Ibn al-Mubarrad
- Died
- 909 AH
- Born in
- Damascus
Yusuf ibn Abd al-Hadi, commonly known as Ibn al-Mubarrad (840–909 AH / 1436–1503 CE), was a Hanbali jurist, hadith scholar, and polymath based in Damascus . He is widely recognized for his extensive writings in Islamic jurisprudence and hadith sciences, including al-Durr al-Naqi fi Sharh Alfaz al-Kharqi (The Pure Pearl in Explaining the Terms of al-Kharqi) and Mughni Dhawi al-Afham (Enricher of the Discerning) .
Lineage and early life
His full name was Jamal al-Din Abu al-Mahasin (and Abu Umar) Yusuf ibn Hasan ibn Ahmad ibn Hasan ibn Ahmad ibn Abd al-Hadi ibn Abd al-Hamid ibn Abd al-Hadi ibn Yusuf ibn Muhammad ibn Qudama al-Qurashi al-Adawi al-Umari al-Maqdisi al-Salihi al-Dimashqi . His ancestry traces back to Salim ibn Abd Allah ibn Umar and the second caliph, Umar ibn al-Khattab . The title Ibn al-Mubarrad (also vocalized Ibn al-Mabrad) originated with his grandfather Ahmad, who received the nickname from his paternal uncle either on account of his physical strength or the roughness of his hands .
He was born in Damascus, with sources recording his birth in 840 AH (1436 CE), while another transmission specifies the first day of Muharram 841 AH (1437 CE) . Raised in al-Salihiyya within an established scholarly family, he began his education by memorizing the Quran under Ahmad al-Misri and the brothers Muhammad and Umar al-Askari, reciting it in prayer on three separate occasions .
Education and career
Ibn al-Mubarrad studied Hanbali substantive law and legal theory extensively. He studied al-Muqni' under Taqi al-Din al-Jarra'i, Taqi al-Din ibn Qundus, and Ala' al-Din al-Mardawi, and attended the lectures of Burhan al-Din ibn Muflih and Burhan al-Din al-Zar'i . In hadith, he received transmissions from disciples of Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, Wali al-Din al-Iraqi, Ibn al-Balisi, Jamal al-Din al-Harastani, Salah ibn Abi Umar, and Ibn Nasir al-Din al-Dimashqi . He was also granted written transmission licenses (ijazat) from Egyptian scholars, among them Ibn Hajar, Shihab al-Din al-Hijazi, and Burhan al-Din al-Ba'li .
He subsequently engaged in teaching and issuing legal opinions (ifta'), and was appointed as a deputy judge (na'ib fi al-qada') in 896 AH . His scholarship was characterized by a synthesis of substantive jurisprudence, narrator criticism—exemplified in Bahr al-Dam (The Sea of Blood) on Ahmad ibn Hanbal's assessments—and cross-disciplinary expertise spanning grammar, morphology, Quranic exegesis, and Sufism .
Standing and students
Scholars praised Ibn al-Mubarrad for his encyclopedic knowledge, precision, and prolific output of over four hundred treatises and monographs .
A large circle of students studied under him, including the historian Ibn Tulun, who authored an extensive standalone biography of his teacher entitled al-Hadi ila Tarjamat Yusuf ibn Abd al-Hadi, the historian Abd al-Qadir al-Nu'aymi, and Shihab al-Din al-Mardawi, known as Ibn al-Diwan .
Death
Ibn al-Mubarrad died on Monday, 16 Muharram 909 AH (10 July 1503 CE) in Damascus . His funeral was heavily attended, and he was buried at the foot of Mount Qasiyun .
Answer updated
List of Works
Mu'jam al-Kutub (Dictionary of Books) is a Hanbali bibliographical catalog documenting titles of Islamic scholarly literature. It focuses extensively on individual corpora of legal responsa and transmissions (masa'il) collected from Ahmad ibn Hanbal by his students and companions.
Zinat al-Arais min al-Taraf wa al-Nafais fi Takhrij al-Furu al-Fiqhiyya ala al-Qawaid al-Nahwiyya is a treatise on jurisprudence and Arabic grammar. It belongs to the specialized genre of legal literature devoted to deriving substantive jurisprudential rulings (furu') from grammatical rules and linguistic structures, demonstrating the role of Arabic grammar in legal interpretation and reasoning.
al-Jawhar al-Munaddad fi Tabaqat Mutaakhkhiri Ashab Ahmad is a biographical dictionary of late Hanbali scholars that serves as a biographical continuation (dhayl) to Ibn Rajab's Dhayl Tabaqat al-Hanabila.
Zubad al-Ulum wa Sahib al-Mantuq wa al-Mafhum is an encyclopedic compendium organized into fifty distinct books spanning various religious and rational disciplines.
Ghayat al-Sul ila Ilm al-Usul is a treatise on legal theory (usul al-fiqh) according to the Hanbali school of law, composed as a concise handbook summarizing earlier Hanbali treatises in the field.
This biographical reference work on hadith narrator criticism collects and organizes the critical remarks, evaluations of reliability (ta'dil), and disparagements (jarh) made by Ahmad ibn Hanbal regarding transmission figures and scholars.
This specialized hadith treatise analyzes transmission variants, discrepancies, and narrator naming errors across the recensions of Sahih al-Bukhari.
