Ibn Nasir al-Sallami
- Died
- 550 AH
- Born in
- Baghdad
Abu al-Fadl Ibn Nasir al-Sallami (467–550 AH / 1075–1155 CE) was a Baghdadi hadith scholar and philologist, recognized as the leading hadith master (hafiz) of Baghdad in his era.
Lineage and early life
His full name was Muhammad ibn Nasir ibn Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Umar al-Baghdadi, with the kunya Abu al-Fadl. The nisba al-Sallami derives from Madinat al-Salam, the formal name of Baghdad, and he was known to write of himself as being of Persian maternal origin while born and residing in Baghdad. On his paternal side, his family descended from freed Turkish stock; his father, Nasir, was a hadith transmitter who died in his youth.
Ibn Nasir was born on the night of the middle of Sha'ban in 467 AH—reported as a Saturday, while Ibn al-Najjar recorded it as a Thursday. Following his father's early death, he was raised as an orphan under the guardianship of his maternal grandfather, the Shafi'i jurist and inheritance expert Abu Hakim al-Khabri al-Faradi, who had him memorize the Quran, initiated him into Shafi'i jurisprudence, and arranged his earliest attendance at hadith sessions.
Education and scholarship
Ibn Nasir studied Arabic philology and literature under al-Khatib al-Tibrizi alongside his fellow student Abu Mansur al-Jawaliqi. Initially, Ibn Nasir showed a stronger inclination toward philology while al-Jawaliqi leaned toward hadith, leading contemporaries to anticipate that Ibn Nasir would become Baghdad's grammarian and al-Jawaliqi its hadith scholar; over time, their trajectories reversed.
Ibn Nasir devoted himself extensively to hadith transmission without traveling outside Baghdad. Among his earliest teachers were Ali ibn Ahmad ibn al-Busri and Muhammad ibn Abi al-Saqr al-Anbari, and he later studied with Rizq Allah al-Tamimi, Tirad al-Zaynabi, Malik al-Baniyasi, and Abu al-Husayn ibn al-Tuyuri, whom he accompanied closely. The genealogist Ibn Makula also procured long-distance transmission licenses (ijazah) on his behalf during his travels from older scholars such as Ibn al-Naqqur and al-Sarifini.
In hadith lexicography and textual criticism, he authored a single-volume treatise correcting and critiquing the dictionary of rare hadith vocabulary by Abu Ubayd al-Harawi, titled al-Ma'akhidh 'ala Abi 'Ubayd al-Harawi fi Kitab al-Gharibayn.
Legal affiliation and standing
Although trained initially in the Shafi'i legal school, Ibn Nasir later associated closely with the Hanbalis and transferred his affiliation to the Hanbali madhhab, an act attributed to a dream he experienced. Abu Tahir al-Silafi noted that he heard hadith alongside Ibn Nasir when the latter was a Shafi'i-Ash'ari, before he transitioned fully to the madhhab of Ahmad ibn Hanbal in both theology and jurisprudence.
Ibn Nasir was widely regarded as trustworthy (thiqah), meticulous in textual transmission, and skilled in penmanship. Prominent scholars narrated from him, including Abu Sa'd al-Sam'ani and Ibn al-Jawzi. Ibn al-Jawzi regarded Ibn Nasir as his primary mentor who guided him to scholarship in his youth, studying under him for thirty years and reading the Musnad of Ahmad ibn Hanbal with him.
Death
Ibn Nasir died in Baghdad on the night of Tuesday, 18 Sha'ban 550 AH. His funeral was held the following day; prayers were performed over him three times near Jami' al-Sultan, then at Jami' al-Mansur, and subsequently in al-Harbiyya. He was buried at Bab Harb next to the preacher Abu Mansur ibn al-Anbari, near the tomb of Ahmad ibn Hanbal.
Answer updated
List of Works
This philological treatise is dedicated to correcting textual distortions, misreadings, and semantic inaccuracies found in Abu Ubayd al-Harawi's lexicographical dictionary Kitab al-Gharibayn. Belonging to the genres of rare hadith vocabulary (gharib al-hadith) and scholarly rectification, it systematically examines entries across al-Harawi's lexicon to address errors in transmission, vocalization, textual alteration, and flawed lexical or contextual explanations.