Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri

Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri (c. 58–124 AH / 678–742 CE) was an early Hijazi jurist and hadith scholar based in Medina and Damascus, widely recognized for playing a foundational role in the formal codification of hadith al-Tarikh al-Kabir li-Ibn…+1.

Lineage and Early Life

His full name was Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Muslim ibn Ubayd Allah ibn Abd Allah ibn Shihab ibn Abd Allah ibn al-Harith ibn Zuhra al-Qurashi al-Zuhri al-Tarikh al-Kabir li-Ibn…+1. He was commonly attributed to his great-grandfather Shihab as Ibn Shihab, and to the Qurayshite clan of Banu Zuhra as al-Zuhri al-Awasim wa al-Qawasim f…. His mother belonged to Banu al-Dīl of the Kinana tribe al-Tarikh al-Kabir li-Ibn…+1. According to al-Waqidi, he was born in 58 AH (678 CE) during the latter part of the caliphate of Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan al-Bidaya wa al-Nihaya. He reportedly memorized the Quran in eighty nights in his youth al-Tarikh al-Kabir lil-Bu…+1.

Education and Teachers

Al-Zuhri studied under prominent senior figures of the Successor generation in Medina. He was a close student of Sa'id ibn al-Musayyab for years, and also studied extensively with 'Urwa ibn al-Zubayr, Abu Salama ibn Abd al-Rahman, and Ubayd Allah ibn Abd Allah ibn 'Utba, whom he described as the "four seas" of Qurayshi knowledge al-Tabaqat al-Kubra+1. He also attended the gatherings of Ali ibn al-Husayn Zayn al-Abidin, whom he regarded as the most legally astute of his time Fasl al-Khitab fi al-Zuhd…. Among the Companions of the Prophet ﷺ, he heard narrations directly from Anas ibn Malik, Sahl ibn Sa'd, and Abu al-Tufayl, and saw Abd Allah ibn Umar al-Tarikh al-Kabir lil-Bu…+1.

Career and State Patronage

Al-Zuhri traveled to Syria during financial hardship and entered the court of the Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, who recognized his ancestry and paid his debts al-Muqaffa al-Kabir. He maintained ties with subsequent Umayyad rulers; Caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik paid substantial debts on his behalf, engaged him in scholarly companionship, and appointed him to instruct his sons al-Muqaffa al-Kabir+1.

During the caliphate of Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz, al-Zuhri was commissioned to participate in the state-sponsored project to record and compile the prophetic traditions. Al-Zuhri recounted: "Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz ordered us to collect the Sunnahs, so we recorded them notebook by notebook, and he sent a notebook to every land over which he held authority" al-Madkhal fi Tarikh al-S…+1. In addition to Prophetic traditions, he recorded the statements and legal rulings of the Companions al-Bidaya wa al-Nihaya+1.

Students and Standing

A large group of major scholars transmitted hadith from al-Zuhri, including Malik ibn Anas, Ma'mar ibn Rashid, Sufyan ibn Uyayna, al-Awza'i, Yunus ibn Yazid al-Ayli, Uqayl ibn Khalid, Qatada ibn Di'ama, and his nephew Muhammad ibn Abd Allah ibn Muslim al-Tarikh al-Kabir lil-Bu…+1.

Al-Zuhri was celebrated by his contemporaries for his vast memory and command of chains of transmission. He stated of himself: "I never entrusted anything to my memory and had it betray me" al-Tarikh al-Kabir lil-Bu…. Amr ibn Dinar remarked that despite having sat with prominent Companions such as Jabir, Ibn Umar, and Ibn Abbas, he had seen no one more methodical in organizing hadith than al-Zuhri al-Tarikh al-Kabir li-Ibn…. Ayyub al-Sakhtiyani similarly described him as the most knowledgeable person he had encountered al-Tarikh al-Kabir lil-Bu….

Death

Al-Zuhri died on a Tuesday night, on the 17th (or in another report, the 19th) of Ramadan in 124 AH (742 CE) Tarikh Dimashq li-Ibn Asa…+1; variant reports place his death in 123 AH or 125 AH al-Bidaya wa al-Nihaya+1. His age at death is reported as seventy-two or seventy-five years al-Bidaya wa al-Nihaya+1. He fell ill and passed away at his estate at Shaghb and Badā (or Adāmī), situated on the frontier between the Hijaz and Palestine al-Bidaya wa al-Nihaya+1. Per his instructions, he was buried along the roadside so that travelers passing by could pray for him al-Bidaya wa al-Nihaya+1.