al-Baghban
- Died
- 559 AH
- Born in
- Isfahan
Abu al-Khayr al-Baghban (c. 460s–559 AH / c. 1070s–1164 CE) was an Isfahani hadith transmitter, Quran reciter, surveyor, and Sufi known for transmitting numerous hadith compilations .
Lineage and Early Life
His full name was Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Umar ibn al-Qasim ibn Abd Allah ibn Ali ibn Ishaq ibn Sundar al-Isbahani . He was known by the occupational nisba al-Baghban, which refers to the guarding of gardens or orchards (al-bagh) . His father, Abu al-Qasim (or Abu al-Abbas) Ahmad ibn Muhammad, was an eager pursuer of hadith who ensured that Abu al-Khayr and his brothers studied under scholars from an early age . Abu al-Khayr was born in the 460s AH and was described variously as a surveyor (muqaddir), engineer (muhandis), muezzin, Quran reciter (muqriʾ), and Sufi .
Education and Transmission
Abu al-Khayr studied under a broad circle of teachers in Isfahan and elsewhere. Among them were Abu Amr Abd al-Wahhab ibn Mandah, Abu Isa ibn Ziyad, Abu Bakr ibn Majah, al-Mutahhar al-Bazzani, Abu al-Tayyib Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Salla, and Abu Nasr ibn al-Sabbagh during an embassy (al-rusliyya) . He also heard narrations from Abu Mansur ibn Shakruwayh, Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Simsar, Ibrahim ibn Muhammad al-Qaffal, his maternal grandfather Ali ibn Muhammad al-Saqqa, and Hakim ibn Muhammad al-Isfarayini, from whom he received the Musnad of al-Shafi'i .
He transmitted hadith in both Isfahan and Hamadhan . The traditionist Abu al-Ala al-Hasan ibn Ahmad al-Attar had him brought from Isfahan to Hamadhan so that his grandson Abu Ahmad Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rashid could hear the majority of his repertoire directly from him . Among those who transmitted from him were Abu Sa'd al-Sam'ani, Jami' ibn Khumartash, Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Abi al-Fath al-Najjar, Muhammad ibn Makki al-Hanbali, Dawud ibn Mu'ammar, Abd al-Barr ibn Abi al-Ala, and Abu al-Wafa Mahmud ibn Ibrahim ibn Mandah . Selected narrations from his transmissions were compiled in the tract Fawaid Ibn al-Baghban, and the last surviving transmitters to report from him by general licence (ijaza) were Karima al-Qurashiyya and Ajiba al-Baqdariyya .
Standing and Death
Abu al-Khayr was recognized as a long-lived and reliable transmitter; Ibn Nuqta evaluated him as trustworthy and possessing sound audition (thiqah sahih al-sama') . According to Abd al-Rahim al-Haji, he died on 12 Shawwal 559 AH / 1 September 1164 CE .
Answer updated
List of Works
Fawaid Ibn al-Baghban (Fawāʾid Ibn al-Bāghbān) is a hadith tract (juzʾ) that compiles selected narrations from transmitted collections and transmissions.