Mening eng katta minnatdorchiligim Dr. ʿAbdulloh ibn ʿAbdulmuhsin at-Turkiyga bildirilgan, u ushbu asarning ikki nashrini izohlar bilan tanqidiy tahrirda chop etgan. Ushbu nashrni tayyorlashda men "Manoqib" asarining bir nechta qo'lyozmalariga murojaat qildim, ammo Dr. at-Turkiy qabul qilgan o'qishdan boshqacha o'qish eng yaxshi bo'lishi mumkin deb hisoblagan bir necha joylarnigina topdim. Har bir sahifada uning diqqat bilan tuzilgan variantlar ro'yxatidan, noodatiy ismlarning harakatlanishidan hamda tushuntirish izohlari va manbalaridan foydalandim. Shuningdek, uning ilmiy halolligi va o'zini tuta bilishi, jumladan, o'zi rad etadigan qarashlarni ifodalovchi rivoyatlarni ham kiritgani meni hayratga soldi.

My greatest debt of gratitude is to Dr. ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Muḥsin al-Turkī, who has produced two annotated critical editions of this work. In the course of preparing this edition, I have had recourse to several manuscripts of the Manāqib, but found only a few places where I think the best reading may be different from the one Dr. al-Turkī has adopted. On every page I have benefited from his careful lists of variants, his voweling of unusual names, and his explanatory notes and references. I have also been impressed with his scholarly integrity and self-restraint, as proven—among other things—by his inclusion of reports that advocate positions he disagrees with.

Manuskript an'anasining to'liq bayoni matn haqidagi izohda keltirilgan. Men Jeremy Farrell'ga chuqur minnatdorman, u Dor al-Kutub manuskriptining nusxasini qo'lga kiritdi va menga raqamli nusxani yuborish bilan bog'liq texnik muammolarni hal qildi. Saud AlSarhan'ga Imom Muhammad ibn So'ud Islom universitetidan Zohiriya manuskriptining nusxasini olib berganlikda minnatdorchilik bildirish menga yoqimli, Bernard Haykel'ga esa uni menga pochta orqali yuborgani uchun rahmat aytaman. Shuningdek, Chester Beatty kutubxonasidan Sinead Ward va Frances Narkiewicz'ga Manoqib manuskriptini menga yuborgani uchun tashakkur bildiraman.

A full account of the manuscript tradition appears in the note on the text. I am very grateful to Jeremy Farrell, who obtained a copy of the Dār al-Kutub manuscript and solved the technical problems associated with sending me a digital copy. It is a pleasure to thank Saud AlSarhan for obtaining a copy of the Ẓāhiriyyah manuscript from Imam Muḥammad ibn Saʿūd Islamic University, and to thank Bernard Haykel for mailing it to me. I would also like to thank Sinéad Ward and Frances Narkiewicz of the Chester Beatty Library for sending me their manuscript of the Manāqib.

Men, shuningdek, janob Farrell va Albert Johnsga minnatdorman, ular isnodlarning deyarli barchasini tarjima qilish vazifasini mehr bilan zimmalariga olishdi. O'z ishlari bilan band bo'lishlariga qaramay, Jeremy va Albert xushchaqchaqlik bilan va tezkorlik bilan, aynan menga eng zarur bo'lgan paytda, juda katta hajmdagi ajoyib darajada aniq ingliz matnini tayyorlab berishdi. Emily Selove uzun ism ro'yxatlaridan biri ustida xuddi shunday yaxshi ish qildi. Ularning yordamisiz men bu loyihani hech qachon tugata olmagan bo'lardim.

I am also indebted to Mr. Farrell and to Albert Johns for kindly agreeing to take on the job of translating almost all of the isnāds. Though busy with their own work, Jeremy and Albert cheerfully and speedily produced an enormous amount of remarkably accurate English text just when I needed it most. Emily Selove did equally good work with one of the long lists of names. I could never have finished this project without their help.

