Abu Abd Allah al-Hakim
- Died
- 405 AH
- Born in
- Nishapur
Abu Abd Allah al-Hakim (321–405 AH / 933–1014 CE) was a Shafi'i hadith scholar, critic, and historian of Nishapur, recognized for his hadith compendium al-Mustadrak ala al-Sahihayn and his methodological handbook Marifat Ulum al-Hadith .
Lineage and early life
His full name was Muhammad ibn Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn Hamdawayh ibn Nu'aym ibn al-Hakam al-Dabbi al-Tahmani al-Naysaburi . He was commonly known as Ibn al-Bayyi' (or al-Bayya') and was titled al-Hakim after serving as a judge . His nisba al-Dabbi stems from his great-grandmother's grandfather, Isa ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Sulayman al-Dabbi, whose mother was the daughter of the early scholar Ibrahim ibn Tahman, accounting for his additional nisba al-Tahmani .
He was born in Nishapur on Monday morning, 3 Rabi' al-Awwal 321 AH . His father, Abd Allah ibn Muhammad, was a muezzin who had seen Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj and spent heavily on scholars and ascetics before dying in 337 AH when Abu Abd Allah was sixteen . Guided by his father and maternal uncle, he began hearing hadith in 330 AH (with another report citing 331 AH) and served as a dictation scribe (mustamli) for Ibn Hibban in 334 AH at the age of thirteen .
Travels, education, and career
At age twenty, in 341 AH, he traveled to Iraq, performed the pilgrimage to Mecca, and made a second journey to the region in 368 AH . He traveled extensively throughout Khurasan and Transoxiana, hearing from approximately two thousand teachers, about one thousand of whom were in Nishapur alone . He studied Shafi'i jurisprudence under Abu Sahl al-Su'luki in Nishapur and Abu Ali ibn Abi Hurayrah in Iraq . His prominent teachers in hadith included Abu al-Abbas al-Asamm, Ibn al-Akhram, Abu Bakr al-Sibghi, Abu Ali al-Husayn ibn Ali al-Naysaburi, Abu Bakr al-Najjad, Abu Amr ibn al-Sammak, and al-Daraqutni, with whom he engaged in scholarly discussions .
In 359 AH, he was appointed judge of Nisa under the Samanid vizierate of al-Utbi; he was later offered the judgeship of Gurgan but declined it . He also served as a diplomatic envoy between the Samanid rulers and the Buyids .
Among those who transmitted from him were al-Daraqutni, Abu Bakr al-Bayhaqi (who studied extensive materials under him), Abu Nu'aym al-Isfahani, Abu Dharr al-Harawi, Abu Ya'la al-Khalili, Abu al-Qasim al-Qushayri, and Abu Uthman al-Sabuni .
Scholarly standing and controversies
Al-Hakim was widely acclaimed for his mastery of transmitter criticism (al-jarh wa-l-ta'dil) and hidden defects of hadith ('ilal) . When asked to compare four contemporary hadith authorities—al-Daraqutni, Abd al-Ghani al-Azdi, Ibn Mandah, and al-Hakim—Sa'd ibn Ali al-Zanjani characterized al-Hakim as the best among them in composition and compilation . His biographical work Tarikh Naysabur was noted by Taj al-Din al-Subki for its comprehensive value across various disciplines .
He faced criticism regarding his doctrinal leanings and hadith evaluations. Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi and others noted that he inclined toward Shi'ism (tashayyu'), citing his inclusion of controversial reports—such as the narration of the roasted bird (hadith al-tayr) and من كنت مولاه فعلي مولاه ("Whomever I am his patron, Ali is his patron")—and claiming that they met the criteria of al-Bukhari and Muslim . Abu Ismail al-Ansari strongly condemned him, whereas al-Subki defended him against being classified as a Rafidi, asserting that his preference for Ali did not involve disparaging any of the Companions .
Critics also noted leniency (tasahul) in his authentication of chains in al-Mustadrak; al-Dhahabi attributed this to compiling the text in his advanced age, while Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani explained that he had written an initial draft that he was unable to fully revise prior to his death .
Death
Al-Hakim died in Nishapur on Tuesday, 3 Safar 405 AH, at the age of eighty-four (with another variant giving 8 Safar, and an isolated report by Abu Ya'la al-Khalili citing 403 AH) . According to a report transmitted by Abu Musa al-Madini, he entered the public bathhouse, washed, stepped out, exclaimed "Ah," and died while still wrapped in his waistcloth before putting on his shirt . He was buried on Wednesday afternoon, and the funeral prayer was led by Judge Abu Bakr al-Hiri .
Answer updated
List of Works
This treatise on hadith transmitter criticism (al-jarh wa-l-ta'dil) brings together evaluations of narrator reliability across two sets of inquiries. It unites an earlier set of questions sent by hadith scholars in Baghdad concerning the standing of narrators from Khurasan with direct inquiries posed by Mas'ud ibn Ali al-Sijzi regarding a separate group of transmitters.
This major hadith compendium is designed to supplement the canonical collections of al-Bukhari and Muslim. It compiles authentic traditions that met their criteria or possessed authentic chains of transmission but were omitted from the two canonical works.
This hadith biographical reference work compiles and classifies the transmitters appearing in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim. It serves as an abridged inventory categorizing narrators into those agreed upon by both authorities and those included exclusively by either al-Bukhari or Muslim.
This foundational treatise on hadith methodology and terminology outlines the branches, technical definitions, and analytical criteria of prophetic tradition sciences. It serves as a concise handbook arranged into fifty-two distinct categories covering textual, transmission, and biographical studies.
This treatise on hadith methodology and terminology serves as a preparatory guide to the larger work Kitab al-Iklil. It outlines the principles of transmitter assessment, criteria of hadith criticism, and the classification of authentic reports.
al-Madkhal ila al-Sahih (The Introduction to the Sound Hadith Collections) is a treatise on hadith methodology and narrator criticism.