Ibn al-Sunni
- Died
- 364 AH
- Born in
- -
Abu Bakr Ibn al-Sunni (c. 280–364 AH / c. 894–974 CE) was a Persian hadith scholar and Shafi'i jurist from Dinawar, best known for compiling prophetic supplications in Amal al-Yawm wa al-Layla and transmitting the Sunan of al-Nasa'i.
Lineage and Early Life
He was Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn Ibrahim ibn Asbat ibn Abd Allah ibn Ibrahim ibn Budayh al-Dinawari al-Sunni, an affiliated client (mawla) of Abd Allah ibn Ja'far ibn Abi Talib. He was born around 280 AH and grew up in Dinawar, later living past the age of eighty. The nisba al-Sunni derives from adherence to the Sunnah.
Education and Judicial Career
Ibn al-Sunni traveled extensively across Islamic scholarly centers to gather hadith transmissions. In Egypt, he closely studied under al-Nasa'i and heard his Sunan in 302 AH; he also studied under Abu Khalifah al-Jumahi in Basra, Abu Ya'la al-Mawsili in Mosul, and leading authorities in Baghdad, alongside Abu Arubah al-Harrani and Zakariyya al-Saji. In addition to hadith, he possessed expertise in Shafi'i jurisprudence.
He was appointed chief judge of Rayy, but he later resigned the office and returned to Dinawar. According to his student Abu Nasr al-Kassar, he resented being addressed with the title of judge (qadi). In his later years, Ibn al-Sunni worked as a professional manuscript copyist (warraq); when his family asked why he continued copying in extreme old age, he expressed his wish that he could retain the ability to copy. He visited Hamadan in Shawwal 362 AH.
Prominent students who transmitted from him included Ahmad ibn al-Husayn al-Kassar, Abu Abd Allah ibn Fanjuwayh al-Dinawari, Ahmad ibn Abd Allah ibn Shadhan, Ahmad ibn al-Hasan ibn Lal, and his grandson Abu Zur'ah Rawh ibn Muhammad.
Standing and Scholarly Output
Ibn al-Sunni was recognized as a trustworthy hadith master (hafiz, thiqah) characterized by piety and religious devotion. The historian Shirawayh ibn Shahradar noted that no scholar of his caliber existed in the Jibal region during his era.
He served as the primary transmitter of al-Nasa'i's condensed hadith collection, al-Mujtaba (or al-Mujtana), through which the work was received by subsequent generations of traditionists. He also authored Kitab al-Qana'ah, a thematic compilation dedicated to the virtue of spiritual contentment substantiated by transmitted reports and poetry.
Death
Ibn al-Sunni died in late 364 AH (974 CE); one report specifically dates his death to Wednesday, 10 Shawwal 364 AH. An alternate dating by Abu Ya'la al-Khalili placing his death in 359 AH was rejected by later biographers because his student al-Kassar was documented hearing from him in Jumada al-Ula 363 AH.
According to family accounts related by his son and grandson, he was writing hadith when he placed his pen inside the neck of the inkwell, raised his hands in supplication to God, and passed away. He left behind only sixty dirhams accumulated from his work as a copyist, which were used to purchase his burial shroud.
Answer updated
List of Works
Kitab al-Qana'ah (al-Qanaa) is a treatise devoted to exploring the virtue and nature of contentment. It defines contentment as satisfaction with one's allotted share, setting out to describe its character and spiritual merit through thematic chapters substantiated by chains of transmission and classical Arabic poetry.
Amal al-Yawm wa al-Layla (Practices of the Day and Night) is a hadith compendium of daily prayers, supplications, and invocations. Arranged systematically around daily human activities and life events, it compiles prophetic reports with connected chains of transmission for routine devotional practice during travel, residency, health, and illness.