafiyya Dar al-Hadith in Damascus and remained in that position until his death.

Sources: [2] institutions evidence, [4] institutions evidence, [8] institutions evidence

A prestigious hadith institution

The Ashrafiyya was one of Damascuss most prestigious hadith institutions, and al-Mizzis appointment reflected his reputation in hadith scholarship.

Sources: [2] institutions evidence, [4] institutions evidence, [8] institutions evidence

Teaching at the Himsiyya

Al-Mizzi also taught at the Himsiyya Dar al-Hadith before transferring that teaching duty to his student al-Alai.

Sources: [2] institutions evidence, [4] institutions evidence, [8] institutions evidence

Teaching at the Nuriyya

After al-Birzalis death, al-Mizzi began teaching at the Nuriyya Dar al-Hadith in 739 AH / 1338–1339 CE and continued until his death.

Sources: [2] institutions evidence, [4] institutions evidence, [8] institutions evidence

More than fifty years of transmission

He transmitted and taught hadith for more than fifty years.

Sources: [2] institutions evidence, [4] institutions evidence, [8] institutions evidence

Hadith dictation sessions

For a period al-Mizzi conducted formal hadith dictation sessions in which students wrote transmitted material from him.

Sources: [2] institutions evidence, [4] institutions evidence, [8] institutions evidence

A major generation of students

His students included al-Dhahabi, Ibn Kathir, Taj al-Din al-Subki, Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, Ibn Rafi and numerous later hadith scholars and jurists.

Sources: [2] institutions evidence, [4] institutions evidence, [8] institutions evidence

A scholarly family

Al-Mizzi paid close attention to the education of his family. His wife was known for Qurʾan teaching, his son Abd al-Rahman became a scholar, and Ibn Kathir married his daughter Zaynab.

Sources: [2] institutions evidence, [4] institutions evidence, [8] institutions evidence

Modesty and ascetic conduct

Biographical sources portray al-Mizzi as modest, restrained in lifestyle and devoted to teaching and scholarship.

Sources: [2] institutions evidence, [4] institutions evidence, [8] institutions evidence

Tahdhib al-Kamal

Tahdhib al-Kamal fi asma al-rijal is al-Mizzis monumental biographical reference work on narrators connected to the canonical hadith collections.

Sources: [6] tahdhib evidence, [7] tahdhib evidence, [8] tahdhib evidence

Expansion of al-Kamal

The work re-edits and greatly expands Abd al-Ghani al-Maqdisis al-Kamal fi asma al-rijal.

Sources: [6] tahdhib evidence, [7] tahdhib evidence, [8] tahdhib evidence

Eight years of work

Al-Mizzi spent about eight years preparing Tahdhib al-Kamal.

Sources: [6] tahdhib evidence, [7] tahdhib evidence, [8] tahdhib evidence

A much larger reference work

He expanded the earlier work to roughly three times its original scale and added more than 1,700 narrators drawn from supplementary works associated with the Six Books.

Sources: [6] tahdhib evidence, [7] tahdhib evidence, [8] tahdhib evidence

Narrator-centered method

Entries in Tahdhib al-Kamal organize names, teachers, students, dates and critical evaluations to make narrator identification and comparison easier.

Sources: [6] tahdhib evidence, [7] tahdhib evidence, [8] tahdhib evidence

The Tahdhib tradition

Tahdhib al-Kamal generated an extensive tradition of abridgments and revisions, including major works by al-Dhahabi and later Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani.

Sources: [6] tahdhib evidence, [7] tahdhib evidence, [8] tahdhib evidence

Tuhfat al-Ashraf

Tuhfat al-ashraf bi-marifat al-atraf is al-Mizzis major atraf work for locating hadiths across core collections.

Sources: [8] tuhfa evidence, [9] tuhfa evidence, [10] tuhfa evidence

Scope of Tuhfat al-Ashraf

The work covers the Six Books together with several important supplementary collections associated with Abu Dawud, al-Tirmidhi and al-Nasai.

