al-Rabii, Abu Sulayman
- Died
- 379 AH
- Born in
- -
Abu Sulayman al-Rabii (d. 379 AH / 989 CE) was a Damascene hadith scholar and traditionist (muhaddith) of Damascus, best known for his chronological biographical work Tarikh Mawlid al-Ulama wa-Wafayatihim (The History of the Birth and Death of Scholars) .
Lineage and Education
His full name was Muhammad ibn Abd Allah ibn Ahmad ibn Rabiah ibn Sulayman ibn Khalid ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Zabr al-Rabai, commonly known as Ibn Zabr and bearing the kunya Abu Sulayman . He was raised in a scholarly family; his father, Abu Muhammad Abd Allah ibn Ahmad ibn Zabr (255–329 AH), had served as the judge (qadi) of Damascus and later of Egypt .
He studied under several prominent traditionists of his era, transmitting hadith from his father, Abu al-Qasim al-Baghawi, Muhammad ibn al-Fayd al-Ghassani, Said ibn Abd al-Aziz, Jumahir ibn Muhammad al-Zamlakani, Muhammad ibn Khuraym, Muhammad ibn al-Rabi al-Jizi, and Ibn Abi Dawud . He also heard hadith in the village of Bayt Sawa near Damascus from Abu Salih Yahya ibn Muhammad al-Kalbi in 312 AH .
Scholarly Career and Reception
Abu Sulayman regularly held sessions in the congregational mosque in Damascus, where he dictated hadith to students . A number of distinguished scholars narrated from him, including Tammam al-Razi, Abd al-Ghani ibn Said, Muhammad ibn Awf, Abu Nasr ibn al-Jabban, and Muhammad and Ahmad, the sons of al-Afif Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Nasr .
Scholars regarded him as a reliable (thiqah), trustworthy (mamun), and noble (nabil) hadith master (hafiz) . The Egyptian jurist Abu Jafar al-Tahawi examined several of Abu Sulayman's compilations, kept them overnight, and expressed admiration for his scholarship, remarking: "O Abu Sulayman, you [traditionists] are the pharmacists and we [jurists] are the physicians" .
Abu Nasr ibn al-Jabban reported that Abu Sulayman recounted a dream from the year he began writing hadith, in which he saw twenty-nine prophets, al-Hasan, and al-Husayn in a circle inside a mosque, after which he entered a realm of vast light and heard his name called .
In addition to his annalistic history of scholarly deaths, his preserved output includes Wasaya al-Ulama inda Hudur al-Mawt (The Counsels of the Scholars upon the Approach of Death), collecting early testamentary counsels, and a biographical monograph on the Medinan jurist Ibn Abi Dhib.
Death
Abu Sulayman died on Saturday, 12 Jumada al-Ula 379 AH (August 989 CE), and his funeral cortege took place the following day .
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List of Works
Akhbar Ibn Abi Dhib (Reports of Ibn Abi Dhib) is a biographical hadith monograph (juz') and short specialized treatise documenting the reports, narrations, scholarly standing, character, and virtues of the Medinan jurist and traditionist Ibn Abi Dhib (80–159 AH / 699–776 CE).
Wasaya al-Ulama inda Hudur al-Mawt (The Counsels of the Scholars upon the Approach of Death) is a collection of deathbed admonitions, final spiritual counsels, and testaments from early Islamic history. Transmitted with continuous chains of narration, it arranges these statements sequentially, beginning with the prophets, proceeding through the Rightly Guided Caliphs and Companions, and concluding with early scholars.
Tarikh Mawlid al-Ulama wa Wafayatuhum (The History of the Birth and Death of Scholars) is a specialized chronological biographical dictionary arranged annalistically. Beginning with the first year of the Hijra (1 AH) and extending to 338 AH (with coverage noted up to 357 AH), it records the birth and death dates of scholars and narrators to aid in verifying chains of transmission and establishing contemporaneity.