Har safar tarjima qilganimda, do'stlarim qanchalik ko'p bilishlari va bilimlarini qanchalik saxiylik bilan ulashishlari uchun ularga yana bir bor minnatdor bo'lishni o'rganaman. Loyiha muharriri Tahera Qutbuddin ko'plab takliflar va tuzatishlar kiritdi, ularning barchasi aql-idrok bilan va mehr bilan bildirilgan edi. Muharrirlarga muayyan holatlarda yordami uchun minnatdorchilik bildirish odatiy amaliyot emas, va Taheraning tuzatishlarining ko'pchiligi jimgina qabul qilingan bo'lsa-da, bir necha holatda uning ajoyib sezgirligi juda chigal masalani hal qilgani shunchalik e'tirofga loyiqki, men odatga zid ravishda uning nomini tilga oldim. Kutubxonadagi hamkasblarimiz — xususan, Joseph Lowry, James Montgomery, Devin Stewart va Shawkat Toorawa — ham ko'plab ko'rinishda yechib bo'lmaydigan muammolarni hal qilishdi, bosh muharririmiz Chip Rossetti esa doimo ishonchli maslahat manbai bo'ldi. Stuart Brownga uning ilhomli tipografiyasi uchun, Allison Brown va Alia Soliman'ga matnni diqqat bilan korrektura qilgani uchun minnatdorman. Jamal Ali, Muhammad Habib, Stefan Heidemann, Nuha Khoury, Peter Pormann, Nasser Rabbat va Dwight Reynolds o'z sohalari bo'yicha so'rovlarimga javob berishdi. Charles Perry oziq-ovqat va pazandachilik bo'yicha ko'plab savollarimga saxiy javoblar berdi. Shuningdek, Abbosiy davridan ilhomlangan tushliklari orqali Ibn Ḥanbal yeganini (yoki odatda, yemaganini) tatib ko'rishimga imkon bergan usta oshpaz Brigitte Calandga ham teng darajada minnatdorman.

As always when I translate, I learn once again to appreciate my friends for how much my friends know and how generous they are in sharing it. My project editor, Tahera Qutbuddin, made many suggestions and corrections, all of them judicious and kindly conveyed. It is not general practice to thank project editors for their help in particular instances, and most of Tahera’s emendations have indeed been incorporated silently, but in several cases her astuteness in solving an utterly vexing conundrum so merits recognition that I have credited her in defiance of custom. Our colleagues at the Library—notably Joseph Lowry, James Montgomery, Devin Stewart, and Shawkat Toorawa—also solved a number of seemingly intractable problems, and our managing editor, Chip Rossetti, was also an unfailing source of good counsel. I am grateful to Stuart Brown for his inspired typography, and to Allison Brown and Alia Soliman for carefully proofreading the text. Jamal Ali, Muhammad Habib, Stefan Heidemann, Nuha Khoury, Peter Pormann, Nasser Rabbat, and Dwight Reynolds all responded to queries in their various areas of expertise. Charles Perry supplied generous answers to many questions about food and cookery. I am equally grateful to master chef Brigitte Caland, whose Abbasid-inspired luncheons allowed me to taste the dishes that Ibn Ḥanbal ate (or more usually, did not eat).

Men Kristofer Melchert ga, u ko'plab savollarimga javob berdi va birinchi nashr sharhida bir qancha foydali izohlar bildirdi, shuning uchun unga chin dildan minnatdorman; Faysal Abdalla, u birinchi nashrning birinchi jildini diqqat bilan o'qib chiqib, bir qator xatolarga e'tiborimni qaratdi; va Kayl Gamble, u 61.2-dagi jiddiy xatoni ajoyib tarzda to'g'irladi. Shuningdek, ikki intervyuda, uning blogida chop etilgan teran savollari uchun Marsiya Links Keyli rahmat aytaman. Maltadagi do'stlarimga, ayniqsa Annabel Mallia, Devid Mallia, Olvin Vella va Senglea aholisiga minnatdorman, ular menga Ibn Hanbal tilining ba'zi jihatlari eng kutilmagan joylarda ham saqlanib qolganini ko'rsatdilar. Xotinim Mahsa Maleki uchun ham minnatdorman: nafaqat meni ko'plab kechki soatlarda ofisda ishlashimga chidagani uchun, balki ismlar ro'yxatlari bilan yordam bergani uchun ham (bu esa, zamonaviygacha bo'lgan odamlar baland ovozda o'qishning foydasi haqida haqli bo'lganini isbotladi). Nihoyat, umumiy muharririmiz Filip Kennediga qarzdorman: u Arab adabiyoti kutubxonasi kabi ulkan loyihani tasavvur qilgani va meni unda ishtirok etishga bemalol ruxsat bergani uchun.

I am delighted to acknowledge the help of Christopher Melchert, who answered many queries, and made several helpful comments in his review of the first edition; Faisal Abdallah, who carefully read through the first volume of the first edition and brought a number of errors to my attention; and Kyle Gamble, who brilliantly corrected a bad mistake in 61.2. I also thank Marcia Lynx Qualey for the insightful questions she posed in two interviews published in her blog. I thank my friends in Malta, especially Annabel Mallia, David Mallia, Olvin Vella, and the people of Senglea, for showing me that some of Ibn Ḥanbal’s language still survives in the most unexpected of places. I am grateful to my wife, Mahsa Maleki, not only for putting up with my many late nights at the office, but also for her help with the name-lists (which proved that pre-modern people were quite right about the helpfulness of reading aloud). Finally, I am indebted to our general editor, Philip Kennedy, for envisioning a project as ambitious as the Library of Arabic Literature, and for generously allowing me to take part in it.