Notes for a History of Imamite ʿilm al-rijāl: the Production of Ibn al-Ghaḍāʾirī

The writing of works in the discipline known as ‛ilm al-rijāl has been long and interrupted. Over the centuries, specialists have investigated the biographies of the transmitters of traditions dating back to the imams of the Twelver Shiism, aiming to ascertain their degree of trustworthiness, or conversely, their lack of reliability. The first surviving text of ʿilm al-rijāl dates to the second half of the ninth century, while the four works considered truly founding to the discipline are from the second half of the tenth and the first half of the following century. It was during this time that Aḥmad Ibn al-Ghaḍāʾirī wrote several prosopographical works, including Kitāb al-Ḍuʿafāʾ, his only document surviving. The following notes are dedicated to the production of Ibn al-Ghaḍā’irī and to this last work, which for some specialists – despite objections of unreliability levelled at the author – remains a valuable source in ʿilm al-rijāl.