PERSONS CITED IN TEXT – EXCLUDING PROPHETS
al-ʿAbbās b. ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib (d. 32/652 or 653). The uncle of the Prophet, before whom he was born, it is sometimes said, by two years. An important personality at Mecca, he held the ancient office of providing water (siqāya) to the pilgrims. While always tolerant of his nephew’s cause, he joined it only upon the conquest of Mecca in 8 AH. (EI2, 1:8–9 [W. Montgomery Watt]; Iṣāba, 2:263.)
ʿAbdallāh b. ʿABBĀS-77. See ‘Ibn ʿAbbās’.
ʿAbdallāh b. ʿAMR IBN AL ʿĀṢ (d. c. 65/684 or 685). A Companion of the Prophet, and an authority on the tradition. He was celebrated for his austere lifestyle, which he was enjoined by the Prophet to temper. (Nawawī, Tahdhīb, 361-2.)
ʿAbdallāh b. Masʿūd. See ‘Ibn Masʿūd’.
ʿAbdallāh b. AL-MUBĀRAK b. Wāḍʾiḥ al-Ḥanẓalī (d. 181 [797/8]). An influential saint and scholar of the Law. Originally of Merv in Central Asia, he traveled to study with Mālik ibn Anas in Medina and al-Awzāʿī in Syria before he died in combat against the Byzantines. His works on renunciation and the Holy War have been published and are still popular. (GALS, I. 256; Ṣafadī, XVII. 419-20; Abū Nuʿaym, VIII. 162-91; ʿAṭṭār, 124-8.)
ʿAbdallāh b. RAWĀḤA al-Khazrajī (d. 8 [629]). An early Medinese convert chiefly remembered for his heroism at the battle of Muʾta, where, after assuming the command after the deaths of Zayd ibn Ḥāritha and Jaʿfar ibn Abī Ṭālib, he too joined the ranks of the martyrs. (EI2, I. 50-1 [A. Schaade]; Iṣāba, 2:298-9.)
ʿAbdallāh IBN SALĀM ibn al-Ḥārith al-Qaynuqāʿī (d. 43 [663/4]). Said to have been a rabbi of aristocratic stock before converting to Islam, he is credited with a large corpus of Judaic tales, many of which are to be found in al-Ṭabarī’s commentary on the Qurʾān. He participated in the conquest of Syria and Palestine, but died in Medina. (EI2, 1:52 [J. Horovitz]; Iṣāba, 2:312-3.)
ʿAbdallāh IBN SUMAYṬ (d. 181 [797/8]). A respected traditionist of Basra. (Zabīdī, X. 242.)
ʿAbdallāh IBN THAʿLABA al-ʿUdhrī (d. c 87 [705/6]). A Follower (tābiʿī), and a ‘weeper’ (bakkāʾ), whose tears are said to have left permanent marks on his cheeks. A pupil of Ibn ʿUmar and Abū Hurayra in Ḥadīth, he left a number of sayings on the subject of death. (Kāshif, 2:68; Abū Nuʿaym, 4:245-6; Ṣafadī, 17: 99.)
ʿAbdallāh IBN ʿUBAYD IBN ʿUMAYR al-Laythī (d. 113 [731/2]). An early ascetic and renowned preacher of Mecca, as well as a highly-regarded traditionist who studied under Ibn ʿAbbās. (Mashāhīr, 83; Abū Nuʿaym, 3:354-9; Ṣafadī, 17: 304-5.)
ʿAbdallāh IBN ʿUMAR. See ‘Ibn ʿUmar’.
ʿAbdallāh IBN ZAMʿA ibn al-Aswad ibn al-Muṭṭalib al-Qurashī (d. c 35 [655/6]). A Companion, and a prolific narrator of Traditions. His father is said to have died with the idolators at the battle of Badr. (Iṣāba, 2:303-4; Istīʿāb, 2:298-300.)
ʿAbdallāh AL-ZARRĀD. Possibly ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abān al-Zarrād, a traditionist who died in 287 (900/1) at Baghdad. (Tārīkh Baghdād, 9:421.)
ʿABD AL-MALIK IBN MARWĀN (regn. 65-86 [685-705]). The fifth Umayyad caliph, remembered for administrative reforms and a number of successful campaigns against the Khārijite rebels and Byzantine encroachment.
ʿABD AL-RAḤMĀN IBN AL-ʿALĀʾ IBN AL-LAJLĀJ. A traditionist of Aleppo, whose father was also a respected scholar. (Kāshif, 2:160.)
ʿABD AL-RAḤMĀN ibn Abī Bakr al-Qurashī (d. c 54 [673/4]). The elder son of Abū Bakr, he participated in his father’s campaign in the Yamāma, where he acquired some fame as an archer. (Iṣāba, 2:399-401; Istīʿāb, 2:391-4.)
