Ibn Hamza al-Husayni
- Died
- 1120 AH
- Born in
- Damascus
Ibn Hamza al-Husayni (1054–1120 AH / 1645–1708 CE) was a Damascene Hanafi jurist, hadith specialist, and grammarian, best known for his reference work on the circumstantial occasions of prophetic traditions, al-Bayan wa al-Ta‘rif fi Asbab Wurud al-Hadith al-Sharif .
Lineage and Career
His full name was Burhan al-Din Ibrahim ibn Muhammad ibn Muhammad Kamal al-Din ibn Ahmad ibn Husayn ibn Hamza al-Husayni al-Dimashqi . Born in Damascus in 1054 AH (1645 CE), he was raised and educated there before journeying to Egypt, where he studied under local scholars, and later traveling to Ottoman Anatolia (Rum) . He was taught by around eighty teachers, including Muhammad al-Inani and Ahmad al-Hamawi al-Hanafi .
A prominent notable in Damascus, he held various official and judicial roles, including deputy judge (na'ib al-mahkama) and teacher . He was appointed syndic of the Prophet's descendants (naqib al-ashraf) in Cairo in 1093 AH, and subsequently served multiple tenures in the same capacity in Damascus .
Scholarly Standing and Contributions
Biographers recognized him as a distinguished scholar endowed with gravity, dignity, and regular devotional practice . In hadith studies, he completed his seminal compendium, al-Bayan wa al-Ta‘rif fi Asbab Wurud al-Hadith al-Sharif, in 1119 AH; the work catalogs traditions alphabetically by their opening wording alongside their context of utterance (asbab al-wurud) and source attributions . In Arabic grammar, he also authored a supercommentary on Ibn al-Nazim's commentary on Alfiyyat Ibn Malik, which remained unfinished .
Death
Ibn Hamza died in 1120 AH (1708 CE) while returning from the Hajj pilgrimage, at a waystation called Dhat al-Hajj, where he was interred .
Answer updated
List of Works
al-Bayan wa al-Tarif fi Asbab Wurud al-Hadith al-Sharif is a reference work dedicated to the contextual occasions and background circumstances of prophetic traditions (asbab wurud al-hadith). Completed in 1119 AH (1707–1708 CE), the work is structured alphabetically by the opening words of each tradition's text, documenting the concise hadith, its source references, and the narrative explaining the occasion of its utterance.