al-Amir Ibn Balban al-Farisi
- Died
- 739 AH
- Born in
- -
Abu al-Hasan 'Ali ibn Balban al-Farisi (675–739 AH / 1276–1339 CE), titled al-Amir, was a Cairo-based Hanafi jurist, hadith scholar, and grammarian best known for al-Ihsan fi Taqrib Sahih Ibn Hibban, his thematic reorganization of Sahih Ibn Hibban .
Life and Education
Abu al-Hasan 'Ala' al-Din 'Ali ibn Balban ibn 'Abd Allah al-Farisi was born in 675 AH (1276 CE) . He resided in Cairo, where he studied legal theory and jurisprudence under the chief judge Shams al-Din Abu al-'Abbas Ahmad al-Saruji . He received hadith transmissions from prominent scholars of his era, including Abd al-Mumin ibn Khalaf al-Dimyati, Muhammad ibn 'Ali ibn Sa'id, and Ibn 'Asakir .
Beyond his juristic activity and the issuance of fatwas, he compiled and reorganized classical texts . In Hanafi jurisprudence, he wrote Tuhfat al-Haris, an extensive commentary on Muhammad ibn Abbad al-Khilati's Talkhis al-Jami' al-Kabir . In hadith, he rearranged Ibn Hibban's al-Taqasim wa-al-Anwa' (Sahih Ibn Hibban) as well as the traditions of al-Tabarani into topical juristic chapters to facilitate legal reference .
Standing and Death
Biographers characterized Ibn Balban as an authoritative reference in both the foundational principles and substantive branches of Islamic law, as well as in grammatical and comparative legal studies .
He died at his residence on the bank of the Nile in Cairo on 8 Shawwal 739 AH (or 7 Shawwal according to another report) and was buried in his tomb outside Bab al-Nasr . Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti recorded an alternative death year of 731 AH .
Answer updated
List of Works
Tuhfat al-Siddiq fi Fadail Abi Bakr al-Siddiq is a biographical hadith treatise focused on the virtues, standing, and merits of the first Rashidun caliph, Abu Bakr al-Siddiq. The work compiles prophetic traditions and reports gathered from earlier hadith sources, such as the Juz' of al-Hasan ibn 'Arafa, alongside critical observations on narrators and chains of transmission.
al-Ihsan fi Taqrib Sahih Ibn Hibban is a rearranged edition of the hadith collection Sahih Ibn Hibban. Created to resolve difficulties in navigating the original text's complex division into five broad categories and hundreds of subtypes, the work reorganizes around 7,500 hadiths into conventional thematic juristic books and chapters to facilitate retrieval while preserving the original chains of transmission, texts, and scholarly commentary.