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al-Nasai

Died
303 AH
Born in
-

Ahmad ibn Shu'ayb al-Nasai (c. 215–303 AH / 830–915 CE) was a hadith master, jurist, and author of Sunan al-Nasai, one of the major collections of prophetic traditions.

Early life and education

His full lineage is Abu Abd al-Rahman Ahmad ibn Shu'ayb ibn Ali ibn Sinan ibn Bahr ibn Dinar al-Nasai, tracing his origin to the city of Nasa in Khurasan. An alternative rendition names his father as Ali ibn Shu'ayb. He stated that he was likely born in 215 AH (830 CE), as his first journey to study under Qutayba ibn Sa'id occurred in 230 AH when he was fifteen years old, residing with him for a year and two months; other biographical accounts place his birth in 214 AH or 225 AH.

Al-Nasai traveled widely in pursuit of hadith across Khurasan, Iraq, the Hijaz, Syria, Egypt, and al-Jazira. Alongside Qutayba, he studied under leading authorities of his era, including Ishaq ibn Rahwayh, Hisham ibn Ammar, Ali ibn Khashram, Muhammad ibn Bashshar, Abu Dawud al-Sijistani, Yunus ibn Abd al-A'la, al-Harith ibn Miskin, and Hannad ibn al-Sari. He also studied Quranic recitation under Ahmad ibn Nasr al-Naysaburi and Abu Shu'ayb al-Susi.

Career and life in Egypt

Al-Nasai eventually settled in Egypt, residing at the Lantern Quarter (Zuqaq al-Qanadil), where his teachings and writings gained widespread prominence. He was affiliated with the legal school of al-Shafi'i and authored rites of pilgrimage according to Shafi'i jurisprudence. He was also recorded to have served as a judge in Homs and in Egypt.

Biographical accounts describe him as devoted to rigorous day-and-night worship, regularly fasting on alternate days in the manner of the Prophet David. He joined military expeditions alongside the governor of Egypt, where he was noted for his bravery and adherence to established practices regarding the ransoming of captives, while scrupulously avoiding the ruler's court sessions. In his domestic life, he had four wives and kept concubines.

A large cohort of students transmitted hadith from him, including his son Abd al-Karim, Abu Ja'far al-Tahawi, Abu al-Qasim al-Tabarani, Abu Bakr ibn al-Sunni, Abu Bishr al-Dulabi, Abu Awanah al-Isfarayini, and Abu Ja'far al-Uqayli.

Scholarly standing

Al-Nasai was widely celebrated for his rigorous critical standards in evaluating transmitters and identifying hidden defects in transmission chains. Al-Daraqutni described him as the most legally astute shaykh of Egypt in his generation, the most knowledgeable regarding authentic and defective traditions, and unmatched in scrupulous piety (wara'), ranking him above contemporaries such as Ibn Khuzayma. Abu Ali al-Naysaburi called him an undisputed imam in hadith, counting him among the four preeminent hadith authorities he witnessed in his travels. The Shafi'i jurist Abu Bakr ibn al-Haddad chose to narrate exclusively on al-Nasai's authority, remarking that he was content with him as a proof between himself and God.

Later evaluators, including al-Dhahabi and Taj al-Din al-Subki, considered al-Nasai to possess even greater mastery and critical precision in the science of hadith defects and narrators than Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj and Abu Dawud.

Trial and death

In Dhu al-Qa'da 302 AH, al-Nasai departed Egypt. In Damascus, finding many locals harbor antipathy toward Ali ibn Abi Talib, he composed Khasa'is Ali in the hope of guiding them to Ali's merits. When questioned by some of the inhabitants about narrating the virtues of Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan, he demurred, asking whether Mu'awiya should not simply be content to break even rather than be privileged, or stating that he knew no specific prophetic virtue for him except the report اللهم لا تشبع بطنه ("May God not satisfy his belly"). Consequently, a hostile crowd assaulted and struck him, driving him out of the central mosque. Some attributed a degree of Shi'i leaning (tashayyu') to him due to this stance, though Ibn Asakir cited his affirmation that the Companions represent the protective doorway to Islam.

Accounts diverge regarding the exact location and date of his death in 303 AH (915 CE):

  • According to al-Daraqutni, he asked to be carried to Mecca while ailing from the assault, where he died in Sha'ban 303 AH and was buried between al-Safa and al-Marwah.
  • According to the Egyptian historian Ibn Yunus—a report preferred by al-Dhahabi—he was carried to Palestine and died in al-Ramla on Monday, 13 Safar 303 AH, and was buried in Jerusalem.

Answer updated

List of Works

  • Khasais Ali

    Khasa'is Ali, also known as Khasa'is Amir al-Mu'minin Ali ibn Abi Talib, is a hadith work that collects prophetic traditions on the virtues and merits of Ali ibn Abi Talib and the Prophet's household (Ahl al-Bayt).

  • Tasmiyat man lam yarwi anhu ghayr rajul wahid

    Tasmiyat man lam yarwi anhu ghayr rajul wahid (Naming Those from Whom No One Narrated Except a Single Man) is a short treatise on hadith narrator criticism dedicated to identifying transmitters from whom only one individual is known to have narrated.

  • Amal al-Yawm wa al-Layla li al-Nasai

    Amal al-Yawm wa al-Layla (The Actions of Day and Night) is a hadith collection dedicated to the prophetic supplications, invocations, and practices observed throughout the day and night.

  • Sunan al-Nasai

    Sunan al-Nasai, also known as al-Mujtaba or al-Sunan al-Sughra, is a major collection of legal hadiths and one of the six canonical books of Hadith (al-Kutub al-Sittah).

  • Fadail al-Sahaba lil-Nasai

    Fada'il al-Sahaba (Virtues of the Companions) is a hadith work dedicated to the merits and virtues of the Companions of the Prophet Muhammad, compiling prophetic narrations and historical reports documenting their exemplary character and standing.