Abd al-Aziz al-Kattani
- Died
- 466 AH
- Born in
- Damascus
Abd al-Aziz al-Kattani (389–466 AH / 999–1074 CE) was a Syrian hadith scholar and historian based in Damascus, known for his necrological work Dhayl Tarikh Mawlid al-Ulama wa-Wafayatihim ("Continuation of the History of the Birth and Death of Scholars") .
Life and travels
Abu Muhammad Abd al-Aziz ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Salman ibn Ibrahim ibn Abd al-Aziz al-Kattani al-Tamimi al-Dimashqi al-Sufi was born in Damascus in Rajab 389 AH . He was raised in a scholarly family; his father, Abu Tahir Ahmad ibn Muhammad, was a Sufi and hadith transmitter . He began hearing hadith in Damascus in 407 AH .
In 417 AH, al-Kattani traveled to Baghdad to pursue hadith studies, where his father subsequently came to visit him . During his travels in search of transmissions, he also journeyed across Diyar Bakr, the Jazira, and adjacent regions, receiving hadith from local teachers .
Scholarly career and standing
Al-Kattani studied under numerous Damascus and Baghdad scholars, including Abu al-Qasim Tammam al-Razi, Sadaqah ibn Muhammad al-Qurashi (Ibn al-Dalam), Abd al-Rahman ibn Uthman ibn Abi Nasr, Abu al-Hasan ibn Makhlad al-Bazzar, Abu Ali ibn Shadhan, and Abu al-Hasan al-Hammami . He transcribed a substantial volume of texts in his own hand, though he narrated relatively little while residing in Baghdad . As a chronicler, he authored Dhayl Tarikh Mawlid al-Ulama wa-Wafayatihim, an annalistic biographical continuation covering scholarly deaths from 338 AH to 462 AH following the earlier work of Ibn Zabr al-Raba'i .
A prominent circle of scholars transmitted from him, including al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, Ibn Makula, Abu Abd Allah al-Humaydi, Abu al-Qasim Ismail ibn Ahmad al-Samarqandi, and his student Hibat Allah ibn al-Akfani . Ibn Makula remarked that he exchanged narrations with al-Kattani, describing him as a prolific and meticulous transmitter (mukthir mutqin) . The jurist Abu al-Hasan ibn al-Muslim described him as "one of the mines of truthfulness" (min ma'adin al-sidq), al-Humaydi referred to him as a righteous man, and both Ibn al-Akfani and Abu al-Qasim al-Nasib characterized him as a trustworthy and reliable حافظ (hafiz thiqa amin) .
Death
Al-Kattani died in Damascus on the night of Thursday, 20 Jumada al-Akhira 466 AH, and was buried the following day; another report mentions his death in Jumada al-Ula of the same year .
Answer updated
List of Works
Dhayl Tarikh Mawlid al-Ulama wa Wafayatihim is a biographical necrology that provides a chronological record of the deaths of scholars, especially hadith transmitters and jurists associated with Damascus and adjacent regions. Serving as an annalistic continuation of Ibn Zabr al-Raba'i's earlier work, it records obituaries year by year from 338 AH to 462 AH.