Certificates of Audition (Samāʿāt) in Islamic Manuscripts:  Documentary Practices, Transmission Networks, and Historiographical Value

Saleh Muhammad Zeki Mahmood Al-Leheabi; Ahmed Ameen

doi:10.32350/jitc.162.02

Authors

Saleh Muhammad Zeki Mahmood Al-Leheabi University of Sharjah , United Arab Emirates https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2560-6231
Ahmed Ameen University of Sharjah , United Arab Emirates https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1898-2781

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.32350/jitc.162.02

Keywords:

audition records, historiography, ijāzah, Islamic Codicology, manuscript transmission, palaeography, samāʿ

Abstract

The current study aimed to discuss the samāʿāt, that is, the marginal notes found in the Islamic manuscripts as a means for the authentication of the oral transmission of Islamic sciences. This has been apparent in Islamic writings since the 5^th-9^th centuries AH (11^th-15yh CE). This study adopted a historical approach and manuscript-based method, based on a survey of 47 manuscripts including 132 samāʿāt, preserved in Turkey, Egypt, Germany, and Syria. Three main examples were studied in detail: al-Tirmidhī’s al Shamāʾil al‑Muḥammadiyya, al Khurāʾiṭī’s Iʿtilāl al Qulūb, and al Anbārī’s Iḍāḥ al Waqf wa‑l‑Ibtidāʾ. The analysis used three methods: palaeographic transcription, biographical data extraction, and comparative analysis of documentary formulae. The findings showed four main facts. Firstly, there were three types of certificates: those that certify hearing a whole text, those that certify hearing only a part, and fragmentary notes. Each type uses different standard phrases. Secondly, samāʿāt helped verify the accuracy of texts by recording group listening and comparing copies against original manuscripts. Thirdly, they provided evidence of scholarly networks that connected Baghdad, Fusṭāṭ, Damascus, and Iṣfahān. Fourthly, they revealed the names of non‑elite actors, including women, merchants, and artisans, who were absent from biographical dictionaries and chronicles. The manuscript showed that samāʿāt are not just minor notes in the margins of books but valuable historical sources. They clarify oral and written knowledge transmission and medieval documentation. The study concluded by proposing digital cataloguing standards and TEI‑XML encoding for future biographical and network analysis. By including tables, sample transcriptions, and appendices, this study offered a practical model for using samāʿāt as a direct evidence for the intellectual and social history of Islam.

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