Ibrahim bin Abd al-Samad
- Died
- 325 AH
- Born in
- -
Abu Ishaq Ibrahim bin Abd al-Samad al-Hashimi (d. 325 AH / 937 CE) was an Abbasid hadith transmitter based in Samarra and Baghdad, recognized primarily for his transmission of the Muwatta Malik through Abu Mus'ab al-Zuhri .
Lineage and background
His full lineage is Ibrahim bin Abd al-Samad bin Musa bin Muhammad bin Ibrahim al-Imam bin Muhammad bin Ali bin Abd Allah bin al-Abbas bin Abd al-Muttalib . A member of the Hashemite and Abbasid house, he was the son of the Abbasid prince Abd al-Samad bin Musa, who had governed the annual pilgrimage during the caliphate of al-Mutawakkil . He resided in Samarra (Surra Man Ra'a) and transmitted hadith there as well as in Baghdad .
Hadith transmission and scholarship
Ibrahim heard and transmitted hadith from a number of prominent scholars, foremost among them Abu Mus'ab Ahmad bin Abi Bakr al-Zuhri, from whom he received Malik's Muwatta alongside his father . His other teachers included his father Abd al-Samad bin Musa, al-Husayn bin al-Hasan al-Marwazi, Sa'id bin Abd al-Rahman al-Makhzumi, Muhammad bin al-Walid al-Busri, Khallad bin Aslam, and Ubayd bin Asbat bin Muhammad .
A substantial cohort of scholars narrated from him, including al-Daraqutni, Abu al-Husayn bin al-Bawwab al-Muqri, Abu Hafs bin Shahin, Yusuf bin Umar al-Qawwas, and Abu Hafs al-Kattani, with Ahmad bin Muhammad bin al-Salt al-Mujbir being the last of his students to transmit from him .
Reception and manuscript authentication
Scholarly reports diverged regarding the physical verification of his primary audition texts. Abu al-Hasan bin Lu'lu' al-Warraq related that he traveled to Samarra specifically to hear the Muwatta from Ibrahim bin Abd al-Samad, but left without studying under him after concluding that Ibrahim did not possess an authenticated original manuscript (asl sahih) .
Conversely, other contemporary authorities affirmed the authenticity of his copy. Al-Daraqutni recorded that Judge Muhammad bin Ali al-Hashimi (known as Ibn Umm Shayban) examined the copy of the Muwatta transmitted from Abu Mus'ab and witnessed an authentic, early audition certificate (sama') endorsed on the back, confirming that Prince Abd al-Samad bin Musa and his son Ibrahim had heard it together . Judge Abu al-Hasan Muhammad bin Salih al-Hashimi likewise attested to examining Ibrahim's original manuscript of the Muwatta, noting that his audition alongside his father was inscribed in the archaic hand of the original text .
Death
Ibrahim bin Abd al-Samad died in Samarra in 325 AH (937 CE) . The hadith scholar Ibn Qani' recorded that his death occurred specifically at the beginning of the month of Muharram in that year .
Answer updated
List of Works
al-Juz al-Awwal min Amali Abi Ishaq (The First Part of the Dictations of Abu Ishaq) is a short hadith collection consisting of prophetic traditions recorded across five dictation sessions. Also known as Juz al-Baniyasi after one of its key transmitters, the text preserves various narrations transmitted through familial and regional chains of narration.