Yahya ibn Ma'in (; 774-847) was a classical

Islamic scholar In Islam, the ''ulama'' ( ; also spelled ''ulema''; ; singular ; feminine singular , plural ) are scholars of Islamic doctrine and law. They are considered the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious knowledge in Islam. "Ulama ...

in the field 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 ...

. He was a close friend of

Ahmad ibn Hanbal Ahmad ibn Hanbal (; (164-241 AH; 780 – 855 CE) was an Arab Muslim scholar, jurist, theologian, traditionist, ascetic and eponym of the Hanbali school of Islamic jurisprudence—one of the four major orthodox legal schools of Sunni Islam. T ...

for much of his life. Ibn Ma'in is known to have spent all of his inheritance on seeking hadith to the extent he became extremely needy.

Biography

Professional life

Yahya ibn Ma'in was born in 158 (A.H.) during the caliphate of Abu Ja‘far al-Mansur to

Nabataean The Nabataeans or Nabateans (; Nabataean Aramaic: , , vocalized as ) were an ancient Arab people who inhabited northern Arabia and the southern Levant. Their settlements—most prominently the assumed capital city of Raqmu (present-day Petr ...

ancestry from

Al-Anbar Al Anbar Governorate (; ''muḥāfaẓat al-’Anbār''), or Anbar Province, is the largest governorate in Iraq by area. Encompassing much of the country's western territory, it shares borders with Syria, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. The population ...

and was raised in Baghdad. He was the oldest of a prominent group of muḥadiths (experts in ḥadīth) known as Al-Jamā'a Al-Kibār (The Great Assembly), which included

Ali ibn al-Madini Abū al-Ḥasan ʻAlī ibn ʻAbdillāh ibn Jaʻfar al-Madīnī (778 CE/161 AH – 849/234) () was a ninth-century Sunni Islamic scholar who was influential in the science of hadith. Alongside Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Ibn Abi Shaybah and Yahya ibn Ma' ...

, Ishaq ibn Rahwayh, Abu Bakr ibn Abi Shaybah, and Abu Khaithama. He was a close friend of

and is often quoted regarding

Ilm ar-Rijal Biographical evaluation (; literally meaning'' 'Knowledge of Men', ''but more commonly understood as the ''Science of Narrators)'' refers to a discipline of Islamic religious studies within hadith terminology in which the narrators of hadith are ...

. Alongside Ibn Hanbal,

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-ʿAbsī al-Kūfī (Arabic: امام أبو بكر عبد الله بن محمد بن أبي شيبة إب� ...

, Ibn Ma'in has been considered by many Muslim specialists in hadith to be one of the four most significant authors in the field.

Academic career

Yahya sought knowledge by means of various journeys which he made so rigorously that after the passing of his father, he spent all of his 1,050,000 inherited dirhams on seeking ḥadīth to the extent that nothing remained - not even enough to purchase a pair of shoes. His journey of seeking knowledge of hadith and Islamic rulings caused him to travel to Basrah, Bagdād, Harān, Dimasq, al-Rasāfah, al-Ray, Sanʿā’, Kufā, Egypt and

Mecca Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...

. Despite being a master of his science, his works were not limited to mere approbations and disapprobation of narrators, or narrating of aḥādīth; rather, he progressed forward as an author writing many books, although many are no longer extant, despite his formally writing as an author from the age of twenty. Of the books available today are; Ma’rifatul al-Rijāl, Yaḥyā bin Maʿīn wa Kitābuhu ‘l-Tārīkh and a small treatise titled ‘Min Kalām Abī Zakariyyā Yaḥyā bin Maʿīn fi ‘l-Rijāl’. His teachers included Abdullah Ibn al-Mubārak, Ismāʿīl ibn ʿIyāsh, ‘Abād ibn ‘Abād, Sufyān ibn ʿUyainah, Gundur, Abū Muʿāwiyyah, Ḥātim ibn Ismāʿīl, Ḥafṣ ibn Giyāth, Jarīr ibn ʿAbdul-Ḥamīd, ‘Abd ur-Ruzzāq Sanani, Wakī’ and many others from Irāq, Ḥijāz, Jazīrah, Shām and Miṣr. His famous students included Aḥmad bin Ḥanbal, Muḥammad bin Sʿad, Abū Khaithamah, al-Bukhārī, Muslim, Abū Dāwūd, ʿAbbās al-Dawrī, Abū Ḥātim and many more. Together with Ibn Saʿd and five others, he was ordered in 218/833 by al-Maʾmūn. T̲h̲reatened with death, they complied and the event was well publicised (al-Ṭabarī, volume 3, 1116). Ibn Ḥanbal never spoke to him subsequently. However, there are reports he repented to him personally at the end of his life, with Ibn Hanbal forgiving him and returning to speaking terms with him. He reputedly exposed many traditions as false and is regarded as one of the most critical early experts on ''rid̲j̲āl''. He reportedly left behind a huge library.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Main, Yahya Ibn 770s births 850s deaths Religious leaders from Baghdad Persian Sunni Muslim scholars of Islam Atharis 9th-century Muslim scholars of Islam 9th-century jurists 8th-century Iranian people 9th-century Iranian people 8th-century people from the Abbasid Caliphate 9th-century people from the Abbasid Caliphate Biographical evaluation scholars