Abu al-Hasan al-Abari
- Died
- 363 AH
- Born in
- -
Abu al-Hasan al-Abari (d. 363 AH / 974 CE) was a Persian hadith scholar and biographer from Sijistan, best known for his comprehensive biographical work on Imam al-Shafi'i, Manaqib al-Imam al-Shafi'i (The Virtues of Imam al-Shafi'i) .
Lineage and Education
His full name was Muhammad ibn al-Husayn ibn Ibrahim ibn 'Asim ibn 'Abd Allah al-Abari al-Sijistani, with the kunya Abu al-Hasan—also recorded as Abu al-Husayn . His nisba derives from Abar, a village in the region of Sijistan .
In pursuit of hadith, al-Abari undertook extensive travels across Khurasan, al-Jibal, Iraq, al-Jazira, Syria, and Egypt . During these journeys, he studied under leading traditionists, including Ibn Khuzayma, Abu al-'Abbas al-Sarraj, Abu 'Aruba al-Harrani, Makhul al-Bayruti, Muhammad ibn Yusuf al-Harawi, Abu Nu'aym ibn 'Adi al-Jurjani, and Muhammad ibn al-Rabi' al-Jizi . His students included the preacher Yahya ibn 'Ammar al-Sijistani and 'Ali ibn Bushra al-Laythi .
Scholarly Standing
Al-Abari was recognized by biographical authorities as a leading hadith master (hafiz) and the foremost traditionist of Sijistan after Ibn Hibban . Later scholars such as Ibn Nasir al-Din characterized him as a proficient, reliable traditionist and compiler .
He gained enduring prominence for his Manaqib al-Imam al-Shafi'i, an early and extensive collection of traditions, reports, and biographical details concerning al-Shafi'i, organized into seventy-four chapters—or seventy-five according to Taj al-Din al-Subki . Al-Subki praised the work as one of the finest and most detailed compilations of its genre, while noting that al-Abari included Bishr al-Marisi among al-Shafi'i's associates despite al-Marisi's theological opposition to him, though al-Abari himself had explicitly denounced al-Marisi's heterodoxy in the text .
Death
Al-Abari died in the Islamic month of Rajab in 363 AH (c. April 974 CE) . Al-Dhahabi estimated that he lived to around eighty years of age .
Answer updated
List of Works
Manaqib al-Shafii (The Virtues of al-Shafi'i) is a biographical work on the life, virtues, and reports of Imam al-Shafi'i (150–204 AH / 767–820 CE). It collects reports, chains of transmission, and anecdotes detailing al-Shafi'i's lineage, sayings, character, and scholarship across seventy-four chapters.