al-Mizzi, Jamal al-Din

Jamal al-Din al-Mizzi (654–742 AH / 1256–1341 CE) was a Syrian Shafi'i hadith scholar and master of biographical criticism, renowned as the leading traditionist of Damascus in his era Fawat al-Wafayat+2.

Early Life and Education

His full lineage is Abu al-Hajjaj Yusuf ibn al-Zaki 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Yusuf ibn 'Abd al-Malik ibn 'Ali ibn Abi al-Zahr al-Quda'i al-Kalbi Fawat al-Wafayat+1. He was born on the outskirts of Aleppo on 10 Rabi' al-Akhir 654 AH (another report mentions 635 AH), and was raised in al-Mizza, a garden suburb of Damascus, from which he took his nisba Fawat al-Wafayat+2. In his youth, he memorized the Quran, studied basic Shafi'i jurisprudence, and gained proficiency in Arabic grammar and morphology before dedicating himself entirely to hadith in 675 AH Fawat al-Wafayat+1.

Al-Mizzi studied under prominent scholars across the region, including Fakhr al-Din 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Yusuf al-Ba'li, Ahmad ibn Hibat Allah ibn 'Asakir, al-Hasan ibn 'Ali al-Khallal, and Abu Bakr ibn 'Umar al-Mizzi Dhayl al-Taqyid fi Ruwat …+1. He traveled extensively to hear narrations and continued active audition and teaching for approximately fifty years al-Durar al-Lawami fi Sha…+1.

Career and Trial

In 718 AH, al-Mizzi was appointed head of Dar al-Hadith al-Ashrafiyya in Damascus, a premier institution of hadith study where he taught for twenty-three and a half years Majallat al-Bayan+1.

Al-Mizzi maintained a close scholarly friendship with Ibn Taymiyya, with whom he frequently shared auditions and research al-Budur al-Mudiya fi Tar…+1. This association involved him in theological tensions: on 22 Rajab, al-Mizzi read a section refuting the Jahmiyya from al-Bukhari's Khalq Af'al al-'Ibad under the Eagle Dome in the Umayyad Mosque al-Muqaffa al-Kabir. Certain jurists objected, claiming the passage targeted them, and lodged a complaint with the Shafi'i chief judge, who ordered al-Mizzi detained al-Muqaffa al-Kabir. Ibn Taymiyya intervened personally to secure his initial release, but following a confrontation with the judge, al-Mizzi was reimprisoned for several days until the viceroy of Damascus intervened and issued a decree prohibiting public disputes on theological creed al-Muqaffa al-Kabir. Their close bond persisted, and al-Mizzi was among the select companions permitted to wash Ibn Taymiyya's body after his death in the Citadel of Damascus Majallat al-Bayan.

Al-Mizzi trained many of the leading scholars of the subsequent generation, including Shams al-Din al-Dhahabi, Taqi al-Din al-Subki, Salah al-Din al-Ala'i, and Ala' al-Din Mughaltay Tahdhib al-Kamal fi Asma …+2.

Scholarly Standing

Al-Mizzi was widely acknowledged as the foremost authority on narrator criticism ('ilm al-rijal) and chain transmission (asand) of his generation Fawat al-Wafayat+1. Al-Dhahabi described him as an unmatched master who bore the banner of narrator criticism and clarified intricate transmission problems al-Budur al-Mudiya fi Tar…+1. Comparing the leading scholars of the time, al-Dhahabi observed that while Ibn Daqiq al-'Id possessed the deepest legal understanding of hadith, al-Dimyati the greatest expertise in genealogies, and Ibn Taymiyya the strongest memory of texts, al-Mizzi was the most knowledgeable in transmitters Fihris al-Faharis.

His monumental encyclopedic dictionary Tahdhib al-Kamal fi Asma al-Rijal systematized the biographical records of narrators in the Six Books, and his index Tuhfat al-Ashraf bi-Marifat al-Atraf organized their transmission paths by hadith incipits Fawat al-Wafayat+1. Taj al-Din al-Subki noted that scholars would read before al-Mizzi for entire days amid convoluted paths and ambiguous names without him ever faltering or lapsing in concentration, though al-Subki expressed skepticism regarding al-Dhahabi's remark that al-Mizzi engaged in rationalist philosophy Fihris al-Faharis+1.

Death

Al-Mizzi died on Saturday, 12 Safar 742 AH (1341 CE), in Damascus at the age of eighty-eight Fawat al-Wafayat+1. He was buried in the Sufiyya cemetery to the west of the grave of Ibn Taymiyya Fawat al-Wafayat+1.