Ibn Iraq
- Died
- 963 AH
- Born in
- Damascus
Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Iraq al-Kinani (907–963 AH / 1502–1556 CE) was a Shafi'i jurist, hadith scholar, Qur'anic reciter, and Sufi who served as the imam and preacher in Medina, best known for his critical compendium on fabricated hadiths, Tanzih al-Shari'a al-Marfu'a 'an al-Akhbar al-Shani'a al-Mawdu'a.
Life and Travels
His full name was Abu al-Hasan—also titled Sa'd al-Din or Nur al-Din—Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Iraq al-Kinani. He was born around 907 AH (1502 CE) on the coast of Beirut, though another report states he was born in Damascus. He moved to the Hijaz and settled in Medina, where he was raised and later appointed as both the city's imam and its public preacher (khatib).
During his travels, he visited Anatolia (Bilad al-Rum), passing through Damascus and Aleppo. He returned to Damascus in 947 AH and subsequently traveled to Cairo, where in 954 AH he completed his major hadith compilation and presented it as a dedication to the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman. He also authored Nashr al-Lata'if fi Qutr al-Ta'if (Spreading the Subtleties on the District of Ta'if), a historical treatise on the city of Ta'if.
Scholarly Contribution
Ibn Iraq engaged broadly in Shafi'i jurisprudence, Qur'anic recitation, Quranic exegesis (tafsir), Sufism, and hadith criticism, alongside composing poetry and offering poetic critique. His principal scholarly contribution was Tanzih al-Shari'a al-Marfu'a 'an al-Akhbar al-Shani'a al-Mawdu'a (Vindication of the Exalted Sharia from Repugnant Fabricated Reports), which synthesized earlier landmark treatises on forged hadiths by Ibn al-Jawzi and Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti. He organized the compendium systematically across theological and legal chapters, prefaced it with a comprehensive biographical survey of known hadith forgers, and classified reports into distinct sections to evaluate where earlier critics agreed or diverged. In the field of exegesis, he composed Al-Sirat al-Mustaqim ila Ma'ani Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim (The Straight Path to the Meanings of the Basmala), which was later translated into Ottoman Turkish by Muhammad ibn Bilal al-Aydini for the Grand Vizier Rustem Pasha.
Death
Ibn Iraq died in Medina in 963 AH (1555–1556 CE), while serving as the city's imam and preacher.
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List of Works
Tanzih al-Sharia al-Marfu'a an al-Akhbar al-Shania al-Mawdu'a is a specialized biographical and critical reference work on fabricated hadiths (al-ahadith al-mawdu'a), conceived as a systematic synthesis and abridgment of earlier literature on forged narrations.