# Mizan al-I'tidal
*Mizan al-I'tidal fi naqd al-rijal* (ميزان الاعتدال في نقد الرجال, "The Balance of Equity in the Criticism of Narrators") is a biographical-critical dictionary of hadith transmitters written by Shams al-Din al-Dhahabi (d. AH 748), the Damascene hadith master and historian.[1](https://shamela.ws/book/1692) • [2](https://kitaabun.com/shopping3/mizan-itidal-naqd-rijal-imam-dhahabi-arabic-p-1867.html) The book alphabetically lists more than eleven thousand narrators, male and female, whom al-Dhahabi judges unreliable, weak, or otherwise open to criticism,[2](https://kitaabun.com/shopping3/mizan-itidal-naqd-rijal-imam-dhahabi-arabic-p-1867.html) • [3](https://www.darultahqiq.com/answering-claim-imam-al-dhahabi-weakened-imam-abu-hanifa-mizan-al-itidal/) and it became the reference work of its field: later scholars wrote supplements and abridgments of it,[4](https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/mizanul-itidal) • [3](https://www.darultahqiq.com/answering-claim-imam-al-dhahabi-weakened-imam-abu-hanifa-mizan-al-itidal/) and [Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani](https://www.edgepedia.org/ibn-hajar-al-asqalani) called it the most well-organized work in its genre.[4](https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/mizanul-itidal)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Full title | *Mizan al-I'tidal fi naqd al-rijal*[4](https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/mizanul-itidal) • [5](http://enzyklopaedie-des-islam.de/begriffe/m/mizan-itidal.htm) |
| Author | Shams al-Din Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Uthman ibn Qaymaz al-Dhahabi (d. AH 748)[1](https://shamela.ws/book/1692) • [2](https://kitaabun.com/shopping3/mizan-itidal-naqd-rijal-imam-dhahabi-arabic-p-1867.html) |
| Entries | More than 11,000 narrators, male and female[2](https://kitaabun.com/shopping3/mizan-itidal-naqd-rijal-imam-dhahabi-arabic-p-1867.html) • [3](https://www.darultahqiq.com/answering-claim-imam-al-dhahabi-weakened-imam-abu-hanifa-mizan-al-itidal/) |
| Predecessor | Written after al-Dhahabi's *al-Mughni fi al-Du'afa* on the same subject[4](https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/mizanul-itidal) • [1](https://shamela.ws/book/1692) |
| Chief continuation | Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani's *Lisan al-Mizan*, an abridgment and supplement[4](https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/mizanul-itidal) • [6](https://hadith.riqh.ac.ir/article_13781.html?lang=en) |
## Origin: author and date
The author is Shams al-Din Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Uthman ibn Qaymaz al-Dhahabi, born in AH 673 and died in AH 748, a hadith critic, historian, and biographer.[2](https://kitaabun.com/shopping3/mizan-itidal-naqd-rijal-imam-dhahabi-arabic-p-1867.html) • [7](https://archive.org/details/MizaneLitidal2) His historical works alone number about two hundred books.[7](https://archive.org/details/MizaneLitidal2)
Al-Dhahabi composed the *Mizan* after his *al-Mughni fi al-Du'afa*, another dictionary of weak transmitters, and added to it many narrators not found in the earlier book, most of whom he took from Ibn al-Rumiyya's *al-Hafil*, a supplement to Ibn 'Adi's *al-Kamil*.[1](https://shamela.ws/book/1692) • [8](https://usul.ai/t/mizan-ictidal) One encyclopedia article describes the work as a revision of Ibn 'Adi's *al-Kamil fi Du'afa al-Rijal*, which al-Dhahabi expanded, refined, and published under a new name.[5](http://enzyklopaedie-des-islam.de/begriffe/m/mizan-itidal.htm)
