al-Daylami
- Died
- 509 AH
- Born in
- Hamadan
Abu Shuja' al-Daylami (445–509 AH / 1053–1115 CE) was a Persian Shafi'i hadith scholar and historian from Hamadhan, best known for compiling the hadith collection al-Firdaws bi-Mathur al-Khitab and the local biographical work Tarikh Hamadhan.
Lineage and Early Life
He was Shirawayh ibn Shahradar ibn Shirawayh ibn Fanakhusraw ibn Khusrakan, bearing the kunya Abu Shuja' and the titles al-Daylami and al-Hamadhani, with the honorific nickname Ilkiya. His lineage is traditionally traced back to the Companion Fayruz al-Daylami. He was born in 445 AH, though a report transmitted by Yahya ibn Mandah places his birth around 450 AH. He belonged to a family dedicated to hadith scholarship and study.
Education and Travels
Al-Daylami traveled extensively in pursuit of hadith, studying in Hamadhan, Isfahan, Baghdad, Qazwin, and the surrounding mountainous region of al-Jabal. He heard hadith from numerous teachers, including Abu al-Qasim ibn al-Busri, Abu 'Amr ibn Mandah, Muhammad ibn 'Uthman al-Qawmasani, Yusuf ibn Muhammad al-Mustamli, Abu al-Faraj 'Ali ibn Muhammad al-Jariri al-Bajali, and Ahmad ibn 'Isa al-Dinawari. In Isfahan, he studied Kitab al-Tawhid by Abu 'Abd Allah ibn Mandah under the author's son, 'Abd al-Wahhab ibn Mandah.
A number of scholars narrated hadith from him, most notably his son Abu Mansur Shahradar ibn Shirawayh al-Daylami, as well as Abu Tahir al-Silafi, Abu Musa al-Madini, Abu al-'Ala' al-Hasan ibn Ahmad al-'Attar al-Hamadhani, and Muhammad ibn al-Fadl al-Isfarayini.
Scholarly Standing
Yahya ibn Mandah praised al-Daylami, describing him as intelligent, well-mannered, sharp-witted, firm upon the Sunnah, and a man of few words. In his biographical assessment, al-Dhahabi evaluated his hadith memorization as moderate, remarking that other scholars surpassed him in precision and mastery.
His hadith compilation al-Firdaws bi-Mathur al-Khitab collected short traditions arranged alphabetically without isnads, which his son Abu Mansur subsequently supplemented with full chains of transmission. In regional history, he recorded the biographical accounts of local scholars in his work Tarikh Hamadhan.
Death
Al-Daylami died on 19 Rajab 509 AH at the age of sixty-four, and the hadith transmitter Sa'id ibn Sayyar al-Harawi attended his funeral. Another transmitted report dates his death to 9 Rajab of the same year.
Answer updated
List of Works
al-Firdaws bi-Mathur al-Khitab (also titled Firdaws al-Akhbar bi-Mathur al-Khitab) is a hadith compendium bringing together ten thousand short hadiths arranged alphabetically and stripped of their chains of transmission.