This specialized hadith work is devoted to sourcing widely circulated and rare narrations that do not appear in the two canonical collections of al-Bukhari and Muslim.
This specialized hadith collection brings together forty prophetic traditions that simultaneously feature chained transmissions (musalsal) and mutually distinct transmission routes (mutabayina al-asanid).
This hadith critical work is devoted to examining textual discrepancies, narrator mistakes, and transmission variants across the chains of transmission (isnads) of Sahih al-Bukhari.
al-Aqd al-Tamam fiman zawwajahu al-Nabi (The Complete Necklace Concerning Those Whom the Prophet Married Off) is a concise hadith treatise compiling reports about individuals whose marriages were arranged or conducted by the Prophet Muhammad.
Sabb al-Khumul ala man wasala adhaahu ila al-salihin min awliya Allah (Pouring Obscurity upon Whoever Inflicts Harm on the Righteous Friends of God) is a treatise addressing the virtues of God's saints and the severe consequences of persecuting them.
Mahd al-Sawab fi Fadail Amir al-Muminin Umar ibn al-Khattab is a biographical and hagiographical work dedicated to the life, merits, and virtues of the second Rightly Guided Caliph, Umar ibn al-Khattab.
al-Hisba (The Manual of Market Inspection) is a concise administrative and legal treatise on market regulation and the crafts of Damascus. It serves as a practical guide defining the competencies and responsibilities of the market inspector over local artisans and vendors.
al-Istiana bil-Fatiha ala Najah al-Umur (Seeking Assistance Through al-Fatihah for the Success of Affairs) is a short treatise on the virtues of reciting Surat al-Fatihah to seek God's assistance and the fulfillment of needs.
Siyar al-Hath ila Ilm al-Talaq al-Thalath (The Swift Pace toward Knowledge of the Triple Divorce) is a treatise on Islamic jurisprudence addressing the legal rulings and scholarly disagreements concerning triple divorce pronounced in a single sitting and related matters.
Maarif al-Inam wa Fadl al-Shuhur wal-Ayyam (The Knowledge of Graces and the Virtues of Months and Days) is a devotional and hortatory work on the merits of the sacred seasons, months, days, and righteous deeds of the Islamic calendar.
Qawa'id Usul al-Fiqh allati Yu'lamu Minha Haluhu (The Principles of Legal Theory from Which Its Condition Is Known), historically also published under the title Majma' al-Usul (The Compendium of Legal Theory), is a concise treatise on Islamic jurisprudence (usul al-fiqh) organized as a handbook of foundational definitions, classifications, and maxims of legal theory according to the Hanbali school.
al-Arba'un al-Mukhtara min Hadith al-Imam Abi Hanifa (The Forty Selected Hadiths from the Narration of Imam Abu Hanifa) is a hadith collection comprising selected prophetic traditions narrated through Abu Hanifa with connected chains of transmission.
Idah Turuq al-Istiqama fi Bayan Ahkam al-Wilaya wal-Imama (Clarification of the Paths of Rectitude in Explaining the Rulings of Governance and Leadership) is a treatise on Islamic political theory and public governance that addresses the nature of the caliphate, leadership, and public offices, outlining the contraction of authority, its prerequisites, and practices associated with governance.
This short hadith treatise compiles prophetic traditions on the virtues, formulas, and etiquette of praising God (al-hamd).
This specialized Hanbali legal and linguistic lexicon defines and clarifies the difficult legal terminology, rare expressions, and vocabulary found in al-Kharqi's foundational manual Mukhtasar al-Kharqi.
Written from a Hanbali perspective, this theological treatise refutes Ibn Asakir's defense of Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari and articulates the doctrinal stance of the traditionalist school (Ahl al-Hadith).
This biographical dictionary of hadith masters provides concise records for approximately 950 memorizers (huffaz) from the era of the Companions down to the ninth century AH.
This work on hadith transmission chains (asanid) and scholarly transmission records (thabat) compiles connected chains of transmission leading back to prominent figures, well-known authors, and foundational texts.
Dabt man Ghabar fiman qayyadahu Ibn Hajar is a biographical reference work on hadith transmitters. Arranged alphabetically, the book compiles and spells out the exact vocalizations and diacritical recordings of biographical names extracted from Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani's biographical evaluation work, Taqrib al-Tahdhib. It comprises more than 3,000 entries, providing verbal descriptions that specify the correct vowel markings and diacritics for each transmitter's name, lineage, nisba, and kunya.
Jawab Bad al-Khadam li-Ahl al-Niam an Tashif Hadith Ihtajam is a specialized hadith monograph devoted to analyzing and refuting a notable textual misreading (tashif) in a prophetic tradition. The treatise addresses a narration stating that the Prophet was cupped in the mosque (ihtajama fi al-masjid), demonstrating that the authentic wording refers instead to partitioning off an enclosure in the mosque (ihtajara fi al-masjid) for prayer, while examining both the origins of the textual error and deficiencies in its chain of transmission.
al-Ashara min Marwiyyat Salih ibn Ahmad wa Ziyadatuha is a short hadith tract centered on the transmissions of Salih ibn Ahmad ibn Hanbal, the eldest son of Ahmad ibn Hanbal. The collection initially gathers ten hadiths transmitted through Salih and augments them with sixteen additional narrations, bringing the treatise to a total of twenty-six traditions.