Abū al-Ḥasan ʻAlī ibn ʻAbdillāh ibn Jaʻfar al-Madīnī (778 CE/161 AH – 849/234) (
Arabic: أبو الحسن علي بن عبد الله بن جعفر المديني) was a ninth-century
SunniIslamic scholar who was influential in the
science of hadith.[4] Alongside
Ahmad ibn Hanbal,
Ibn Abi Shaybah and
Yahya ibn Ma'in, Ibn al-Madini has been considered by many Muslim specialists in hadith to be one of the four most significant authors in the field.[5]
Biography
Ibn al-Madīnī was born in the year 778 CE/161 AH in
Basra,
Iraq to a family with roots in
Medina now in
Saudi Arabia.[6] His teachers include his father, ʻAbdullāh ibn Jaʻfar, Ḥammād ibn Yazīd, Hushaym and
Sufyān ibn ʻUyaynah and other from their era. His teacher, Ibn ʻUyaynah, said that he had learned more from Ibn al-Madīnī, his student, than his student from him.[4]
Ibn al-Madīnī specialized in the disciplines of
hadith,
biographical evaluation and al-ʻIlal, hidden defects, in the
sanad, chain of narration. He was praised by other hadith specialists for his prowess in that field—by both his contemporaries, students and his teachers. ʻAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī, a scholar who preceded him, described Ibn al-Madīnī the most knowledgeable person of prophetic hadith.[4]
Al-Dhahabī lauded Ibn al-Madīnī as an
imām and as exemplary to subsequent scholars in the field in hadith, a description he considered tarnished by Ibn al-Madīnī's adopted position in the
theological inquisition of the ninth century. According to Al-Dhahabī, he adopted a position in favor of the
Muʻtazilah regarding the uncreated origin of the
Quran, but later regretted this and declared the claimant that the
Quran was created as an apostate.[4]
Key: Travelled extensively collecting the sayings of Muhammad and compiled books of hadith
Key: Worked in Persia
References
^Melchert, Christopher (1997). "Chapter 1: The Traditionalists of Iraq". The Formation of the Sunni Schools of Law, 9th–10th Centuries C.E. Koninklijke Brill, Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill Publishers. p. 7.
ISBN90-04-10952-8.
^Melchert, Christopher (1997). "Chapter 1: The Traditionalists of Iraq". The Formation of the Sunni Schools of Law, 9th–10th Centuries C.E. Koninklijke Brill, Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill Publishers. p. 20.
ISBN90-04-10952-8.
^Al-Bastawī, ʻAbd al-ʻAlīm ʻAbd al-ʻAẓīm (1990). Al-Imām al-Jūzajānī wa-manhajuhu fi al-jarḥ wa-al-taʻdīl. Maktabat Dār al-Ṭaḥāwī. p. 9.
^
abcdeal-Dhahabi, Muhammad ibn Ahmad (1957). al-Mu`allimi (ed.). Tadhkirah al-Huffaz (in Arabic). Vol. 2. Hyderabad: Dairah al-Ma`arif al-`Uthmaniyyah. pp. 428–9.
^
abcdal-Nawawi, Yahya ibn Sharaf (2005). Ali Mu`awwad and Adil Abd al-Mawjud (ed.). Tahdhib al-Asma wa al-Lughat (in Arabic). Vol. al–Asma. Beirut: Dar al-Nafaes. pp. 455–6.
^
abcdeal-Mu`allimi, Abd al-Rahman ibn Yahya (1996). Ali al-Halabi (ed.). 'Ilm al-Rijal wa Ahimmiyyatuh (in Arabic) (first ed.). Riyadh: Dar al-Rayah. p. 38.