al-Sarmari

Jamal al-Din al-Sarmari (696–776 AH / 1297–1374 CE) was an Iraqi-born Hanbali jurist, hadith scholar, and theologian who settled in Damascus, known for his didactic writings in creed and prophetic biography Qiladat al-Nahr fi Wafaya…+1.

Name and Early Life

His full lineage is Abu al-Muzaffar Yusuf ibn Muhammad ibn Mas'ud ibn Muhammad ibn 'Ali ibn Ibrahim al-'Abbadi al-'Uqayli al-Sarmari Nahj al-Rashad fi Nazm al…+1. He was born in late Rajab 696 AH in Samarra (Surra Man Ra'a), from which his nisba derives Qiladat al-Nahr fi Wafaya…+1. He was raised in Samarra, where he memorized the Quran in his youth and began his study of Hanbali jurisprudence under Siraj al-Din al-Husayn ibn Yusuf al-Dujayli Manhaj al-Imam Jamal al-D…+1.

Education and Travels

In 729 AH, at around thirty-three years of age, al-Sarmari moved to Baghdad, where he studied under numerous scholars, including Safi al-Din Abd al-Mumin ibn Abd al-Haqq and Mahmud ibn 'Ali al-Daquqi, and received high general licenses (ijazas) from scholars such as Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Muhsin Ibn al-Dawallibi and Ibn al-Shahna Manhaj al-Imam Jamal al-D…+1. In 746 AH, he migrated to Damascus, where he read directly to Shams al-Din al-Dhahabi and studied under Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya and Muhammad ibn Isma'il Ibn al-Khabbaz Khasais Sayyid al-Alamin …+2.

Al-Sarmari taught and transmitted hadith in Baghdad and Damascus. Among his notable students were his son Ibrahim ibn Yusuf al-Sarmari, the historian Ahmad ibn Hijji al-Sa'di al-Hasbani, the traditionist Sa'id ibn 'Abd Allah al-Hariri, the Quran reciter Ahmad ibn Yusuf al-Baniyasi, and 'Abd al-Rahman ibn 'Umar al-Qubabi al-Maqdisi Manhaj al-Imam Jamal al-D….

Scholarly Contribution

Al-Sarmari was a prolific author in both verse and prose across multiple disciplines, particularly theology, hadith, prophetic biography, and jurisprudence Manhaj al-Imam Jamal al-D…+1. In Sunni theology, he articulated traditional creed and responded to theological opponents in works such as Nahj al-Rashad fi Nazm al-Itiqad, a didactic poem of 151 verses composed in the tawil meter Manhaj al-Imam Jamal al-D…+1. In the field of prophetic characteristics and virtues, he authored Khasa'is Sayyid al-'Alamin wa-Ma Lahu min al-Manaqib al-'Aja'ib, establishing a comparative framework demonstrating the Prophet Muhammad's distinct and superior virtues relative to previous prophets Khasais Sayyid al-Alamin …+1.

Standing

Al-Sarmari was widely commended by contemporary and later scholars for his piety, breadth of learning, and mastery of hadith disciplines Manhaj al-Imam Jamal al-D…+1. Ibn Nasir al-Din praised him as an exemplary scholar, ascetic, reliable imam, and a relied-upon authority in the assessment and textual accuracy of hadith transmitters Manhaj al-Imam Jamal al-D….

Death

Al-Sarmari died past the age of eighty on a Saturday in Jumada al-Ula 776 AH (October 1374 CE) in Damascus; reports differ as to the exact day, citing the 21st, 20th, or 11th of the month Manhaj al-Imam Jamal al-D…. His funeral prayer was performed at the Umayyad Mosque, and he was buried in the Sufi Cemetery (maqbarat al-Sufiyya) outside Damascus, adjacent to the grave of Ibn Taymiyya Manhaj al-Imam Jamal al-D….