Abu Shuayb al-Harrani
- Died
- 295 AH
- Born in
- -
Abu Shuayb al-Harrani (206–295 AH / 821–908 CE) was a hadith scholar and transmitter based in Baghdad, known for his high-ranking chains of narration .
Lineage and Family Background
His full name was Abd Allah ibn al-Hasan ibn Ahmad ibn Abd Allah ibn Muslim, with his ancestral lineage tracing to a client (mawla) of the Umayyad caliph Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz . His great-great-grandfather Muslim was taken captive from Samarkand and came into the possession of a daughter of Ahmad ibn Abd al-Aziz before Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz purchased and emancipated him . When Muslim had a son, Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz named the child Abd Allah and assigned him a stipend; this Abd Allah lived for 120 years and bore the agnomen Abu Shuayb .
Abu Shuayb hailed from a scholarly family originally associated with Harran . His grandfather, Ahmad ibn Abi Shuayb (d. 233 AH), was a prominent traditionist from whom major compilers narrated, and his father, al-Hasan ibn Ahmad (d. 250 AH), was also a recognized hadith scholar who settled in Baghdad . In addition, his mother was married to the Syrian transmitter Yahya ibn Abd Allah al-Bablutti, whose own mother had been married to the jurist al-Awza'i . Abu Shuayb was born in 206 AH .
Education and Transmission
Abu Shuayb received hadith directly from his family members, including his grandfather Ahmad ibn Abi Shuayb and his father al-Hasan . He also heard hadith from Yahya ibn Abd Allah al-Bablutti, transmitting narrations of al-Awza'i through him, and from Abu Ja'far al-Nufayli, from whom he studied in 218 AH . He additionally narrated from Affan ibn Muslim .
A collection of his transmissions was preserved in the hadith booklet Fawaid Muntaqah min Hadith Abi Shuayb al-Harrani (Selected Benefits from the Hadith of Abu Shuayb al-Harrani), transmitted by his student Abu Sa'id al-Hasan ibn Ja'far al-Hurfi . Other students who narrated from him include Abu Sa'id Ahmad ibn Ya'qub al-Thaqafi, Muhammad ibn Abd Allah al-Shafi'i, and Abu Ali ibn al-Sawwaf .
Scholarly Standing
Abu Shuayb was widely regarded by hadith critics as reliable. Musa ibn Harun described him as truthful (sadūq) and stated that hearing hadith from him was preferable to hearing from others because he was "a traditionist, the son of a traditionist, the son of a traditionist" . Salih ibn Muhammad declared him trustworthy (thiqah), and al-Daraqutni evaluated him as trustworthy and dependable (thiqah ma'mūn) .
The judge Ahmad ibn Kamil described him as an unaccused transmitter with the highest chains of narration (musnid) in Baghdad, though he noted that Abu Shuayb used to take money for narrating hadith . In one instance, when Nasr ibn Muhammad al-Sa'igh requested a narration from him, Abu Shuayb asked him to pay a water-carrier the price of a waterskin; upon receiving a small coin (dāniq), he narrated the report .
Death
Abu Shuayb al-Harrani died in Baghdad in Dhu al-Hijjah 295 AH (September 908 CE), having been the longest-surviving authority with the shortest chains of transmission in the city .
Answer updated
List of Works
Fawaid Muntaqah min Hadith Abi Shuayb al-Harrani (Selected Benefits from the Hadith of Abu Shuayb al-Harrani) is a hadith booklet compiled from the transmissions of Abu Shuayb al-Harrani, largely preserving narrations from al-Awza'i via Yahya ibn Abd Allah al-Bablutti.