Al-Nasāʾī (214 – 303 AH; 829 – 915 CE), full name Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Aḥmad ibn Shuʿayb ibn ʿAlī ibn Sinān ibn Baḥr ibn Dīnar al-Khurasānī al-Nasāʾī (), was a noted collector of

hadith Hadith is the Arabic word for a 'report' or an 'account f an event and refers to the Islamic oral tradition of anecdotes containing the purported words, actions, and the silent approvals of the Islamic prophet Muhammad or his immediate circle ...

(sayings of

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

), Ludwig W. Adamec (2009), ''Historical Dictionary of Islam'', p.138. Scarecrow Press. . from the city of

Nasa The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

(early Khorasan and present day Turkmenistan), and the author of "''As-Sunan''", one of the six canonical hadith collections recognized by

Sunni Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Mu ...

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

s. From his "''As-Sunan al-Kubra'' (The Large Sunan)" he wrote an abridged version, "''Al-Mujtaba''" or ''

Sunan al-Sughra ''Sunan al-Sughra'' (), also known as ''Sunan al-Nasa'i'' (), is one of the Kutub al-Sittah (six major hadith collections), and was collected by al-Nasa'i (214 – 303 AH; c. 829 – 915 CE). Description Sunnis regard this collection as the t ...

'' (The Concise Sunan). Of the fifteen books he is known to have written, six treat the science of hadīth.

Biography

Of Persian origin, Al-Nasa'i himself states he was born in the year 830 (215 h.) - although some say it was in 829 or 869 (214 or 255 h.) - in the city of

in present-day

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the south and southwest and the Caspian Sea to the west. Ash ...

- part of Khorasan, a region in Western Asia and Central Asia known for its many centres of Islamic learning. There he attended the gatherings and circles of knowledge, known as "''halaqat''". At about 15 years old, he began his travels with his first journey to Qutaibah. He covered the whole Arabian Peninsula seeking knowledge from scholars in

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

Kufa Kufa ( ), also spelled Kufah, is a city in Iraq, about south of Baghdad, and northeast of Najaf. It is located on the banks of the Euphrates, Euphrates River. The estimated population in 2003 was 110,000. Along with Samarra, Karbala, Kadhimiya ...

, the Hijaz,

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

and

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

, where he eventually settled. A habit of his was to fast every other day, as this was a habit of Dawud.

Death

In 302 AH/915 AD, he stopped by in the city of

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

in between his long journey from Cairo to Mecca just as a stopping point. Near the time of his death, he had become a renowned scholar in the Islamic world and decided to give a speech in the

Umayyad Mosque The Umayyad Mosque (; ), also known as the Great Mosque of Damascus, located in the old city of Damascus, the capital of Syria, is one of the largest and oldest mosques in the world. Its religious importance stems from the eschatological reports ...

as a scholar of his repute tends to do. The lecture he did was on the virtues of the companions of Muhammad, specifically throughout the lecture he recited the virtues of Ali that he had heard of throughout his life. His narrating the virtues of Ali railed up the crowd due to the anti- Alid sentiments in Damascus. In opposition, the crowd felt that there was nothing about

Mu'awiya I Mu'awiya I (–April 680) was the founder and first caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate, ruling from 661 until his death. He became caliph less than thirty years after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and immediately after the four Rashid ...

in the lecture and asked him to narrate something related to the Umayyad caliph. He responded back by saying the only narration that he had heard about him about Mu'awiya by Muhammed was when Muhammed prayed to Allah saying "May Allah not fill his stomach". The crowd took this narration as a demerit from Muhammad leading the crowd to beat him. Those anti-Alid Syrians crushed Imam an-Nasa'i's testicles and cut open his stomach because of which Imam got martyred.

Teachers

According to the hafiz Ibn Hajr Alaih, al-Nasa'i's teachers were too numerous to name, but included: * Ishaq Ibn Rahwayh * Imam Abu Daud Al-Sijistani (author of

Sunan Abu Dawood ''Sunan Abi Dawud'' () is the third hadith collection of the Six Books of Sunni Islam. It was compiled by scholar Abu Dawud al-Sijistani (). Introduction Abu Dawood compiled twenty-one books related to Hadith and preferred those (plural of ...

