Qatada ibn Diama al-Sadusi
- Died
- 117 AH
- Born in
- Basra
Qatada ibn Diama al-Sadusi (60–117 AH / 680–735 CE) was a Basran Successor (tabi'i), traditionist, and Quranic exegete known for his treatise on Quranic abrogation, al-Nasikh wa al-Mansukh.
Origin and Early Life
Abu al-Khattab Qatada ibn Di'ama ibn Qatada ibn 'Aziz al-Sadusi belonged to the Sadus branch of the northern Arabian tribe of Bakr ibn Wa'il. He was born in Basra in 60 AH (another report gives 61 AH) and was born completely blind (akmah).
Education and Scholarship
Qatada studied under surviving Companions of the Prophet ﷺ, including Anas ibn Malik, Abd Allah ibn Sarjis, and Abu al-Tufayl. He also studied extensively under senior Successors; he accompanied al-Hasan al-Basri for thirteen years and prayed the dawn prayer with him for three years, and he traveled to Medina to study with Sa'id ibn al-Musayyab. His other teachers included Muhammad ibn Sirin, Ikrimah, Abu al-Aliyah, and Bakr ibn Abd Allah al-Muzani.
He became a prominent authority in Basra across multiple disciplines, including Quranic exegesis (tafsir), legal differences among scholars (ikhtilaf), Arabic lexicography, Arab genealogical lore (nasab), and historical battle narratives (ayyam al-Arab). His treatise al-Nasikh wa al-Mansukh represents an early specialized work on verses subject to legal or textual replacement in the Quran. Among the notable scholars who transmitted from him were Shu'ba ibn al-Hajjaj, Ayyub al-Sakhtiyani, Ma'mar ibn Rashid, Sa'id ibn Abi Arubah, Hammam ibn Yahya, and al-Awza'i.
Standing and Theological Reception
Qatada was widely celebrated for his extraordinary memory. After testing him during a three-day stay, Sa'id ibn al-Musayyab remarked, "I do not think God created anyone like you," and told him to depart because he had exhausted all he had to teach. Muhammad ibn Sirin described him as the greatest memorizer among the people, and Ahmad ibn Hanbal praised him as the most retentive scholar of Basra and an authority on Quranic exegesis and scholarly divergence.
Despite his scholarly standing, traditionists noted that he engaged in tadlis (omitting intermediaries in transmission), leading Hadith critics to require explicit statements of direct audition (sama') before accepting his narrations. He was also criticized for holding the theological doctrine of free will (al-qadar), though he was nevertheless regarded by biographical authorities as truthful and reliable in his hadith transmissions.
Death
Qatada died during an outbreak of the plague in Wasit in 117 AH (or 118 AH), seven years after the death of al-Hasan al-Basri, at the age of fifty-six or fifty-seven.
Answer updated
List of Works
al-Nasikh wa al-Mansukh (The Abrogating and Abrogated Verses) is an early treatise on Quranic abrogation and the earliest surviving specialized work dedicated to the subject of naskh in the Quran. It documents specific verses subject to legal or textual replacement, identifying both the abrogated (mansukh) rulings and the abrogating (nasikh) passages.