Abu Bakr Shu‘bah Ibn ‘Ayyash Ibn Salim al-Asadi al-Kufi an-Nahshali (, 95-193 AH/713-808 CE), Jane Dammen McAuliffe,

Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān The ''Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān'' (abbreviated ''EQ'') is an encyclopedia dedicated to Quranic Studies edited by Islamic scholar Jane Dammen McAuliffe, and published by Brill Publishers.Promotion text by Brill: "Drawing upon a rich scholar ...

, vol. 4, p. 390. Leiden: Brill Publishers, 2004.

Abu Dawood Abū Dāwūd (Dā’ūd) Sulaymān ibn al-Ash‘ath ibn Isḥāq al-Azdī al-Sijistānī (), commonly known as Abū Dāwūd al-Sijistānī, was a scholar of prophetic hadith who compiled the third of the six "canonical" hadith collections recogn ...

, ''

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 ...

'', vol. 3, p. 1113. of Trns. Ahmad Hasan. Sh. M. Ashraf, 1984. more commonly known as Shu'bah, is a significant figure in the history of Qur'an readings as well as a hadith narrator. Like

Hafs Hafs (Abū Amr Ḥafṣ ibn Sulaymān ibn al-Mughīrah ibn Abi Dawud al-Asadī al-Kūfī (, 706–796 AD; 90–180 Anno Hegirae)), according to Islamic tradition, was one of the primary transmitters of one of the seven canonical methods of Qur' ...

, Shu'bah narrated one of seven conical readings of the Quran from

Aasim ibn Abi al-Najud Abu Bakr ‘Aasim Ibn Abi al-Najud al-'Asadi (died 745 CE / 127 AH),Shady Hekmat NasserIbn Mujahid and the Canonization of the Seven Readings p. 57. Taken from ''The Transmission of the Variant Readings of the Qur'an: The Problem of Tawaatur and t ...

, though the reading of Hafs is more well known in the Muslim world today.

Biography

He was a Mawla (freedman) of Wasl ibn Hayyan al-Ahdab al-Asadi, and used to reside in

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 ...

. His Kunya and name are the same (Abu Bakr). He was a Quran reciter, jurist, and hadith scholar known for his piety. He learned the Quran from Asim and jurisprudence from Al-Mughira. He perfected his recitation three times under the guidance of Asim. Shu'bah is reported to have said: In another narration he says: A group of people studied Qur'an recitation under him, including Abu al-Hasan al-Kisa'i (who passed away before him), Yahya al-'Ilmi, Abu Yusuf al-A'sha, 'Abdul-Hamid ibn Salih al-Burjami, 'Urwa ibn Muhammad al-Asadi, 'Abdur-Rahman ibn Abi Hammad, and Yahya ibn Adam, who learned and mastered the pronunciation of the letters from him. Abu Bakr spend forty years completing the Quran every day and night. He stopped teaching the Quran twenty years before his death, but continued narrating hadith. He is generally considered Thiqa (Trustworthy) in narrating

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 ...

. Hadith are narrated from him in all books of

Kutub al-Sittah (), also known as () are the six canonical hadith collections of Sunni Islam. They were all compiled in the 9th and early 10th centuries, roughly from 840 to 912 CE and are thought to embody the Sunnah of Muhammad. The books are the of al ...

. Shady Nasser quotes ad-Dhahabi as bringing a report that Shu'bah rejected the reading of his contemporary

Hamzah az-Zaiyyat Abu ‘Imarah Hamzah Ibn Habib al-Zayyat al-Taymi, better known as Hamzah az-Zaiyyat (80-156AH),Edward Sell (priest), Edward SellThe Faith of Islam pg. 341. Abingdon-on-Thames: Routledge, 2013 reprint. Muhammad Ghoniem and MSM SaifullahThe Ten Rea ...

bid'ah In Islam and sharia (Islamic law), ( , ) refers to innovation in religious matters. Linguistically, as an Arabic word, the term can be defined more broadly, as "innovation, novelty, heretical doctrine, heresy". It is the subject of many hadith ...

.al-Dhahabi, ''Ma'rifat al-Qurra al-Kibar'', 1/250-259

Dialogue between Harun al-Rashid and Shu'bah

Harun al-Rashid Abū Jaʿfar Hārūn ibn Muḥammad ar-Rāshīd (), or simply Hārūn ibn al-Mahdī (; or 766 – 24 March 809), famously known as Hārūn al-Rāshīd (), was the fifth Abbasid caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate, reigning from September 786 unti ...

summoned Abu Bakr ibn Ayyash from Kufa. He came accompanied by Waki'. When they entered, Waki' was guiding him. Al-Rashid brought him close and said to him, You have witnessed the days of the Umayyads and our days—who is better? Abu Bakr replied, You are better at performing the prayers, but they were more beneficial to the people. Al-Rashid rewarded him with 6,000

dinars The dinar () is the name of the principal currency unit in several countries near the Mediterranean Sea, with a more widespread historical use. The English word "dinar" is the transliteration of the Arabic دينار (''dīnār''), which was bor ...

and dismissed him. He also rewarded Waki' with 3,000 dinars.

Beliefs ('Aqeedah)

Hamza ibn Sa'id al-Marwazi said: I asked Abu Bakr ibn Ayyash: Have you heard what happened with Ibn 'Ulayya regarding the Quran? He replied: Woe to you! Whoever claims that the Qur'an is created is a disbeliever, a heretic, and an enemy of Allah in our view. We do not sit with him or speak to him. Ahmad ibn Yunus said to Shu'bah: I have a neighbor who is a Rafidi, and he is sick. He said: Visit him as you would visit a Jew or a Christian, but do not intend to seek reward for it.

Reception

* Ahmed bin Hanbal said about him: "He is truthful and trustworthy, a reciter of the Qur’an and a good person".Tahdhib al-Tahdhib (4/492) *

Ibn Al-Mubarak Ibn Mubarak is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Abd Allah ibn al-Mubarak (726–797), mystic and muhaddith * Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak (14 January 1551 – 22 August 1602), also known as Abul Faz ...

said: "I have not seen anyone who adheres to the

Sunnah is the body of traditions and practices of the Islamic prophet Muhammad that constitute a model for Muslims to follow. The sunnah is what all the Muslims of Muhammad's time supposedly saw, followed, and passed on to the next generations. Diff ...

more quickly than Abu Bakr ibn Ayyash" * Sulayman al-Aʽmash said: "I have not seen anyone who prayed better than Abu Bakr ibn Ayyash".

Death

When death approached him, his sister cried, so he said to her: "What makes you cry? Look at that corner, for I have completed eighteen thousand recitations (of the Quran) there". He died in Jumada Al-Ula, 193AH (February/March 809 CE).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shu'bah 710s births 809 deaths Year of birth uncertain 8th-century Arab people Quranic readings Taba‘ at-Tabi‘in hadith narrators 713 births