Yahya ibn Adam al-Qurashi
- Died
- 203 AH
- Born in
- Kufa
Yahya ibn Adam al-Qurashi (after 130–203 AH / after 747–818 CE) was an Iraqi hadith scholar, jurist, and Quran reciter from Kufa, best known for his legal and fiscal treatise Kitab al-Kharaj (The Book of Land Tax) .
Lineage and Early Life
His full name was Yahya ibn Adam ibn Sulayman al-Qurashi al-Umawi, and he bore the kunya Abu Zakariyya and the nickname al-Ahwal (the cross-eyed) . He was affiliated by clientage (wala') to the Umayyad clan of Abu Mu'ayt, specifically through Khalid ibn 'Uqba ibn Abi Mu'ayt (also identified as Khalid ibn Khalid) . He was born after 130 AH; his father, Adam ibn Sulayman, died while Yahya's mother was pregnant with him, so he never met his father .
Education and Scholarship
Yahya studied Quranic recitation under Abu Bakr ibn Ayyash, transmitting and verifying the reading of Asim, and he also studied recitation under al-Kisa'i . In hadith, he studied under prominent figures of Kufa and Iraq, including Sufyan al-Thawri, Sufyan ibn Uyayna, Mis'ar ibn Kidam, Yunus ibn Abi Ishaq, Isra'il ibn Yunus, Jarir ibn Hazim, Hammad ibn Salama, and Yahya ibn Abi Za'ida, though he did not meet Shu'ba .
Among his students were prominent traditionists and jurists, including Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Ishaq ibn Rahawayh, Yahya ibn Ma'in, Ali ibn al-Madini, Abu Bakr ibn Abi Shayba, and al-Hasan ibn 'Ali ibn 'Affan . His legal scholarship is represented in Kitab al-Kharaj, an early collection arranged with chains of transmission addressing public taxation, the status of conquered territories, and state revenues .
Standing
Yahya ibn Adam was evaluated as trustworthy (thiqa) by Yahya ibn Ma'in, al-Nasa'i, Ibn Sa'd, and Abu Hatim al-Razi . Abu Dawood described him as "unique among men" (wahid al-nas) . Abu Usama remarked that seeing Yahya reminded him of al-Sha'bi due to his wide-ranging and comprehensive learning . 'Ali ibn al-Madini praised his immense breadth of knowledge, while Ya'qub ibn Shayba described him as trustworthy, prolific in hadith, and naturally gifted in jurisprudence (faqih al-badan) . Al-'Ijli described him as an intelligent, reliable scholar who gathered diverse branches of knowledge and was firm in hadith .
Death
Yahya ibn Adam died in 203 AH (818 CE), in the middle of Rabi' al-Awwal (or Rabi' al-Akhir), at Fam al-Silh near Wasit . The Abbasid minister al-Hasan ibn Sahl led his funeral prayer . A variant report dates his death to 210 AH .
Answer updated
List of Works
Kitab al-Kharaj (The Book of Land Tax) is an early legal and tradition-based treatise on public finance and land taxation in Islam. Constructed around narrated traditions (athar and hadiths) with chains of transmission, the work examines legal rulings, fiscal revenues, and property designations established across Islamic territories following early conquests, covering the division of spoils of war and state revenue, agricultural taxes, and the legal status of conquered lands.