Bakr ibn Bakkar
- Died
- 207 AH
- Born in
- -
Bakr ibn Bakkar al-Qaysi (d. 207 AH / 822–823 CE) was an early Iraqi hadith transmitter originally from Basra who later settled in Isfahan, known for his transmitted hadith compilation (juz').
Life and transmission
Bakr ibn Bakkar al-Qaysi bore the kunya Abu ʿAmr, and his first name was also reported as Bukayr. After studying in Basra, he arrived in Isfahan in 206 AH, where he taught hadith until his death in 207 AH.
He transmitted hadith from a large circle of prominent scholars, including Shu'ba ibn al-Hajjaj, Abdullah ibn Awn, Mis'ar ibn Kidam, Hamzah al-Zayyat, Sufyan al-Thawri, and 'A'idh ibn Shurayh. Many prominent traditionists and contemporaries narrated from him, such as Abu Dawud al-Tayalisi—who was older than him—as well as Abu 'Asim al-Nabil, Ashhal ibn Hatim, al-Hasan ibn 'Ali al-Hulwani, Isma'il ibn Samrawayh, and Abu Mas'ud Ahmad ibn al-Furat al-Razi.
Scholarly reception
Hadith scholars held differing opinions regarding Bakr ibn Bakkar’s reliability. His contemporaries Abu ʿAsim al-Nabil and Ashhal ibn Hatim deemed him trustworthy (thiqah). Ibn Hibban included him in his biographical work on reliable narrators (al-Thiqat), noting that he occasionally made errors. Ibn 'Adi remarked that he transmitted fine, rare traditions that were worthy of recording and that his hadiths were not severely objectionable. Ibn al-Qattan stated that he leaned closer toward being reliable, though not at the strongest rank.
A number of other critics weakened him. Yahya ibn Ma'in considered him "nothing," and Abu Hatim al-Razi stated that he was "not strong." Al-Nasa'i judged him as "not strong" in his Sunan and declared him "not trustworthy" elsewhere. Ibn Abi Hatim described him as weak in transmission, poor in memory, and prone to confusion. He was also cited among the weak narrators by al-'Uqayli, Ibn al-Jarud, and Zakariyya al-Saji, owing to uncorroborated narrations found in his transmitted text (nuskha).
Answer updated
List of Works
Juz Bakr ibn Bakkar is a hadith tract compiled from the narrations of Bakr ibn Bakkar al-Qaysi. Also referred to as a juz' or nuskha, the work comprises a collection of elevated and rare prophetic traditions and reports characterized by short chains of transmission.