Sources: [8] tuhfa evidence, [9] tuhfa evidence, [10] tuhfa evidence

19,626 hadith entries

The work treats 19,626 hadiths distributed across 1,391 musnads.

Sources: [8] tuhfa evidence, [9] tuhfa evidence, [10] tuhfa evidence

Organization by narrators

Tuhfat al-Ashraf is organized around narrator names and Companion-level transmission routes so that readers can identify where a hadith appears in the source collections.

Sources: [8] tuhfa evidence, [9] tuhfa evidence, [10] tuhfa evidence

Isnads and hadith openings

The work gives the relevant chains of transmission and typically records only the beginning or identifying phrase of the hadith text.

Sources: [8] tuhfa evidence, [9] tuhfa evidence, [10] tuhfa evidence

Earlier atraf models

Al-Mizzi drew on earlier atraf works, especially those of Ibn Asakir and earlier specialists, while producing a substantially broader reference tool.

Sources: [8] tuhfa evidence, [9] tuhfa evidence, [10] tuhfa evidence

A standard atraf reference

Tuhfat al-Ashraf became one of the best-known and most widely used works in the atraf genre.

Sources: [8] tuhfa evidence, [9] tuhfa evidence, [10] tuhfa evidence

Completion of a Shafii biographical work

Al-Mizzi also completed a Shafii biographical project begun by Ibn al-Salah and later continued by al-Nawawi.

Sources: [4] other evidence, [5] other evidence, [8] other evidence

Other writings

His remaining writings include hadith dictations, selections of elevated chains and shorter reference works connected to teachers and transmitted collections.

Sources: [4] other evidence, [5] other evidence, [8] other evidence

Death during plague

Al-Mizzi contracted plague in Damascus and died within a few days on 12 Safar 742 AH / 28 July 1341 CE.

Sources: [4] bio evidence, [5] bio evidence, [8] bio evidence

Funeral led by al-Subki

Taqi al-Din al-Subki led al-Mizzis funeral prayer.

Sources: [4] bio evidence, [5] bio evidence, [8] bio evidence

Burial near Ibn Taymiyya

Al-Mizzi was buried in the Sufi cemetery in Damascus, near the grave of Ibn Taymiyya.

Sources: [4] bio evidence, [5] bio evidence, [8] bio evidence

Legacy in ilm al-rijal

Al-Mizzis systematic organization of narrator biography made his works indispensable to later hadith scholars working on identification and evaluation of transmitters.

Sources: [6] tahdhib evidence, [7] tahdhib evidence, [8] tahdhib evidence

Influence on al-Dhahabi

Al-Dhahabi openly acknowledged al-Mizzis superiority in narrator knowledge and produced several works derived from Tahdhib al-Kamal.

Sources: [6] tahdhib evidence, [7] tahdhib evidence, [8] tahdhib evidence

Influence on Ibn Hajar

The narrator-reference tradition built on Tahdhib al-Kamal ultimately shaped Ibn Hajar al-Asqalanis Tahdhib al-Tahdhib and Taqrib al-Tahdhib.

Sources: [6] tahdhib evidence, [7] tahdhib evidence, [8] tahdhib evidence

A central Mamluk hadith authority

Through teaching, institutional leadership and reference works, al-Mizzi became one of the central hadith authorities of Mamluk Damascus.

Sources: [4] other evidence, [5] other evidence, [8] other evidence

Source-sensitive points

established

Al-Mizzi was born near Aleppo on 10 Rabi II 654 AH / 7 May 1256 CE.

Sources: [2] Evidence for birth_exact, [4] Evidence for birth_exact, [5] Evidence for birth_exact, [8] Evidence for birth_exact

established

Al-Mizzi died in Damascus on 12 Safar 742 AH / 28 July 1341 CE.

Sources: [2] Evidence for death_exact, [4] Evidence for death_exact, [5] Evidence for death_exact, [8] Evidence for death_exact

established

Al-Mizzi moved in childhood with his family to al-Mizza near Damascus, from which his nisba derives.

