| This study traces the journey of a ninth-century biographical dictionary, Kitāb al-T&dotbelow;aabaqāt al-Kabīr (KTK), from near obscurity to canonical status. The study offers the most comprehensive biography of the book's author Muh&dotbelow;rammad ibn Sa'd (d. 230/845) to date. By tracking borrowings from the KTK in later biographical dictionaries, the study confirmed that many, but minor, additions were made to the book after its author's death. It also uncovered that the extant manuscripts of the KTK are based on a recension of the work that was obscure until the fifth century.;Starting in the fifth/eleventh century and continuing in the sixth/twelfth and seventh/thirteenth centuries, the center of diffusion of the KTK moved slowly from Baghdad to Damascus and Cairo. In these new homes, the book became one of the most authoritative sources about early Islamic figures, especially those who participated in the transmission of the Prophetic tradition, H&dotbelow;yadīth.;The study also exposed the two contradictory trends working to shape and reshape Islamic historiography, book fragmentation of book transmission. The first trend decomposed works in order to form new ones. Whereas the second trend imposed ensured the survival of some chosen books and imposed them as "canonical" works. Book fragmentation was done by enterprising and ambitious compilers seeking to build a name and a legacy for themselves. Whereas book transmission was done by second-tier H&dotbelow;yadīth transmitters, who dedicated their time to teaching.;Transmitters of the KTK first followed the strict rules of dictation (samā'), while approving small parts of the work copied without dictation. By the ninth/sixteenth century, the written or oral approval of a certified owner was sufficient to transform a copy of the KTK into a certified replica of the original. The KTK has thus reached the canonical status, where alterations did not occur because they would simply be immediately detected. |
