Al-Etidal

Mizan al-Itidal" (Arabic: ميزان الاعتدال) or "Mizan al-I'tidal fi Naqd ar-Rijal" (Arabic: ميزان الاعتدال) is one of the most important works of Ilm al-Rijal (Science of Narrators or Biographical evaluation) written by Imam al-Dhahabi (675-748 AH) in the 8th century of Islamic History in the Hijri calendar 1. The book is a rework of Imam Ibn 'Adi al-Jurjani's (277-375 H) book "al-Kamil fi Dhu'afa' al-Rijal." Imam al-Dhahabi extended and refined it, calling it "Mizan al-Itidal."

The book is organized alphabetically, identifying liar narrators, unknown narrators, and those who should be abandoned. It distinguishes weak narrators from scholars in hadith whose degree is low due to memory or other breaches. Imam al-Dhahabi also took care to avoid misleading statements that may exist in some Hadith Scholars (Muhaddiths) and which are ambiguous on the weakness of the narrator