Sources: [4] Evidence for move_mizza, [5] Evidence for move_mizza, [8] Evidence for move_mizza

established

Al-Mizzi began intensive hadith study in 675 AH / 1276–1277 CE.

Sources: [1] Evidence for hadith_675, [6] Evidence for hadith_675, [8] Evidence for hadith_675

established

Al-Mizzi travelled for study through Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Alexandria and the Hijaz.

Sources: [4] Evidence for travel_network, [5] Evidence for travel_network, [8] Evidence for travel_network

established

Al-Mizzi became one of the leading specialists of his age in narrator biography and hadith transmitter criticism.

Sources: [1] Evidence for rijal_mastery, [6] Evidence for rijal_mastery, [8] Evidence for rijal_mastery

established

Al-Mizzi maintained close scholarly ties with Ibn Taymiyya, al-Birzali and al-Dhahabi.

Sources: [2] Evidence for close_circle, [3] Evidence for close_circle, [8] Evidence for close_circle

established

Al-Mizzi was briefly imprisoned in 705 AH / 1305–1306 CE after controversy over his public reading from al-Bukharis Khalq afal al-ibad.

Sources: [2] Evidence for imprisonment_705, [3] Evidence for imprisonment_705, [8] Evidence for imprisonment_705

reported

Biographical sources report that in his youth al-Mizzi was temporarily influenced by Afif al-Din al-Tilimsani before later abandoning those views.

Sources: [2] Evidence for tilimsani_influence, [3] Evidence for tilimsani_influence, [8] Evidence for tilimsani_influence

established

Al-Mizzi became head of the Ashrafiyya Dar al-Hadith in 718 AH / 1318–1319 CE and remained there until his death.

Sources: [2] Evidence for ashrafiyya_718, [4] Evidence for ashrafiyya_718, [8] Evidence for ashrafiyya_718

established

Al-Mizzi began teaching at the Nuriyya Dar al-Hadith in 739 AH / 1338–1339 CE.

Sources: [2] Evidence for nuriyya_739, [4] Evidence for nuriyya_739, [8] Evidence for nuriyya_739

reported

Biographical sources report that al-Mizzi transmitted hadith for more than fifty years.

Sources: [2] Evidence for fifty_years, [4] Evidence for fifty_years, [8] Evidence for fifty_years

established

Al-Mizzis students included al-Dhahabi, Ibn Kathir, Taj al-Din al-Subki, Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya and other major scholars.

Sources: [2] Evidence for students_major, [4] Evidence for students_major, [8] Evidence for students_major

established

Ibn Kathir married al-Mizzis daughter Zaynab.

Sources: [2] Evidence for ibn_kathir_marriage, [4] Evidence for ibn_kathir_marriage, [8] Evidence for ibn_kathir_marriage

established

Tahdhib al-Kamal is al-Mizzis major biographical reference work on narrators connected to the canonical hadith collections.

Sources: [6] Evidence for tahdhib_major, [7] Evidence for tahdhib_major, [8] Evidence for tahdhib_major

established

Tahdhib al-Kamal reworks and greatly expands Abd al-Ghani al-Maqdisis al-Kamal.

Sources: [6] Evidence for tahdhib_source, [7] Evidence for tahdhib_source, [8] Evidence for tahdhib_source

established

Al-Mizzi spent about eight years preparing Tahdhib al-Kamal.

Sources: [6] Evidence for tahdhib_eight_years, [7] Evidence for tahdhib_eight_years, [8] Evidence for tahdhib_eight_years

established

Tahdhib al-Kamal added more than 1,700 narrators from supplementary works associated with the Six Books.

Sources: [6] Evidence for tahdhib_1700, [7] Evidence for tahdhib_1700, [8] Evidence for tahdhib_1700

established

Tahdhib al-Kamal became the basis for major later narrator-reference works by al-Dhahabi and Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani.

Sources: [6] Evidence for tahdhib_legacy, [7] Evidence for tahdhib_legacy, [8] Evidence for tahdhib_legacy

established

Tuhfat al-Ashraf is al-Mizzis major atraf reference work.