) * Qutayba ibn Sa'id Hafiz ibn Hajr and others claimed that Imam Bukhari was among his teachers. However Al-Mizzi, refutes that the Imam ever met him. As-Sakhawi gives the reasons in great detail for al-Mizzi's claim that they never met, but argues these must apply also to his claim that An-Nasa'i heard from Abu Dawud. Moreover, Ibn Mundah narrates the following: We were informed by Hamzah, that an-Nasa'i, Abu Abd-ur-Rahman informed us saying, 'I heard Muhammad Ibn Isma'il Al-Bukhari...'

Ibrahim ibn Ya'qub al-Juzajani Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Ya'qub ibn Ishaq al-Sa'di al-Juzajani (, born around 796 CE/180 AH – died 872 CE/259 AH) was a Muslim hadith scholar, one of the imams of al-jarh wa al-ta'deel and a student of Ahmad ibn Hanbal. Some of the hadith schol ...

was also an influence. In Egypt an-Nasa'i began to lecture, mostly narrating ''

ahadith Hadith is the Arabic word for a 'report' or an 'account f an event and refers to the Islamic oral tradition of anecdotes containing the purported words, actions, and the silent approvals of the Islamic prophet Muhammad or his immediate circle ...

'' (hadith plural) to the extent that he became known by the title "''Hafizul Hadeeth''". His lectures were well attended and among his many students were the scholars: * Imam Abul Qasim Tabrani * Imam Abu Bakr Ahmed ibn Muhammad, also known as Allamah ibn Sunni * Sheikh Ali, the son of the Muhaddith, Imam Tahawi.

School of Thought

Imam Izzakie was a follower of the

Shafi'i The Shafi'i school or Shafi'i Madhhab () or Shafi'i is one of the four major schools of fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), belonging to the Ahl al-Hadith tradition within Sunni Islam. It was founded by the Muslim scholar, jurist, and traditionis ...

fiqh ''Fiqh'' (; ) is the term for Islamic jurisprudence.Fiqh
Encyclopædia Britannica ''Fiqh'' is of ...

'' (jurisprudence) according to Allamah as-Subki, Shah Waliullah, Shah Abdulaziz and many other scholars. The renowned scholars, Allamah Anwar Shah Kashmiri and

Ibn Taymiyyah Ibn Taymiyya (; 22 January 1263 – 26 September 1328)Ibn Taymiyya, Taqi al-Din Ahmad, The Oxford Dictionary of Islam. http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195125580.001.0001/acref-9780195125580-e-959 was a Sunni Muslim ulama, ...

consider him a

Hanbali The Hanbali school or Hanbalism is one of the four major schools of Islamic jurisprudence, belonging to the Ahl al-Hadith tradition within Sunni Islam. It is named after and based on the teachings of the 9th-century scholar, jurist and tradit ...

Family

Imam an-Nasa'i had four wives but historians mention only one son, Abdul Kareem, a narrator of the ''Sunan'' of his father.

Books

Selected works:For a list of ten of his works see

Fuat Sezgin Fuat Sezgin (24 October 1924 – 30 June 2018) was a Turkish scholar and researcher who specialized in the history of Science in the medieval Islamic world. He was ''professor emeritus'' of the History of Natural Science at Johann Wolfgang Goet ...

, ''GAS'' (Geschichte des Arabischen Schrifttums), i, 167-9. *

As-Sunan al-Kubra ''As-Sunan al-Kubra'', (), is a hadith book collected by Imam Al-Nasa'i (214 – 303 AH), not to be confused with the same titled book by Imam Al-Bayhaqi. Description As-Sunan al-Kubra is the larger collection of the Sunan al-Nasa'i, having al ...

* Sunan Al-Sugra/ Al-Mujtana/ Al-Mujtaba * Amul Yawmi Wallaylah * Kitaby Dufai wal Matrookeen *

Khasais of Amir Al Momenin ''Khasais of Amir Al Mu'minin'' () (Characters of the commander of the faithful) or ''Khasais Ali'' () is a book on virtues and moral characters of the fourth Rashidun caliph and Imam Ali, who was the cousin, son-in-law, and the close companion ...

* Al-Jurhu wa Ta'adeel * Sunan An-Nisa'i * Qasayis e Murtazavi * Kitāb An-Nu'ūt

References

External links

Biodata at MuslimScholars.info

Biography at Sunnah.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nasa'i Hadith compilers Muhaddiths from Nishapur Biographical evaluation scholars 820s births 915 deaths Year of birth uncertain Transoxanian Islamic scholars 10th-century Iranian people 9th-century Iranian people 9th-century jurists 10th-century jurists