Al-Nasa'i

Al-Nasa'i
Born 214 AH (c. 829 CE)
Nasā, present-day Turkmenistan[1]
Died 303 AH (915 CE)
Ramla or Mecca
Nationality Persian
Occupation scholar
Notable work Al-Sunan al-Sughra
Theological work
Tradition or movement Sunni

Al-Nasā'ī (214 – 303 AH; c. 829 – 915 CE), full name Abū `Abd ar-Raḥmān Aḥmad ibn Shu`ayb ibn Alī ibn Sīnān al-Nasā'ī, was a noted collector of hadith (sayings of Muhammad),[2] and wrote one of the six canonical hadith collections recognized by Sunni Muslims,[3] Sunan al-Sughra, or "Al-Mujtaba", which he selected from his "As-Sunan al-Kubra". He also wrote 15 other books, 6 dealing with the science of hadith. He was of Persian[4] origin.

Biography

Abu Abdel-rahman Ahmed ibn Shua'ib ibn Ali ibn Sinan ibn Bahr ibn Dinar Al-Khurasani Al-Nasa'i was born in the year 215 A.H as the Imam clearly states himself (although some say 255 A.H or 214 A.H) in the city of Nasa (in present-day Nisa, Turkmenistan), situated in Western Asia in a region known at that time as Khorasan, in which many centres of Islamic knowledge were located. Thus he primarily attended the gatherings and circles of knowledge (known as halqas') in his town. When he was about 20 years old, he started traveling and made his first journey to Qutaibah. He covered the whole Arabian Peninsula seeking knowledge from scholars in Iraq, Kufa, the Hijaz, Syria and Egypt. Finally he settled down in Egypt.

Teachers and students

Hafiz Ibn Hajr alaih says that it is impossible to name and gather all his teachers but some are:

Although some scholars, like Hafiz ibn Hajr, also claimed that Imam Bukhari was among his teachers, this was not the case, for, according to al-Mizzi, the Imam Bukhari never met him. Others, however, refuted this, like As-Sakhawi who went into great details showing that the reasons for Al-Mizzi claiming they never met were not used similarly for 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...[5]' Ibrahim ibn Ya'qub al-Juzajani was also an influence.[6]

After an-Nasa'i decided to stay in Egypt, he started to lecture, mostly narrating ahadith to the extent that he became known by the title Hafizul Hadeeth.

Many people would attend his gatherings and many scholars became his students, including:

School Of Thought

Imam al-Nasai was a follower of the Shafi'i Fiqh according to Allamah as-Subki, Shah Waliullah, Shah Abdulaziz and many other scholars. The leader of the Ulama'a Allamah Anwar Shah Kashmiri is to the opinion that he was a Hanbali and this has also been stated by ibn Taymiyyah but the truth is that he was a Mujtahid more inclined towards the Hanbali Fiqh but many a time would differ from the Hanbali scholars.

Children

As mentioned before that the Imam had four wives but the historians only mention one son whose name is Abdul Kareem, one of the narrators of the Sunan of his father.

Books

These are a few of his works:[7]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.uga.edu/islam/hadith.html
  2. ↑ Ludwig W. Adamec (2009), Historical Dictionary of Islam, p.138. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0810861615.
  3. ↑ Jonathan A.C. Brown (2007), The Canonization of al-Bukhārī and Muslim: The Formation and Function of the Sunnī Ḥadīth Canon, p.10. Brill Publishers. ISBN 978-9004158399. Quote: "We can discern three strata of the Sunni hadith canon. The perennial core has been the Sahihayn. Beyond these two foundational classics, some fourth/tenth-century scholars refer to a four-book selection that adds the two Sunans of Abu Dawud (d. 275/889) and al-Nasa'i (d. 303/915). The Five Book canon, which is first noted in the sixth/twelfth century, incorporates the Jami' of al-Tirmidhi (d. 279/892). Finally the Six Book canon, which hails from the same period, adds either the Sunan of Ibn Majah (d. 273/887), the Sunan of al-Daraqutni (d. 385/995) or the Muwatta' of Malik b. Anas (d. 179/796). Later hadith compendia often included other collections as well.' None of these books, however, has enjoyed the esteem of al-Bukhari's and Muslim's works."
  4. ↑ Frye, ed. by R.N. (1975). The Cambridge history of Iran. (Repr. ed.). London: Cambridge U.P. p. 471. ISBN 978-0-521-20093-6.
  5. ↑ "هل سمع الإمام النسائي من الإمام البخاري" (in Arabic).
  6. ↑ Al-Bastawī, ʻAbd al-ʻAlīm ʻAbd al-ʻAẓīm (1990). Al-Imām al-Jūzajānī wa-manhajuhu fi al-jarḥ wa-al-taʻdīl. Maktabat Dār al-Ṭaḥāwī. p. 9.
  7. ↑ For a list of ten of his works see Sezgin, GAS, i, 167-9.
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