Ibn al-Nahhas, Abd al-Rahman ibn Umar
- Died
- 416 AH
- Born in
- Egypt
Abd al-Rahman ibn Umar ibn al-Nahhas (323–416 AH / 935–1025 CE) was an Egyptian Maliki jurist and hadith scholar who was recognized as the principal authority of hadith transmission in Egypt during his era.
Lineage and early life
His full name was Abu Muhammad Abd al-Rahman ibn Umar ibn Muhammad ibn Sa'id al-Tujibi al-Misri al-Bazzaz, known as Ibn al-Nahhas. He was born on the night of Eid al-Adha in 323 AH. Adhering to the Maliki school of law, he engaged in the cloth trade (al-bazzaz). His formal training in hadith began early; he first attended narration sessions in 331 AH at the age of eight.
Education and teachers
In 339 AH, Ibn al-Nahhas traveled to Mecca to perform the pilgrimage and resided there for a period, narrating extensively from the hadith scholar Abu Sa'id ibn al-A'rabi. Within Egypt, he studied under a wide circle of teachers, including the historian Abu Sa'id ibn Yunus, Abu al-Tahir Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Amr al-Madini, Ali ibn Abd Allah ibn Abi Matar al-Iskandarani, and Abd Allah ibn Ja'far ibn Ward, from whom he received the Sira of the Prophet ﷺ. He also heard and transmitted the biographical work Akhbar Qudat Misr ("Reports of the Judges of Egypt") directly from its author, Abu Umar al-Kindi.
Scholarly career and students
Ibn al-Nahhas attained high standing as the leading transmitter of Egypt (musnid al-Diyar al-Misriyya), characterized by scholars as an upright and reliable narrator (saduq). He compiled his transmissions into a two-volume Mashyakha (scholarly anthology of narrations from his teachers). Due to his longevity and elevated chains of transmission, numerous scholars traveled to study with him; his students included Abu Ishaq al-Habbal, Abu al-Hasan al-Khala'i, and Abu Abd Allah al-Suri. He was the last surviving person to narrate directly from Ali ibn Abd Allah ibn Abi Matar.
Death
Ibn al-Nahhas died in Egypt on the night of 10 Safar 416 AH at the age of ninety-two years and two months. His funeral prayer was led by the Chief Judge Ibn Abi al-Awwam.
Answer updated
List of Works
Ruyat Allah is a theological and hadith treatise concerning the beatific vision of God in the afterlife. The work establishes and defends the doctrine that believers will see God with their physical eyes in the Hereafter, compiling textual evidence through full transmission chains against theological groups that denied ocular vision of God.