Abu al-Fadl ibn al-Mahdi
- Died
- 444 AH
- Born in
- -
Abu al-Fadl ibn al-Mahdi (d. 444 AH / 1052–1053 CE) was an Abbasid nobleman (al-sharif) and traditionist known for his biographical dictionary of teachers (mashyakha), Dhikr Shuyukh al-Sharif Abi al-Fadl Ibn al-Mahdi .
Lineage and Scholarship
His full lineage is Muhammad ibn Abd al-Aziz ibn al-Abbas ibn Muhammad ibn Abd Allah ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Abd Allah ibn the third Abbasid caliph, al-Mahdi . He compiled a register of his teachers titled Dhikr Shuyukh al-Sharif Abi al-Fadl Ibn al-Mahdi (Mention of the Shaykhs of al-Sharif Abu al-Fadl Ibn al-Mahdi), in which he documented the authorities under whom he studied, their biographical standing, their dates of death, and selections of prophetic hadith and other reports received from them .
Transmission and Legacy
His scholarly transmissions and his mashyakha were preserved through his son, the notary (al-adl) al-Sharif Abu Ali Muhammad (also styled al-Abbas Muhammad) ibn Muhammad ibn Abd al-Aziz ibn al-Mahdi . The hadith scholar Abu Tahir al-Silafi studied the text directly under Ibn al-Mahdi's son through reading in Baghdad in Safar 495 AH, and subsequently transmitted it to later students in Alexandria in Sha'ban 575 AH . Ibn al-Mahdi died in 444 AH .
Answer updated
List of Works
Dhikr Shuyukh al-Sharif Abi al-Fadl Ibn al-Mahdi is a biographical dictionary of teachers (mashyakha). It documents the instructors met and studied under, recording details of their standing, their dates of death, and selections of prophetic hadith, well-received anecdotes, or poetic verses transmitted from each.