al-Harith bin Abi Usama
- Died
- 282 AH
- Born in
- Baghdad
al-Harith bin Abi Usama (186–282 AH / 802–895 CE) was a hadith scholar from Baghdad best known for his compilation Musnad al-Harith .
Life and Education
His full name was al-Harith ibn Muhammad ibn Abi Usama, whose given name is recorded as Zahir or Dahir, with the kunya Abu Muhammad al-Tamimi . He was born in 186 AH and raised in Baghdad . Later in life, he was noted for dyeing his beard red with henna .
He studied under several prominent hadith masters of his era, hearing transmissions from Yazid ibn Harun, Ali ibn Asim, Abd al-Wahhab ibn Ata, Muhammad ibn Sa'd, and al-Waqidi . His own students included the historian and exegete Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari, as well as Ahmad ibn Yusuf ibn Khallad, Muhammad ibn Abd Allah al-Shafi'i, and Ahmad ibn Kamil .
Standing and Reception
Scholars held differing evaluations regarding his reliability as a transmitter . Al-Daraqutni evaluated him as truthful (sadooq) and instructed Abu Bakr al-Barqani to include his narrations in his Sahih . When asked about learning from him despite his acceptance of payment, Ibrahim al-Harbi affirmed his trustworthiness, stating that students should listen to him because he was reliable (thiqah) .
Conversely, some Baghdadi critics softened their appraisal of him because he accepted money for narrating hadith, which he did on account of poverty, and Ibn Hazm declared him weak . His primary compilation, Musnad al-Harith, was preserved as an unarranged corpus whose unique additions (zawa'id) relative to other major collections were later assembled by Nur al-Din al-Haythami in Bughyat al-Bahith 'an Zawa'id Musnad al-Harith .
Death
He died on the eve of Arafah and was buried in the forenoon on the Day of Arafah in 282 AH (895 CE), at the age of ninety-six .
Answer updated
List of Works
Musnad al-Harith is a collection of hadith transmissions originally gathered under direct teachers rather than Companion narrators. Commonly referenced through its surviving extraction, Bughyat al-Bahith an Zawaid Musnad al-Harith, the work is preserved as a zawaid compilation that isolates more than 1,150 traditions not recorded in the Six Books and arranges them into thematic and jurisprudential chapters.
Awali al-Harith is a hadith tract (juz) comprising narrations with elevated transmission chains (awali) extracted from Musnad al-Harith. The collection brings together traditions preserved through short chains of transmission (isnad), including elevated reports narrated on the authority of Companions such as Usama ibn Zayd.