Abū al-Ḥasan ʻAlī ibn ʻAbdillāh ibn Jaʻfar al-Madīnī (778 CE/161 AH – 849/234) ( ar, أبو الحسن علي بن عبد الله بن جعفر المديني) was a ninth-century
Sunni
Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagr ...
Islamic scholar
In Islam, the ''ulama'' (; ar, علماء ', singular ', "scholar", literally "the learned ones", also spelled ''ulema''; feminine: ''alimah'' ingularand ''aalimath'' lural are the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of reli ...
who was influential in the
science of hadith
Hadith studies ( ar, علم الحديث ''ʻilm al-ḥadīth'' "science of hadith", also science of hadith, or science of hadith criticism or hadith criticism)
consists of several religious scholarly disciplines used by Muslim scholars in th ...
.
Alongside
Ahmad ibn Hanbal
Ahmad ibn Hanbal al-Dhuhli ( ar, أَحْمَد بْن حَنْبَل الذهلي, translit=Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal al-Dhuhlī; November 780 – 2 August 855 CE/164–241 AH), was a Muslim jurist, theologian, ascetic, hadith traditionist, and ...
,
Ibn Abi Shaybah
Ibn Abī Shaybah or Imām Abū Bakr Ibn Abī Shaybah or Abū Bakr ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad Ibn Abī Shaybah Ibrāhīm ibn ʿUthmān al-ʿAbasī al-Kūfī (Arabic: امام أبو بكر عبد الله بن محمد بن أبي شيبة إب ...
and
Yahya ibn Ma'in
Yaḥyā ibn Maʻīn ( ar, يحيى بن معين) (774-847), was a great classical Islamic scholar in the field of hadith of Persian people, Persian origin. He was a close friend of Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal. Ibn Ma'in is known to have spent all of ...
, Ibn al-Madini has been considered by many Muslim specialists in hadith to be one of the four most significant authors in the field.
Ibn al-Jawzi
ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. ʿAlī b. Muḥammad Abu 'l-Faras̲h̲ b. al-Jawzī, often referred to as Ibn al-Jawzī (Arabic: ابن الجوزي, ''Ibn al-Jawzī''; ca. 1116 – 16 June 1201) for short, or reverentially as ''Imam Ibn al-Jawzī'' by ...
The Life of Ibn Hanbal
pg. 45. Trns. Michael Cooperson. New York
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Film and television
* '' ...
: New York University Press
New York University Press (or NYU Press) is a university press that is part of New York University.
History
NYU Press was founded in 1916 by the then chancellor of NYU, Elmer Ellsworth Brown.
Directors
* Arthur Huntington Nason, 1916–1932 ...
, 2016.
Biography
Ibn al-Madīnī was born in the year 778 CE/161 AH in
Basra
Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is hand ...
,
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
to a family with roots in
Medina
Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the Holiest sites in Islam, second-holiest city in Islam, ...
now in
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
.
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.
Ibn al-Madīnī specialized in the disciplines of
hadith
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 ...
,
biographical evaluation
Biographical evaluation ( ar, عِلْمُ الرِّجال, ʿilm al-rijāl; literally meaning'' 'Knowledge of Men' , ''but more commonly understood as the ''Science of Narrators)'' refers to a discipline of Islamic religious studies within ha ...
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.
His students include prominent hadith scholars in their own right. They include: Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā al-Dhuhalī,
Muḥammad ibn Ismāʻīl al-Bukhārī,
Abū Dāwūd Sulaymān ibn al-Ashʻath al-Sijistānī and others. Al-Bukhārī, who went on the collect what is considered to be the
most authentic collection of hadith in
Sunni
Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagr ...
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
, said that he did not consider himself diminutive in comparison to anyone other than Ibn al-Madīnī.
Al-Dhahabī
Shams ad-Dīn adh-Dhahabī (), also known as Shams ad-Dīn Abū ʿAbdillāh Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿUthmān ibn Qāymāẓ ibn ʿAbdillāh at-Turkumānī al-Fāriqī ad-Dimashqī (5 October 1274 – 3 February 1348) was an Islamic historia ...
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
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Classical Arabic, Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation in Islam, revelation from God in Islam, ...
, but later regretted this and declared the claimant that the
Quran was created as an apostate.
Ibn al-Madīnī died in
Samarra
Samarra ( ar, سَامَرَّاء, ') is a city in Iraq. It stands on the east bank of the Tigris in the Saladin Governorate, north of Baghdad. The city of Samarra was founded by Abbasid Caliph Al-Mutasim for his Turkish professional army ...
,
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
in June, 849/
Dhu al-Qa'dah
Dhu al-Qa'dah ( ar, ذُو ٱلْقَعْدَة, ', ), also spelled Dhu al-Qi'dah or Zu al-Qa'dah, is the eleventh month in the Islamic calendar.
It could possibly mean "possessor or owner of the sitting and seating place" - the space occupied w ...
, 234.
Works
Al-Nawawī said Ibn al-Madīnī authored approximately 200 works some on subjects not previously written about and many not since superseded.
*''al-ʻIlal'' – on the subject of hidden defects (''`ilal'') in the
''sanads'' of
hadith
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 ...
;
of which a small segment has been published
*''Kitāb al-Ḍuʻafāʼ'' – on the subject of weak hadith narrators in the discipline of
biographical evaluation
Biographical evaluation ( ar, عِلْمُ الرِّجال, ʿilm al-rijāl; literally meaning'' 'Knowledge of Men' , ''but more commonly understood as the ''Science of Narrators)'' refers to a discipline of Islamic religious studies within ha ...
*''al-Mudallisūn'' – on the subject of hadith narrators who utilize ambiguous terminology in narrating
*''al-Asmāʼ wa al-Kunā'' – on names paidonymics
*''al-Musnad'' – a collection of hadith
arranged by narrator
*''Kitab Ma'rifat al-Sahaba'' – ''The Book of Knowledge of the Companions''
Early Islam scholars
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ali Ibn Al-Madini
Hadith scholars
8th-century people from the Abbasid Caliphate
Hadith compilers
778 births
849 deaths
Iraqi writers
Arab biographers
Iraqi Sunni Muslim scholars of Islam
Atharis
8th-century Arabs
9th-century Arabs
Biographical evaluation scholars