Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri

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<region> scholar Medieval era
Name:	Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri
Birth:
Death:	124 AH (741–742 CE)^[1]
School/tradition:
Influences:	Abu Suhail an-Nafi ^{[citation needed]} Said ibn Al-Musayyib ^{[citation needed]}
Influenced:

Muhammad ibn Muslim ibn Shihab al-Zuhri (d.742), known simply as Ibn Shihab or al-Zuhri, is among those who first compiled hadiths at the behest of Umayyad caliph Umar II (d.720), fearing that some of the Prophetic traditions might be lost.

1 Life
2 Relationship with the Umayyads
3 Legacy
4 Notes
5 External links

[edit] Life

Ibn Shibab's father, Muslim ibn Shihab, had supported Abdullah ibn Zubayr (d.692) in his struggles against the Umayyads, particularly against Al-Hajjaj bin Yousef (d.714). That is why the Umayyad government usually kept him under surveillance. It is said that Ibn Shibab had an extraordinary memory - he memorized the Qur’an before he was seven in only eight days, and he was eighteen years old when he began to do ijtihad. There was nothing he would forget after having learned it: ‘I have betrayed nothing which Allah put in my heart as a trust’, he used to say.^[2]

Ibn Shihab got his first education from Sa‘id ibn al-Musayyib, who taught him for eight years. He was also taught by Ubayd Allah ibn Abdullah ibn Utba, who was one of the seven leading jurists of the time. Ibn Shihab dedicated himself wholly to Hadith. He says: ‘I have shuttled between Hijaz and Damascus for forty years for the sake of Hadith.’^[3]

[edit] Relationship with the Umayyads

Some accuse Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri of having flattered the Umayyads. While it is true that he tutored the sons of Caliph Hisham (d.743), this does not mean that he supported the Umayyads. In his first meeting with Ibn Shihab, the Caliph Abd al-Malik (d.705) reminded him of his father, Muslim ibn Shihab's, struggles against the Ummayyads. But Ibn Shihab never feared to speak the truth to the Umayyad rulers. Some of the Umayyads alleged that it was Ali ibn Abi Talib who is referred to in the Quranic verse: "As for him among them who took upon himself the greater part of it, a mighty chastisement awaits him, coming after Those who came with slander are a band of you; do not reckon it evil for you; rather it is good for you. Every man of them shall have the sin that he has earned charged to him" (Surah An-Nur, 24.11), which was revealed on the occasion of the slander against Aisha, the wife of the Prophet Muhammad. Ibn Shihab openly stated in the Umayyad court that the sentence in question refers to ‘Abdullah ibn Ubayy ibn Salul, the head of the hypocrites in Medina. When the Caliph frowned at him, Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri retorted: ‘May you be left without a father! I swear by Allah that if a herald were to announce from heaven that Allah allows lying, I would not lie at all!’^[4]

[edit] Legacy

He had a son named Ahmad ibn Abu Bakr al-Zuhri.

Among his narrations are:

He narrated from:

[edit] Sunni view

Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri is regarded as one of the greatest Sunni authorities on Hadith. The leading critics of Hadith such as Ibn al-Madini, Ibn Hibban, Abu Khatim, Al-Dhahabi and Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani are all agreed upon his indisputable authority. He received ahadith from many Sahaba (Companions) and numerous scholars among the first and second generations after the Companions narrated from him.

He is included in the chain of narration of a least one hadith in Sahih Muslim ^[7]

Ibn Sa'd stated: "They said that Al Zuhri was reliable, with many hadith, knowledge and transmission. He was a Faqih with vast knowledge." ^[8]

A Sunni site, understanding-islam.org, writes:

Al-Zuhri, although, generally accepted to be reliable by the authorities in the science of Hadith, is considered to be a Mudrij[2] and a Mudallis[3]. Moreover, in a letter to Imam Malik, Imam Laith ibn Sa`d writes:

Ibn Shahab would give many contradicting statements, when we would meet him. While if any one of us would ask him something in writing, he, in spite of being so learned, would give three contradictory answers to the same question. He would not even be aware of what he had said about the issue in the past. This is what prompted me to give up what you do not approve of [i.e. quoting a narrative on the authority of ibn Shahab]. (Ibn Qayyim, a`laam al- Muwaqqi'in, vol. 3, [Beirut: Daru'l-Jayl], p. 85)

[2] A person who inserts something in the text of a narrative without giving any indication of this insertion.

[3] A person who narrates on the authority of someone whom, although he has met yet has not heard the narrated words from, giving the impression that he actually heard the narrated words from him. ^[9]