al-Laki
- Died
- 356 AH
- Born in
- -
Ahmad ibn al-Qasim al-Laki (d. 357 AH / 968 CE) was an Egyptian hadith transmitter who settled in Basra, best known for his transmission of Nuskhat Nabit ibn Shurit (The Codex of Nabit ibn Shurit) .
Identity and scholarly activity
His full name was Abu al-Hasan Ahmad ibn al-Qasim ibn Kathir ibn Sadaqah ibn al-Rayyan al-Misri . His nisba, al-Laki, derives from Luk, a locality situated in the province of Barqa between Alexandria and Tripoli . Although Egyptian by origin, he moved eastward and took up residence in Basra .
Al-Laki lived to an advanced age and was counted among the long-lived narrators (al-mu'ammarun) . He heard hadith from several prominent authorities, including Ishaq al-Dabari, al-Harith al-Tamimi, al-Qadi al-Barti, Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn Abi Maryam, Muhammad ibn Yunus al-Kudaymi, and Tamtam . He also heard reports from Abd Allah ibn Muhammad al-Balawi and Ahmad ibn Ishaq ibn Ibrahim ibn Nabit ibn Shurit al-Ashja'i, from whom he received the codex of his forefather in Egypt in 272 AH .
Among those who transmitted hadith from al-Laki were Abu Nu'aym al-Isbahani, Abu Bakr ibn Abi Ali al-Dhakwani, and Abu al-Hasan ibn Abdkawayh . Abu Nu'aym audited texts under him in Basra at Nahr Dubays in the month of Safar 357 AH .
Standing and criticism
Al-Laki received negative evaluations from critical scholars of biographical evaluation (al-jarh wa-l-ta'dil). Al-Daraqutni explicitly declared him weak in al-Mu'talif wa-l-mukhtalif , while Ibn Makula considered him soft in transmission . The critic al-Hasan ibn Ali ibn Amr al-Zuhri remarked that he was not satisfactory .
Al-Dhahabi classified him as a weak narrator and noted that his short hadith compilation (juz'), which circulated with a high chain of transmission through Abu Nu'aym, contained objectionable and uncorroborated traditions . Al-Laki died in 357 AH (968 CE) .
Answer updated
List of Works
Nuskhat Nabit ibn Shurit (The Codex of Nabit ibn Shurit) is a hadith compilation consisting of a single slim volume (juz') of prophetic reports spanning legal, theological, and topical themes, transmitted through an attributed family chain to the Companion Nabit ibn Shurit al-Ashja'i.