Abu al-Qasim Ibn Asakir
- Died
- 571 AH
- Born in
- Damascus
Abu al-Qasim Ibn Asakir (499–571 AH / 1105–1176 CE) was a Syrian hadith master, Shafi'i jurist, and historian from Damascus, best known for his monumental biographical history Tarikh Dimashq (The History of Damascus) .
Lineage and Early Life
He was Ali ibn al-Hasan ibn Hibat Allah ibn Abd Allah ibn al-Husayn, titled Thiqat al-Din and generally known by the family designation Ibn Asakir, though biographers note that none of his known direct ancestors bore the name Asakir . He was born in Damascus at the beginning of Muharram 499 AH, while another report recorded by his son places his birth in the final third of that month .
He was raised in an environment of scholarship; his father, al-Hasan ibn Hibat Allah, was an upright man devoted to religious learning, and his elder brother, Sa'in al-Din Hibat Allah (also styled Diya al-Din), was an accomplished Shafi'i jurist and hadith transmitter who supervised his initial studies and brought him to attend scholarly audition sessions as early as 505 AH .
Education, Travels, and Teachers
In Damascus, Ibn Asakir studied Shafi'i jurisprudence under Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn al-Muslim al-Sulami at the Aminiyya madrasa and heard hadith from local authorities, including the Sharif Abu al-Qasim Ali ibn Ibrahim al-Nasib, Subay' ibn Qirat, and Abu Tahir al-Hinna'i . In 520 AH, he traveled to Baghdad, where he spent five years studying jurisprudence at the Nizamiyya of Baghdad, transcribing disputation records (masail al-khilaf) under Abu Sa'd Ismail ibn Abi Salih al-Mu'adhdhin, and hearing transmissions from scholars such as Abu al-Qasim ibn al-Husayn and Ali ibn Abd al-Wahid al-Dinawari .
He made the pilgrimage in 521 AH, studying with scholars in Mecca and Medina as well as Kufa . In 529 AH, he undertook a four-year journey eastward through Azerbaijan, Khurasan, and western Persia, visiting centers such as Isfahan, Nishapur, Merv, and Herat, often in company with Abu Sa'd al-Sam'ani . Over the course of his journeys, he received hadith from approximately 1,300 male teachers and more than eighty female scholars, including Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn al-Fadl al-Furawi, Zahir ibn Tahir al-Shahhami, Ismail ibn Muhammad al-Isfahani, and Fatima bint Za'bal .
Teaching and Major Contributions
Returning to Damascus, Ibn Asakir spent roughly four decades writing, teaching, and holding transmission assemblies . When the Zengid sovereign Nur al-Din Mahmud took Damascus in 549 AH, he held the scholar in high esteem and constructed for him Dar al-Hadith al-Nuriyya—recognized by biographers as the earliest dedicated madrasa for hadith instruction—where Ibn Asakir served as head teacher . He avoided taking judicial or political offices despite their availability, dedicating himself to devotion and commanding right and forbidding wrong .
In theology, he adhered to the Ash'ari school and authored Tabyin Kidhb al-Muftari fima nusiba ila al-Ash'ari (Exposing the Fabricator's Lies Concerning What Has Been Attributed to al-Ash'ari) to defend the reputation of Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari against criticisms by the Damascene scholar al-Hasan ibn Ali al-Ahwazi . Encouraged by Nur al-Din, he completed his eighty-volume biographical compilation Tarikh Dimashq, which chronicled the topography of Syria and documented the lives and narrations of prophets, rulers, scholars, and poets who inhabited or passed through Damascus .
Among his prominent students were Abu Sa'd al-Sam'ani (who transmitted from him as well as to him), his son al-Qasim Baha al-Din, his nephew Fakhr al-Din Abd al-Rahman ibn Asakir, Abd al-Qadir al-Ruhawi, Abu al-Mawahib ibn Sasra, Abu al-Qasim ibn Sasra, and Abu al-Qasim ibn al-Harastani .
Standing
Contemporary and later scholars widely recognized Ibn Asakir's memory and command over transmission chains and texts. Abu Sa'd al-Sam'ani praised him as a scrupulous, reliable memorizer of vast learning who surpassed his peers . Abd al-Qadir al-Ruhawi stated that having met major contemporaries such as Abu Tahir al-Silafi, Abu al-Ala al-Hamadhani, and Abu Musa al-Madini, he saw none equal to Ibn Asakir in hadith retention . Ibn al-Najjar likewise described him as the leading hadith authority of his time to whom preeminence in preservation and composition had passed .
Death
Ibn Asakir died in Damascus on Monday night, 11 Rajab 571 AH (though a variant report gives 21 Rajab), at the age of seventy-two . Sultan Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi attended his funeral, the prayer was led by Qutb al-Din al-Naysaburi, and he was buried in the Bab al-Saghir cemetery to the east of the chamber housing the tomb of Mu'awiya .
Answer updated
List of Works
Dhamm man la ya'mal bi-ʻilmih (The Censure of One Who Does Not Act upon His Knowledge) is a short treatise addressing the religious obligation of practicing what one learns and warning against knowledge devoid of deed.
al-Arbaun fi al-Hath ala al-Jihad (The Forty [Hadiths] on Exhortation to Jihad) is a thematic collection of forty prophetic traditions compiled to encourage jihad, fortify resolve in combat, and urge the confrontation of invading enemies.
Dhamm Dhi al-Wajhayn wa al-Lisanayn (The Dispraise of the Two-Faced and Two-Tongued Person) is a short hadith treatise dedicated to the ethical condemnation of hypocrisy, double-dealing, and duplicity.
