Ibn Faris al-Asbahani

Ibn Faris al-Asbahani (248–346 AH / 862–957 CE) was an Isfahani hadith scholar and narrator renowned as the principal hadith transmitter (musnid) of Isfahan, whose transmitted narrations are collected in Juz Ibn Faris Bulugh al-Amani bi-Taraji…+1.

Life and education

His full name was Abu Muhammad Abd Allah ibn Ja'far ibn Ahmad ibn Faris ibn al-Faraj al-Asbahani al-Taqyid li-Marifat Ruwa…+1. He was born in Isfahan in 248 AH (862 CE) into a family of scholars; his father, Ja'far ibn Ahmad ibn Faris, was also a hadith transmitter Bulugh al-Amani bi-Taraji…+1.

Ibn Faris studied under prominent senior scholars of his era, hearing hadith from his father, Muhammad ibn Asim al-Thaqafi, Yunus ibn Habib (from whom he transmitted the Musnad of Abu Dawud al-Tayalisi), Harun ibn Sulayman, Ahmad ibn Isam, Abu Mas'ud Ahmad ibn al-Furat al-Razi, Ahmad ibn Yunus al-Dabbi, and Ismail Sammuwayh Bulugh al-Amani bi-Taraji…+1. He traveled to Mecca, where Abu Bakr ibn al-Muqri recorded witnessing him transmitting hadith in 307 AH during the lifetime of al-Mufaddal al-Jandi and Ishaq al-Khuza'i al-Taqyid li-Marifat Ruwa…+1.

A wide circle of scholars narrated from him, including Abu Abd Allah ibn Mandah, Abu Nu'aym al-Asbahani, Ibn Furak, Ibn Mardawayh, Abu Bakr ibn Abi Ali al-Dhakwani, and al-Husayn ibn Ibrahim al-Jammal al-Taqyid li-Marifat Ruwa…+1. The hadith master al-Tabarani also made an exclusive selection (intikhab) of traditions directly from Ibn Faris for his son Abu Dhar al-Taqyid li-Marifat Ruwa…+1.

Scholarly standing

Biographers uniformly praised Ibn Faris as a trustworthy and devout scholar (thiqah abid) who possessed exceptionally high chains of transmission (uluww al-isnad) and outlived his peers to become the sole surviving transmitter from several senior teachers Bulugh al-Amani bi-Taraji…+1. Al-Sam'ani described him as one of the renowned, long-lived, and prolific hadith masters of Isfahan Bulugh al-Amani bi-Taraji…+1. Ibn Mandah counted him among the five foremost authorities of the world in his time, alongside al-Asamm in Nishapur, Ibn al-A'rabi in Mecca, Khaythamah in Tripoli, and Ismail al-Saffar in Baghdad Bulugh al-Amani bi-Taraji…+1.

Death

Ibn Faris died in Shawwal 346 AH (957 CE), having neared one hundred years of age; another report places his death in 345 AH Bulugh al-Amani bi-Taraji…+1. Abu Ja'far al-Khayyat recounted being present at his deathbed when Ibn Faris announced the arrival of the angel of death and said in Persian: "Take my soul as you take the soul of a man who for ninety years has said: I testify that there is no god but God, and that Muhammad is His servant and messenger" Bulugh al-Amani bi-Taraji…+1. Abu al-Shaykh related seeing him in a dream after his death, wherein Ibn Faris stated that God had forgiven him and granted him the stations of the prophets Bulugh al-Amani bi-Taraji…+1.