al-Siraj al-Qari
- Died
- 500 AH
- Born in
- Baghdad
Abu Muhammad al-Siraj al-Qari (416–500 AH / 1025–1106 CE) was a Baghdad-based Hanbali scholar of hadith, Qur'anic reciter, philologist, and poet, best known for his literary compilation Masari al-Ushshaq ("The Fatalities of Lovers").
Lineage and Early Life
His full name was Ja'far ibn Ahmad ibn al-Husayn ibn Ahmad ibn Ja'far al-Siraj al-Baghdadi, and his kunya was Abu Muhammad. He was born in Baghdad in 416 AH, though other accounts place his birth in 417 AH, early 418 AH, or 419 AH. He studied Qur'anic variant readings and taught recitation for many years while devoting considerable attention to hadith transmission.
To further his studies, he journeyed to Mecca, Syria, and Egypt, and made repeated visits to Tyre, where he took up residence for a time before returning to Baghdad. Among his teachers in Baghdad and abroad were Abu Ali ibn Shadhan, Abu Muhammad al-Khallal, Abu al-Qasim al-Tanukhi, Ibn Shahin, and Ibn Shayta.
Scholarly Career and Students
Al-Siraj served as the prayer leader at the Suspended Mosque (al-Masjid al-Mu'allaq) facing Bab al-Nubi in Baghdad. His standing as a hadith transmitter led contemporary scholars such as al-Khatib al-Baghdadi to compile and annotate extracts from his transmissions across five fascicles, which became known as al-Sirajiyyat.
A large number of students transmitted from him, including Abu Tahir al-Silafi, the renowned female calligrapher and hadith scholar Shuhdah al-Katibah, Abu Bakr ibn al-Arabi, Abu Ali al-Sadafi, and Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani.
Beyond his transmission of hadith and recitations, al-Siraj was an accomplished poet who utilized verse to didactic ends, including the versification of legal handbooks such as al-Tanbih by Abu Ishaq al-Shirazi. His most prominent literary achievement was Masari al-Ushshaq, an anthology recording stories and poetic accounts of passionate lovers and ascetics, which he arranged in distinct sections and prefaced each part with lines of his own poetry.
Standing and Death
Ibn Asakir praised al-Siraj as having a graceful conduct and a deep love for learning and literature, remarking on his elevated standing in hadith, Qur'anic recitation, Arabic grammar, philology, and prosody.
Al-Siraj died in Baghdad on 11 Safar 500 AH at the age of eighty-one, though alternative reports place his death in 501 AH or 502 AH. He was buried in the cemetery of Bab Abraz.
Answer updated
List of Works
Masari al-Ushshaq (The Fatalities of Lovers) is an Arabic literary anthology that documents stories, poetry, and biographical anecdotes of passionate lovers who perished or suffered from intense love. Drawing on bedouins, urbanites, and devout ascetics, the work compiles narratives and poetic fragments recorded with explicit chains of transmission tracing back to earlier authorities and eyewitnesses.