Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani

Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī or Ibn Ḥajar (Arabic: ابن حجر العسقلاني‎, full name: Shihāb al-Dīn Abū ‘l-Faḍl Aḥmad ibn Nūr al-Dīn ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī) (18 February 1372 – 2 February 1449 [852 A.H.]),[1] was a medieval Islamic scholar "whose life work constitutes the final summation of the science of Hadith."[4] He authored some 150 works on hadith, history, biography, tafsir, poetry, and Shafi'ite jurisprudence, the most valued of which being his commentary of the Sahih of Bukhari, titled Fath al-Bari.[5]

Ibn Ḥajar al-‘Asqalānī
TitleShaykh al-Islām/ Ḥāfiẓ
Personal
Born18 February 1372 (1372-02-18)
Cairo, Bahri dynasty, now Egypt
Died2 February 1449 (1449-02-03) (aged 76)[1]
Cairo, Burji dynasty, now Egypt
Resting placeCity of the Dead (Cairo), Cairo, Egypt
ReligionIslam
DenominationSunni
JurisprudenceShafi'i
CreedAshari[2]
Muslim leader

Early life

He was born in Cairo in 1372, the son of the Shafi'i scholar and poet Nur al-Din 'Ali. His parents had moved from Alexandria, originally hailing from Ashkelon (Arabic: عَسْقَلَان‎, ʿAsqalān).[6] Both of his parents died in his infancy, and he and his sister, Sitt al-Rakb, became wards of his father's first wife's brother, Zaki al-Din al-Kharrubi, who enrolled Ibn Hajar in Quranic studies when he was five years old. Here he excelled, learning Surah Maryam in a single day and memorising the entire Qur'an by the age of 9.[7] He progressed to the memorization of texts such as the abridged version of Ibn al-Hajib's work on the foundations of fiqh.

Education

When he accompanied al-Kharrubi to Mecca at the age of 12, he was considered competent to lead the Tarawih prayers during Ramadan. When his guardian died in 1386, Ibn Hajar's education in Egypt was entrusted to hadith scholar Shams al-Din ibn al-Qattan, who entered him in the courses given by Siraj al-Din al-Bulqini (d. 1404) and Ibn al-Mulaqqin (d. 1402) in Shafi'i fiqh, and Abd al-Rahim ibn al-Husain al-'Iraqi (d. 1404) in hadith, after which he travelled to Damascus and Jerusalem, to study under Shams al-Din al-Qalqashandi (d. 1407), Badr al-Din al-Balisi (d. 1401), and Fatima bint al-Manja al-Tanukhiyya (d. 1401). After a further visit to Mecca, Medina, and Yemen, he returned to Egypt. Al-Suyuti said: “It is said that he drank Zamzam water in order to reach the level of al-Dhahabi in memorization—which he succeeded in doing, even surpassing him.”[8]

Personal life

In 1397, at the age of twenty-five, Al-‘Asqalani married the celebrated hadith expert Uns Khatun, who held ijazas from Hafiz al-Iraqi and gave public lectures to crowds of ulema, including al-Sakhawi.

Positions

Ibn Hajar went on to be appointed to the position of Egyptian chief-judge (Qadi) several times.

Death

Ibn Hajar died after 'Isha' (night prayer) on 8th Dhul Hijja 852 (2 February 1449), aged 79. An estimated 50,000 people attended his funeral in Cairo, including Sultan Sayf ad-Din Jaqmaq (1373-1453 CE) and Caliph of Cairo Al-Mustakfi II (r. 1441-1451 CE).[5]

Works

Ibn Hajar wrote approximately 150 works[9] on hadith, hadith terminology, biographical evaluation, history, Quranic exegesis, poetry and Shafi'i jurisprudence.

