Ibn Mihran
- Died
- 381 AH
- Born in
- -
Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn al-Husayn ibn Mihran al-Naysaburi (295–381 AH / 908–991 CE) was a Persian scholar of Quranic recitations and Shafi'i jurist based in Nishapur . He was regarded as a leading authority of his era in Quranic variant readings, known for works such as al-Ghayah fi al-Qiraat al-Ashr (The Ultimate Scope in the Ten Readings) .
Background and education
Ibn Mihran traced his origins to Isfahan before settling in Nishapur, and he was known by the nisba al-Mihrani after his grandfather Mihran . He was born in 295 AH (908 CE) .
To collect elevated chains of transmission in recitation and Hadith, Ibn Mihran traveled across Khurasan, Iraq, and Syria . In Nishapur, he studied Hadith under scholars including Ibn Khuzaymah, Abu al-Abbas al-Sarraj, and Abu al-Abbas al-Masarjisi . In Baghdad, he studied Quranic reading under Abu Bakr al-Naqqash, Zayd ibn Abi Bilal, Abu Isa Bakkar, and Muhammad ibn al-Hasan ibn Miqsam . In Damascus, he read under Abu al-Hasan Muhammad ibn al-Nadr al-Akhram .
Teaching and standing
Ibn Mihran taught Quranic recitation and Hadith to numerous prominent scholars. His students included the traditionist al-Hakim al-Naysaburi, who read Ibn Mihran's extensive recitation manual al-Shamil directly to him in Bukhara in 355 AH and selected five parts from his original texts in Nishapur in 367 AH . Other students who transmitted from him or recited under his instruction included Abu Sa'd al-Kanjrudhi, Abu Hafs ibn Masrur, Abd al-Rahman ibn Allayk, Abu Sa'd Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Muqri, and Mahdi ibn Tarara .
Scholars praised his mastery of Quranic variants and his personal piety. Al-Hakim described him as the foremost scholar of recitation in his era, the most devout of the reciters he met, and a person whose supplications were answered . Later biographical authorities, including Ibn al-Jazari, characterized him as a reliable, meticulous, and pious authority in the field of readings . He also compiled al-Mabsut fi al-Qiraat al-Ashr (The Expounded Treatise on the Ten Readings) on variant readings .
Death
Ibn Mihran fell ill during the last ten days of Ramadan, and his condition deteriorated through the following month . He died on Wednesday, 27 Shawwal 381 AH (January 991 CE), at the age of eighty-six; another account mentions his death in Sha'ban of the same year . His funeral prayer was conducted in the Tahiriyya esplanade (Maydan al-Tahiriyya) in Nishapur . The philosopher Abu al-Hasan al-Amiri died on the very same day .
Answer updated
List of Works
al-Mabsut fi al-Qiraat al-Ashr (The Expounded Treatise on the Ten Readings) is a manual on Quranic variants dedicated to documenting the ten canonical readings.