al-Uqayli
- Died
- 322 AH
- Born in
- -
Abu Ja'far al-Uqayli (d. 322 AH / 934 CE) was a Hijazi hadith critic and scholar of transmitter evaluation, best known for his biographical dictionary of criticized transmitters, Kitab al-Du'afa' al-Kabir (The Great Book of Weak Narrators) .
Lineage and Education
His full name was Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn 'Amr ibn Musa ibn Hammad al-'Uqayli al-Hijazi . He was based in the Hejaz and resided in the Two Holy Sanctuaries of Mecca and Medina . He traveled widely to study hadith, meeting scholars across various regions, including Rayy and Egypt .
He studied under numerous prominent scholars, including his maternal grandfather Yazid ibn Muhammad al-'Uqayli, Abd Allah ibn Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Muhammad ibn Isma'il al-Sa'igh, Ishaq ibn Ibrahim al-Dabari, Muhammad ibn Isma'il al-Tirmidhi, Ali ibn Abd al-Aziz al-Baghawi, Bishr ibn Musa al-Asadi, and Muhammad ibn al-Fadl al-Qustani .
Among those who transmitted hadith from him were Abu al-Hasan Muhammad ibn Nafi' al-Khuza'i, Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn al-Muqri', and Yusuf ibn Ahmad ibn al-Dakhil al-Misri .
Scholarly Standing and Reception
Al-Uqayli attained widespread recognition as an authority in hadith criticism and memorization . The Andalusian scholar Maslama ibn al-Qasim described him as an eminent figure of immense stature and prolific output, remarking that he had not seen anyone like him . Maslama recounted that when students visited al-Uqayli, he would instruct them to read from their own manuscripts rather than bringing out his original texts, prompting a group of hadith scholars to test his retention by intentionally introducing additions and omissions into their texts; al-Uqayli immediately detected the alterations, took the pen, and corrected the manuscripts entirely from memory . The critic Abu al-Hasan ibn al-Qattan evaluated him as trustworthy, eminent, deeply knowledgeable in hadith, and prominent in memorization .
His principal contribution to hadith studies remains Kitab al-Du'afa' al-Kabir, in which he surveyed criticized transmitters, recorded impugnments and differing assessments from early authorities, and documented transmission errors and uncorroborated narrations .
Death
Al-Uqayli died in 322 AH (934 CE) .
Answer updated
List of Works
Kitab al-Du'afa' al-Kabir (The Great Book of Weak Narrators) is a biographical evaluation dictionary of criticized hadith transmitters and an early primary reference work in the field of narrator criticism (ilm al-jarh wa-l-ta'dil). It provides entries on transmitters subject to impugnment, disparagement, or differing assessments, citing earlier authorities, examining chains of transmission, and documenting individual hadiths to demonstrate narrative errors, irregularities, or lack of corroboration.