## Contents
In his introduction al-Dhahabi defines the categories the book covers: deliberate fabricators of hadith; liars who claimed to have heard what they did not hear; those accused of fabrication or forgery; liars in speech but not in hadith; abandoned narrators whose transmission is not relied on; hadith masters weak in memory, whose reports are accepted only in corroborating chains, not in legal fundamentals; unknown narrators; and trustworthy transmitters criticized for innovation.[8](https://usul.ai/t/mizan-ictidal) • [1](https://shamela.ws/book/1692)
A study of the work's methodology argues that al-Dhahabi also criticized the *matn*, the text of a hadith, and not only its chain of transmitters, against the common view that Muslim criticism was confined to the *isnad* (the chain of transmitters passing a hadith down).[9](https://tezara.org/theses/108713)
## Reception and assessment
Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani judged the *Mizan* the most well-organized work in its field, and wrote *Lisan al-Mizan* as both an abridgment and a supplement, consulting more than 400 sources over forty-seven years until his death.[4](https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/mizanul-itidal) Ibn Hajar also responded critically: al-Dhahabi's inclusion of certain Companions in the *Mizan* and classification of them as weak or unknown prompted Ibn Hajar to defend them by methods including citing al-Dhahabi's own primary sources, narrating accounts praising the Companions, asserting miswriting of a Companion's name, and interpreting earlier biographers' words.[6](https://hadith.riqh.ac.ir/article_13781.html?lang=en) Ibn Hajar excluded 3,577 narrators from *Lisan al-Mizan* on the ground that they already appeared in *Tahdhib al-Kamal*, though he listed them separately at the end of his work.[4](https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/mizanul-itidal)
Within the book al-Dhahabi himself criticizes earlier critics: a peer-reviewed study finds that his criticism of [Ibn Hibban](https://www.edgepedia.org/ibn-hibban) takes two forms, rejection of Ibn Hibban's declaring narrators weak and correction of his mistakes in presenting biographies, and concludes that al-Dhahabi regarded Ibn Hibban as overly strict (*mutashaddid*) and imprecise in his evaluations.[10](https://journalofhadith.usim.edu.my/index.php/johs/article/view/102)
## References
1. [Mizan al-I'tidal fi Naqd al-Rijal, ed. Ali Muhammad al-Bajawi, Dar al-Ma'rifa, Beirut](https://shamela.ws/book/1692)
2. [Mizan Al-I'tidal Fi Naqd Al-Rijal, Imam al-Dhahabi, Arabic 5 Vols.](https://kitaabun.com/shopping3/mizan-itidal-naqd-rijal-imam-dhahabi-arabic-p-1867.html)
3. [Answering the claim that Imam al-Dhahabi weakened Imam Abu Hanifa in his Mizan al-I'tidal](https://www.darultahqiq.com/answering-claim-imam-al-dhahabi-weakened-imam-abu-hanifa-mizan-al-itidal/)
4. [MÎZÂNÜ'l-İ'TİDÂL, TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi](https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/mizanul-itidal)
5. [Mizan al-Itidal – Maßstab der Mäßigkeit, Enzyklopaedie des Islam](http://enzyklopaedie-des-islam.de/begriffe/m/mizan-itidal.htm)
6. [Critical Examination of the Function of the Principle of "Justice of the Companions" in the Works of Al-Asqalani](https://hadith.riqh.ac.ir/article_13781.html?lang=en)
7. [Mizan al-I'tidal fi naqd al-rijal, Dar al-Ma'rifa edition (Internet Archive)](https://archive.org/details/MizaneLitidal2)
8. [Mīzān al-Iʿtidāl fī naqd al-rijāl, author's introduction (Usul)](https://usul.ai/t/mizan-ictidal)
9. [Mizanu'l-İ'tidal'de metin tenkidi (Tezara thesis)](https://tezara.org/theses/108713)
10. [Analisis Kritikan Al-Dhahabī Terhadap Ibn Ḥibbān dalam Mizan Al-Iʻtidal, Journal of Hadith Studies](https://journalofhadith.usim.edu.my/index.php/johs/article/view/102)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › History and archaeology › Other history › Middle East and North Africa › Mamluk sultanate (1250 to 1517) › Chronicles and literary works*
*Initially written Sep 23, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license