Mu'jam al-Shuyukh (Dictionary of Teachers) is a biographical dictionary of transmitters documenting the scholarly masters from whom narrations were heard directly or who granted written authorizations to transmit.
Fadl Shahr Ramadan (The Virtue of the Month of Ramadan) is a short hadith treatise dedicated to prophetic traditions and narrations regarding the merits of the month of Ramadan.
Al-Arbaun al-Buldaniyya is a hadith compilation gathering forty prophetic traditions recorded directly across forty different cities. Representing the buldaniyya subgenre of forty-hadith collections, it is arranged around a symmetrical scheme of forty distinct variables, featuring forty narrations heard from forty separate shaykhs in forty localities, traced back to forty Companions, and classified under forty topical chapters of religious knowledge.
Tarikh Dimashq is an extensive biographical and historical work spanning around eighty volumes. It documents the topography and history of Damascus and the wider Syrian region, providing comprehensive biographical records of prominent figures—including prophets, caliphs, scholars, and poets—who lived in or visited the city from pre-Islamic antiquity onward, transmitted with full chains of narration.
Fadl Rajab, also known as Juz' fi fadl Rajab, is a hadith booklet compiled through dictation sessions delivered in 566 AH. It gathers sixteen numbered narrations, reports, and poetic verses concerning the virtues, sacred status, and religious practices associated with the sacred month of Rajab, supplemented by occasional critical remarks on transmission chains.
al-Arbaun Hadithan min al-Musawah is a hadith collection drawn specifically from the transmissions of Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn al-Fadl al-Furawi. It brings together narrations whose chains match the brevity and number of intermediaries found in the chains of the Six Imams of Hadith to achieve equal elevation (musawah), containing over one hundred hadiths alongside commentary and analysis.
Dhamm al-Malahi is a short hadith treatise comprising fifteen numbered narrations followed by poetic verses that address the condemnation of singing, musical instruments, and frivolous entertainment. Originating as the fifty-second assembly from a series of dictated sessions delivered from memory in 538 AH, it records prophetic traditions, early scholarly reports, and anecdotes with complete transmission chains.
al-Tawba (The Repentance), also known as al-Majlis al-thani wa-l-thalathun fi al-tawba (The Thirty-Second Dictation Session on Repentance), is a short hadith compilation dedicated to narrations concerning the merit and necessity of repentance in Islam.
Hadith Ahl Hardan (also titled Juz' fihi hadith min hadith Ahl Hardan wa-ahadith 'aliyah quri'at bi-Hardan) is a hadith tractate that gathers traditions transmitted by narrators associated with Hardan, as well as narrations with elevated chains that were recited there.
Fadl Umm al-Muminin Aisha (The Virtue of the Mother of the Believers Aisha) is a hadith tract dedicated to the merits and virtues of the Prophet's wife Aisha bint Abi Bakr, originating as the forty-sixth dictation session within the author's broader dictations.
al-Hadi wal-Khamsun min Amali Ibn Asakir (The Fifty-First Session of the Dictations of Ibn Asakir) is a short hadith compilation and dictation session dedicated to the virtues of fasting.
Tabyin Kidhb al-Muftari fima nusiba ila al-Ashari (Exposing the Fabricator's Lies Concerning What Has Been Attributed to al-Ash'ari) is a biographical and theological treatise written in defense of the theologian Abu al-Hasan al-Ashari and his school.
Dhamm Qurna' al-Su' (Censure of Bad Companions) is a short hadith dictation session that gathers prophetic traditions, statements of early figures, and poetic verses warning against corrupt companions and harmful social company.
Fadilat Dhikr Allah (The Virtue of the Remembrance of Allah) is a short hadith treatise dedicated to traditions highlighting the excellence and spiritual merits of remembering God.
Akhbar li Hifz al-Quran (Reports on Memorizing the Quran) is a short hadith monograph (juz') that gathers prophetic traditions, companion reports, and scholarly sayings on retaining the Quran and religious knowledge.
Tabyin al-Imtinan bil-Amr bil-Ikhtitan (Clarification of Grace Concerning the Commandment of Circumcision) is a specialized hadith treatise (juzʾ) that brings together prophetic traditions and early reports documenting the religious prescription, practice, and legal status of circumcision in Islam.
al-Arbaun al-Abdal al-Awali (The Forty Elevated Substitute Traditions) is a hadith compilation that gathers forty narrations selected to demonstrate elevated chains of transmission (uluww) through technical pathways of alternative routing (abdal and muwafaqat).
Kashf al-Mughatta fi Fadl al-Muwatta (Unveiling the Concealed Concerning the Virtue of al-Muwatta) is a hadith treatise dedicated to the merits, status, and historical narrations surrounding al-Muwatta of Malik ibn Anas (d. 179 AH).
Fadl Yawm Arafah (The Virtue of the Day of Arafah) is a specialized hadith treatise collecting prophetic traditions and reports on the merits, devotions, and supplications associated with the Day of Arafah.
Madh al-Tawadu li-Ibn Asakir (The Praise of Humility and the Condemnation of Arrogance) is a hadith treatise dedicated to prophetic traditions that extol humility and censure arrogance.
Taziyat al-Muslim (Consoling the Muslim), also titled Taziyat al-Muslim an Akhih, is a hadith treatise compiling transmitted traditions and reports addressing condolences, patience in the face of bereavement, and spiritual solace during afflictions.