Ibn al-Sayrafi, Jamal al-Din
- Died
- 678 AH
- Born in
- Harran
Jamal al-Din Ibn al-Sayrafi (583–678 AH / 1187–1279 CE) was a Hanbali jurist, hadith scholar, and mufti originally from Harran who settled in Damascus and served as the shaykh of hadith at al-Sadriyya madrasa.
Lineage and Education
His full name was Abu Zakariyya Yahya ibn Abi Mansur ibn Abi al-Fath ibn Rafi‘ ibn ‘Ali ibn Ibrahim al-Harrani al-Dimashqi, commonly known as Ibn al-Sayrafi and Ibn al-Hubayshi. He was born in Harran in 583 AH (1187 CE). Seeking knowledge in law and hadith, he traveled widely, visiting Mosul and traveling to Baghdad in 607 AH before making his permanent residence in Damascus.
In Baghdad, he studied Arabic grammar under Abu al-Baqa al-‘Ukbari and jurisprudence under Abu Bakr ibn Ghanima and Muwaffaq al-Din Ibn Qudama. He married in Baghdad, where his son Fakhr al-Din Muhammad was born and introduced to hadith transmission. Ibn al-Sayrafi received hadith from numerous scholars across several cities: from Umar ibn Tabarzad, Ahmad ibn al-Daybaqi, and Abd al-Aziz ibn Manina in Baghdad; from Abd al-Qadir al-Ruhawi in Harran; and from al-Taj al-Kindi, Ibn al-Harastani, and Ahmad ibn Mula‘ib in Damascus.
Scholarly Career and Reception
Ibn al-Sayrafi issued legal rulings in Baghdad, Harran, and Damascus. In Damascus, he held a regular teaching circle at the Umayyad Mosque where a generation of students studied under him, and he directed hadith instruction at al-Sadriyya madrasa. Among those who transmitted from him were Ibn Taymiyyah, Zayn al-Din Ibn Taymiyyah, Abd al-Mu'min al-Dimyati, Ibn Ya‘ish, and Ibn al-Attar.
He was regarded as an exemplary jurist and an upright ascetic, praised for outspokenness in speaking the truth and forbidding wrong regardless of who was involved. His legal writings included Nawadir al-madhhab, which gathered rare opinions and transmissions within Hanbali jurisprudence, and a treatise on penal rulings (‘Uqubat al-jara’im) composed for Iftikhar al-Din al-Harrani, the governor of Damascus. In hadith, he compiled Musalsal al-‘idayn, recording chains of transmission for traditions delivered between the prayer and sermon of the two festivals.
Later Life and Death
More than two years prior to his death, his mental condition deteriorated, and he was secluded from public engagement. Ibn al-Sayrafi died in Damascus in Safar 678 AH (June/July 1279 CE) and was buried in the Bab al-Faradis cemetery.
Answer updated
List of Works
Musalsal al-Eidayn (The Pattern-Chained Hadith of the Two Eids) is a short hadith monograph (juz') documenting transmission chains for the pattern-chained hadith recited on the day of Eid. The work records the audition of the musalsal tradition associated with the festival days (Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha), in which each narrator delivers the tradition between the Eid prayer and the Eid sermon.