(1) The works known as kutub al-atraf list the traditions related by each Companion individually, much like the musnads, but they quote only the opening words of the report. They thus serve as a handy index, enabling the researcher to locate the complete hadith in the larger collections. Some authors restricted themselves to “the atraf of the two Sahihs,” among them Abu Masud—the subject of this entry—and Khalaf b. Muhammad al-Wasiti, whose biography will appear under no. 156. Hajji Khalifa records that al-Hafiz Abu al-Qasim b. Asakir, at the beginning of his al-Ishraf, mentioned both men and observed: “Khalaf’s book is the better arranged and better written of the two, and contains the fewest errors; it is sufficient for whoever wishes to study the discipline.” Other scholars compiled “the atraf of the six canonical books,” such as Ibn Tahir al-Maqdisi (d. 507 AH), Ibn Asakir (d. 571 AH), and al-Hafiz al-Mizzi (d. 742 AH). The latter’s work, Tuhfat al-Ashraf bi-Ma‘rifat al-Atraf, is among the most extensive, precise, and reliable productions in this field; it has greatly benefited scholars, who have vied to obtain it. The book was printed in India together with Ibn Hajar’s al-Nukat al-Zuraf, edited by the esteemed Abd al-Samad Sharaf al-Din. (2) The manuscript reads “wa Aba Khalifa” without the phrase “wa ashab” (“and his students”); the missing words were restored from Tarikh Baghdad and Tadhkirat al-Huffaz. Abu Khalifa al-Jumahi died in 305 AH, so Abu Masud could not have heard from him directly, but only through his students. (3) Tarikh Baghdad, vol. 6, pp. 172–173.