  • Fath al-Bari – Ibn Hajar's commentary of Sahih Bukhari's Jami` al-Sahih (817/1414), completed an unfinished work begun by Ibn Rajab in the 1390s. It became the most celebrated and highly regarded work on the author. Celebrations near Cairo on its publication (Rajab 842 /December 1428) were described by historian Ibn Iyaas (d.930 AH), as 'the greatest of the age.' Many of Egypt's leading dignitaries were among the crowds, Ibn Hajar himself gave readings, poets gave eulogies and gold was distributed.
  • al-Isaba fi tamyiz al-Sahaba – the most comprehensive dictionary of the Companions.
  • al-Durar al-Kamina – a biographical dictionary of leading figures of the eighth century.
  • Tahdhib al-Tahdhib – an abbreviation of Tahdhib al-Kamal, the encyclopedia of hadith narrators by Yusuf ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Mizzi
  • Taqrib al-Tahdhib – the abridgement of Tahthib al-Tahthib.
  • Ta'jil al-Manfa'ah – biographies of the narrators of the Musnads of the four Imams, not found in al-Tahthib.
  • Bulugh al-Maram min adillat al-ahkam – on hadith used in Shafi'i fiqh.
  • Nata'ij al-Afkar fi Takhrij Ahadith al-Adhkar
  • Lisan al-Mizan – a reworking of Mizan al-'Itidal by al-Dhahabi, which in turn is a reworking of an earlier work.[10]
  • Talkhis al-Habir fi Takhrij al-Rafi`i al-Kabir
  • al-Diraya fi Takhrij Ahadith al-Hidaya
  • Taghliq al-Ta`liq `ala Sahih al-Bukhari
  • Risala Tadhkirat al-Athar
  • al-Matalib al-`Aliya bi Zawa'id al-Masanid al-Thamaniya
  • Nukhbat al-Fikar along with his explanation of it entitled Nuzhah al-Nathr in hadith terminology
  • al-Nukat ala Kitab ibn al-Salah – commentary of the Muqaddimah of Ibn al-Salah
  • al-Qawl al-Musaddad fi Musnad Ahmad a discussion of hadith of disputed authenticity in the Musnad of Ahmad
  • Silsilat al-Dhahab
  • Ta`rif Ahl al-Taqdis bi Maratib al-Mawsufin bi al-Tadlis
  • Raf' al-isr 'an qudat Misr – a biographical dictionary of Egyptian judges. Partial French translation in Mathieu Tillier, Vie des cadis de Misr. Cairo: Institut français d'archéologie orientale, 2002.

See also

References
  1. "USC-MSA Compendium of Muslim Texts". Usc.edu. Archived from the original on 2006-08-29. Retrieved 2010-03-21.
  2. "The Ash'ari School, by Muhammad 'Alawi al-Maliki". masud.co.uk.
  3. Salmān, Mashhūr Ḥasan Maḥmūd & Shuqayrāt, Aḥmad Ṣidqī (1998). "Tarjamat al-musannif". Muʼallafāt al-Sakhāwī : al-ʻAllāmah al-Ḥāfiẓ Muḥammad ibn ʻAbd al-Raḥmān al-Sakhāwī, 831-902 H. Dār Ibn Ḥazm. p. 18.
  4. Rosenthal, F. (1913). Encyclopedia of Islam: New Edition. Brill. p. 776.
  5. Ludwig W. Adamec (2009), Historical Dictionary of Islam, p.136. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0810861615.
  6. Noegel, Scott B. (2010). The A to Z of Prophets in Islam and Judaism. Wheeler, Brannon M. Lanham: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-1-4617-1895-6. OCLC 863824465.
  7. Lewis, B.; Menage, V.L.; Pellat, Ch.; Schacht, J. (1986) [1st. pub. 1971]. Encyclopaedia of Islam (New Edition). Volume III (H-Iram). Leiden, Netherlands: Brill. p. 776. ISBN 9004081186.
  8. Thail Tabaqaat al-Huffaath, pg. 251.
  9. Kifayat Ullah, Al-Kashshaf: Al-Zamakhshari's Mu'tazilite Exegesis of the Qur'an, de Gruyter (2017), p. 40
  10. al-Dhahabi. Siyar A`lam al-Nubala'. 16. p. 154.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.