Sources: [8] Evidence for tuhfa_major, [9] Evidence for tuhfa_major, [10] Evidence for tuhfa_major

established

Tuhfat al-Ashraf covers the Six Books together with several important supplementary hadith collections.

Sources: [8] Evidence for tuhfa_scope, [9] Evidence for tuhfa_scope, [10] Evidence for tuhfa_scope

established

Tuhfat al-Ashraf treats 19,626 hadiths distributed across 1,391 musnads.

Sources: [8] Evidence for tuhfa_counts, [9] Evidence for tuhfa_counts, [10] Evidence for tuhfa_counts

established

Tuhfat al-Ashraf organizes hadith references around narrator names and Companion-level transmission routes.

Sources: [8] Evidence for tuhfa_method, [9] Evidence for tuhfa_method, [10] Evidence for tuhfa_method

established

Al-Mizzi was Shafii in jurisprudence.

Sources: [2] Evidence for shafii_identity, [3] Evidence for shafii_identity, [8] Evidence for shafii_identity

established

Al-Mizzi died after contracting plague in Damascus.

Sources: [2] Evidence for death_plague, [4] Evidence for death_plague, [8] Evidence for death_plague

established

Taqi al-Din al-Subki led al-Mizzis funeral prayer.

Sources: [2] Evidence for funeral_subki, [4] Evidence for funeral_subki, [8] Evidence for funeral_subki

established

Al-Mizzi was buried in the Sufi cemetery in Damascus near Ibn Taymiyya.

Sources: [2] Evidence for burial_near_taymiyya, [4] Evidence for burial_near_taymiyya, [8] Evidence for burial_near_taymiyya

reported

Biographical sources portray al-Mizzi as modest, ascetic in conduct and dedicated to scholarship and family education.

Sources: [2] Evidence for character_reputation, [4] Evidence for character_reputation, [8] Evidence for character_reputation

Contributions

Narrator biographical criticism

Tahdhib al-Kamal systematized a vast body of biographical and critical information about narrators connected to the canonical hadith collections.

scholarly · established

Atraf hadith indexing

Tuhfat al-Ashraf created a powerful reference system for locating hadiths through narrator names, Companion-level routes and source collections.

scholarly · established

Formation of later hadith scholars

Through decades of teaching, al-Mizzi trained or authorized many major fourteenth-century scholars, including al-Dhahabi, Ibn Kathir and al-Subki.

scholarly · established

Institutional leadership in hadith

His long leadership of the Ashrafiyya Dar al-Hadith placed al-Mizzi at the center of Damascene hadith teaching.

scholarly · established

Foundation for the Tahdhib tradition

Later narrator-reference works by al-Dhahabi and Ibn Hajar developed directly from the framework established by Tahdhib al-Kamal.

scholarly · established

Sources

[1]
Siyar aʿlām al-nubalāʾ
al-Dhahabī · Classical biographical source
[2]
al-Bidāya wa-l-nihāya
Ibn Kathīr · Classical historical source
[3]
Ṭabaqāt al-Shāfiʿiyya al-kubrā
Taj al-Din al-Subki · Classical Shafiʿi biographical source
[4]
al-Durar al-kāmina fī aʿyān al-miʾa al-thāmina
Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani · Classical biographical source
[5]
al-Wāfī bi-l-wafayāt
al-Safadi · Classical biographical source
[6]
Tadhkirat al-ḥuffāẓ
al-Dhahabi · Classical hadith-biographical source
[7]
Tahdhīb al-Kamāl fī asmāʾ al-rijāl
al-Mizzi · Primary narrator-biographical work
[8]
Mizzi, Yusuf b. Abd al-Rahman
M. Yasar Kandemir · TDV Islam Ansiklopedisi · 2020
[9]
Tuhfetul-Esraf
Halit Ozkan · TDV Islam Ansiklopedisi · 2012
[10]
Tuḥfat al-ashrāf bi-maʿrifat al-aṭrāf
al-Mizzi · Primary atraf hadith work

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