イスファハーンの2篇の「歴史」 : ハディース學者が同じような著作を繰り返し編纂した理由

Abstract

This paper analyzes two works of local history that were written in Arabic. The first work is Tabaqat al-Muhaddithin bi-Asbahan, or Generations of Hadith Transmitters in Isfahan, by Abu al-Shaykh (d. 974 A.D.). The second is Dhikr Akhbar Isfahan : Tarikh Isfahan, or Memorizing Information of Isfahan : History of Isfahan, by Abu Nuaym (d. 1038). The major parts of both those two local histories of Isfahan, which were compiled in Isfahan, are occupied by biographical accounts of the people who had transmitted hadith in Isfahan since the generation of the Sahaba, the Companions of the Prophet, up to contemporaries of the compilers' teachers. The author of this paper calls this kind of local history written in Arabic 'Local Biographical History'. A considerable number of local biographical histories were compiled in the different regions of the then 'Islamic World', which extended from the Iberian peninsula to western Central Asia and centered on West Asia between the latter half of the 10th century and the first half of the 13th century. Some of those biographical local histories, which cover the generations from Sahaba to that of the compiler's teachers, were compiled for regions where similar kinds of works had already been compiled. Naturally, the later works included many biographical accounts that were contained in the earlier works regarding the generations from Sahaba to the earlier compiler's teachers. In that case, how did the later compilers guarantee the significance and originality of their own works in contrast to the earlier ones. This paper analyzes differences found in the accounts in the two local biographical histories for Isfahan, mentioned above, that describe the same topics and figures. Based on this analysis of the differences, the paper considers the inevitable reason for the occurrence of the differences. These works for Isfahan are the only extant works that provide examples of two local biographical histories covering the generations since the Sahaba for one region. The analysis and consideration of this paper clarify that Abu Nuaym, who complied Dhikr Akhbar Isfahan after Abu al-Shaykh's Tabaqat al-Muhaddithin bi-Asbahan, was influenced by the increasing emphasis on the understanding development and authenticity of the hadith and guaranteed the significance and originality of his Dhikr as sounder and more useful 'history' of Isfahan than the earlier Tabaqat from the viewpoint of the study of the hadith.