ʿAbd Allāh bin ʿAwn bin Arṭabān al-Muzanī al-Ḥāfiẓ ( Arabic: عَبْد الَّلَه بِن عَوْن بِن أَرْطَبَان المُزَنِي الحَافِظ) was a
ḥadīth
Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approval ...
transmitter from
Baṣra who was a part of a core group of proto-Sunnī intellectuals.
He is alleged to have studied with the likes of
Ḥasan al-Baṣrī, Makḥūl, and
Ibn Sīrīn, among others, and many later ḥadīth transmitters narrated from him.
Biography
ʿAbd Allāh bin ʿAwn was a
mawla
Mawlā ( ar, مَوْلَى, plural ''mawālī'' ()), is a polysemous Arabic word, whose meaning varied in different periods and contexts.A.J. Wensinck, Encyclopedia of Islam 2nd ed, Brill. "Mawlā", vol. 6, p. 874.
Before the Islamic prophet ...
of Ibn Barza al-Mazanī, hence the nisba al-Muzanī, and early sources state that his mother is Khurāsānī.
He studied in Kūfa and Baṣra and was said to have collected upwards of 7,000 ḥadīth after travelling throughout
Greater Syria and the
Hijaz
The Hejaz (, also ; ar, ٱلْحِجَاز, al-Ḥijāz, lit=the Barrier, ) is a region in the west of Saudi Arabia. It includes the cities of Mecca, Medina, Jeddah, Tabuk, Yanbu, Taif, and Baljurashi. It is also known as the "Western Provi ...
.
[Ibn Qutayba al-Dīnawarī, al-Maʿārif, v. 1, 488.] From his home base in Baṣra, ʿAbd Allāh bin ʿAwn supported the Umayyads after the death of ʿUthmān, and strongly condemned the stances of both the
Muʿtazila and the
Qadariyya
Qadariyyah ( ar, قدرية, Qadariyya), also Qadarites or Kadarites, from (), meaning "power"); was originally a derogatory term designating early Islamic theologians who rejected the concept of predestination in Islam, ''qadr'', and asserted t ...
(not to be confused with the
Qadiriyya
The Qadiriyya (), also transliterated Qādirīyah, ''Qadri'', ''Qadriya'', ''Kadri'', ''Elkadri'', ''Elkadry'', ''Aladray'', ''Alkadrie'', ''Adray'', ''Kadray'', ''Kadiri'', ''Qadiri'', ''Quadri'' or ''Qadri'' are members of the Sunni Qadiri ta ...
).
[Ibn Saʿd al-Baghdādī, Ṭabaqāt al-Kubrá, v. 7, 195.] Aside from his status as an early intellectual, ʿAbd Allāh bin ʿAwn was regarded as a devote Muslim, known for his humility and rejection of wealth. There are many anecdotes that highlight his use of lamentation, abstinence from careless speech, fasting, refraining from joking around, and avoidance of doing harm, be it to a king or to a chicken.
[Abu al-Faraj al-Jawzī, Al-Muntaẓim fi Tārīkh al-Mulūk wa al-Umam, v. 8, 152–4.] In addition, he is said to have gone out to Greater Syria (al-Shām) in order to fight against non-Muslims on the Byzantine frontier.
This point is notable as it represents the multifaceted nature of the devotion of early Muslims, which contains elements of learning, humility, and warfare. In this regard is similar to the likes
ʿAbd Allāh bin Mubārak and Haywa bin Shurayḥ.
References
Hadith compilers
Hadith scholars
Hadith narrators
People from Basra
760s deaths
8th-century Islamic religious leaders
Scholars from the Umayyad Caliphate
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