Hammad ibn Ishaq
- Died
- 267 AH
- Born in
- Basra
Hammad ibn Ishaq (199–267 AH / 815–880 CE) was a Maliki jurist, hadith transmitter, and judge based in Baghdad, best known for his monograph Tarkat al-Nabi (The Estate of the Prophet) .
Lineage and Early Life
His full name was Abu Isma'il Hammad ibn Ishaq ibn Isma'il ibn Hammad ibn Zayd ibn Dirham al-Azdi al-Jahdami, an affiliated client (mawla) of the family of Jarir ibn Hazim . He was born in Basra at the end of 199 AH (815 CE), though an alternative report recorded by Ibn al-Munadi places his birth in 198 AH (814 CE) . He was two years older than his brother, the judge Isma'il ibn Ishaq . He was noted for dyeing his beard with red henna .
Education and Career
Hammad studied jurisprudence under Ahmad ibn al-Mu'adhdhal and transmitted hadith from teachers including Muslim ibn Ibrahim and Abdullah ibn Maslama al-Qa'nabi . He was also reported to have relied on the writings and analytical method of Ya'qub ibn Shaybah .
He served as a judge in Baghdad, where he frequently held judicial sessions at his residence in the city's districts, and attended academic assemblies with the Abbasid caliph al-Muhtadi and other jurists . Among those who transmitted from him were his son Ibrahim ibn Hammad, Muhammad ibn Ja'far al-Khara'iti, and al-Husayn ibn Isma'il al-Mahamili . Biographers evaluated him as trustworthy (thiqa), eloquent, proficient in hadith memorization, and adept at legal reasoning according to the Maliki school . Aside from his work on the Prophet's estate, he authored treatises including al-Radd 'ala al-Shafi'i (Refutation of al-Shafi'i) and al-Muhadana (The Truce) .
Trial and Exile
In 255 AH (869 CE), during the reign of al-Muhtadi, Hammad faced a trial after the caliph received reports concerning his correspondence with al-Muwaffaq Billah while the latter was in Mecca . He was flogged in the caliph's presence in Samarra, paraded through the city on a mule, and subsequently banished to al-Ahwaz .
Death
Hammad died in Susa (al-Sus) in 267 AH (880 CE) . According to Ibn al-Munadi, his death occurred on Monday, 3 Rajab 267 AH, around the age of seventy, and news of his death reached his brother Isma'il in Baghdad ten days later on Thursday, 13 Rajab .
Answer updated
List of Works
Tarkat al-Nabi (full title: Tarkat al-Nabī wa-al-subul allatī wajjahahā fīhā) is a specialized hadith and legal monograph documenting the estate left by the Prophet Muhammad and its legal status under Islamic law. Compiled using classical hadith methodology with full chains of narration, the treatise details the material belongings left behind—including landed properties, revenues, garments, weapons, mounts, and household items—and examines the jurisprudence governing their administration as public charity and charitable endowments rather than distributed inheritance.