Ibn al-Sam'ani

Ibn al-Sam'ani
TitleAl-Ḥāfiẓ
Personal
Born(506 AH/1113 AD)
Merv
Died(562 AH/1166 AD)
Merv
ReligionIslam
EraIslamic golden age
DenominationSunni
JurisprudenceShafi'i[1]
CreedAsh'ari[2][3]
Main interest(s)Fiqh, Hadith, History, Tafsir
Notable work(s)Kitāb al-Ansāb, History of Baghdad
OccupationMuhaddith, Scholar, Muslim Jurist, Historian, Biographer
Muslim leader
Influenced by
Influenced
This article is about the biographer. For his uncle, see Aḥmad Samʿānī.

Ibn al-Samʿānī (Arabic: إبن السمعاني, 1113–1166), full name Abū Saʿd ʿAbd al-Karīm ibn Abī Bakr Muḥammad ibn Abi ʾl-Muẓaffar Manṣūr al-Tamīmī al-Marwazī al-Shafiʿī al-Samʿānī,[a] nicknamed Tāj al-Islām (Crown of Islam)[b] and Qiwām al-Dīn (Support of the Faith), was an Arab Muslim scholar of biography, history, hadith, Shafi'i jurisprudence and scriptural exegesis.[4][5][6] According to Ibn al-Subki, Ibn al-Sam'ani was considered the second greatest hadith scholar of his time after his companion and master, Ibn Asakir[3]

A native of Merv in central Asia, al-Samʿānī's formal education began at the age of two under the tutelage first of his father and then of his uncles. He travelled widely throughout his life in search of learning. He composed over 50 works, but many are lost. His magnum opus is the Kitāb al-Ansāb, a vast biographical dictionary of scholars with over 10,000 entries.

  1. ^ Ibn Khallikan (1999). Ibn Khallikan's Biographical Dictionary. Vol. 2. Translated by William McGuckin de Slane. Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. p. 156.
  2. ^ "Ahl al-Sunna: The Ash'aris - The Testimony and Proofs of the Scholars". almostaneer.com (in Arabic). Indonesia: Dar al-Ihsan Institute for Islamic Education. Archived from the original on 28 January 2021.
  3. ^ a b Gibril Fouad Haddad (2 May 2015). The Biographies of the Elite Lives of the Scholars, Imams & Hadith Masters. As-Sunnah Foundation of America. p. 164-213. Imam al-Subki mentions him among those who followed the school of Imam Ashari in Beliefs & Doctrine (Aqidah) along with Abu al-Walid al-Baji, Abu al-Hasan al-Qabisi, Abu al-Qasim bin Asakir, Abu al-Hasan al-Muradi, Abu Sad bin al-Samani, Abu Tahir al-Silafi, Qadi Iyad and Al-Shahrastani
  4. ^ Sellheim 1995.
  5. ^ Sayeed, Asma (6 August 2013). Women and the Transmission of Religious Knowledge in Islam. Cambridge University Press. p. 174. ISBN 9781107355378.
  6. ^ Lucas, Scott C. (2004). Constructive Critics, Ḥadīth Literature, and the Articulation of Sunnī Islam The Legacy of the Generation of Ibn Saʻd, Ibn Maʻīn, and Ibn Ḥanbal. Brill. p. 105. ISBN 9789004133198.


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