ʿABD AL-RAḤMĀN IBN ʿAWF al-Qurashī (d. 31 [652]). One of the first to respond to the Prophet’s call in Mecca, he took part in the migration to Abyssinia. A wealthy merchant, he donated huge sums in charity, and was one of the council of six nominated by ʿUmar to choose his successor, as well as being one of the ten men assured of Heaven by the Prophet while they still lived. (EI2, 1:84 [M.Th. Houtsma-W. Montgomery Watt]; Iṣāba, 2:408-10.)
ʿABD AL-RAḤMĀN IBN YŪSUF. Unidentified: many figures with this name are recorded.
ʿABD AL-WĀḤID IBN ZAYD (d. c 177 [793/4]). A companion of al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī and al-Dārānī chiefly remembered for the importance which he attached to solitude. According to Abū Nuʿaym, he was partially paralysed, from which affliction he was released only at the time of prayer. (Abū Nuʿaym, 6:155-65; Bidāya, 10:171; Massignon, Essai, 194.)
ABU’L-ʿABBĀS IBN ʿAṬĀʾ (d. c 309 [921/2]). A Sufi of Baghdad and a companion of al-Junayd. He is said to have written a number of works, but these are now lost. (Sulamī, 260-8.)
ABU’L-ʿABBĀS AL-DĪNAWARĪ (d. c 340 [951/2]). A Sufi who preached at Nīsābūr and Samarqand. He was a companion of al Jurayrī and Abū Saʿīd al-Kharrāz. (Sulamī, 500-4; Abū Nuʿaym, 10:383.)
ABŪ ʿALĪ AL-RŪDHBĀRĪ (d. 322 [933/4]). The well known Sufi of Baghdad, who also spent time in Egypt. He was associated with the circle of al-Junayd and al-Nūrī. He was also a Ḥadīth scholar and a jurist who studied under Ibrāhīm al-Ḥarbī. (Qushayrī, I. 185-6; Sulamī, 362-9; Tārīkh Baghdād, I. 329-33.)
ABŪ ʿAMR IBN AL-ʿALĀ’ ibn ʿAmmār al-Māzinī (d. 154 [770/1]). A traditionist of Basra, who was also an authority on Arabic grammar. (Mashāhīr, 153-4.)
ABŪ ASHʿATH. Identified by Zabīdī as a traditionist by the name of Ibn ʿAbd al- Mālik al-Ḥamrānī.
ABŪ AYYŪB AL-ANṢĀRĪ, Khālid ibn Zayd al-Najjārī (d. c 52 [672]). One of the first Medinese Muslims, present at the first ‘Pledge of al-ʿAqaba’ and host to the Prophet before the construction of the latter’s house. In later years he was the caliph ʿAlī’s governor over Medina, and died during a seige of Constantinople. His tomb remains to this day the spiritual hub of Istanbul. (EI2, 1:108-9 [E. Lévi-Provençal et al.]; Iṣāba, 1:404-5.)
ABŪ BAKR AL-KATTĀNĪ. See ‘al-Kattānī.’
ABŪ BAKR IBN ʿABD ALLĀH AL-MAZANĪ. A mistake for Bakr ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Mazanī, for whom see s.v.
ABŪ BAKR IBN ABĪ MARYAM al-Ghassānī (d. 256 [868/9]). A prolific narrator of Tradition sometimes cited by al-Tirmidhī, although generally considered to be unreliable (Ḍaʿīf). A well-known ascetic, who lived and taught at Ḥimṣ (Syria). (Abū Nuʿaym, 6:88-91; Ḍuʿafāʾ, 262; Ṣafadī, 10:230.)
ABŪ BAKR AL-RASHĪDĪ. A jurist of Nīsābūr. (Zabīdī, 10:438.)
ABŪ BAKR AL-ṢIDDĪQ ibn Abī Quẓāfa al-Taymī (d. 13 [634]). A small businessman of Mecca who personally accompanied the Prophet on his emigration to Medina, Abū Bakr became the Prophet’s closest advisor, and after his death became the first caliph. His short reign (11/632-13/634) saw the quelling of an uprising in Central Arabia and the beginnings of the conquest of Iraq and Palestine. (EI2, 1:109-111 [W. Montgomery Watt].)
ABŪ BURDA ibn Abī Mūsā al-Ashʿarī (d. 104 [722/3]). A traditionist and chief judge of Kūfa in the reign of ʿAbd al-Mālik, from which post he was dismissed by al-Ḥajjāj. (Mashāhīr, 104; Bidāya, 9:231; EI2 1:693-4 [J. Schacht].)
ABU’L-DARDĀ’, ʿUwaymir al-Khazrajī (d. 32 [652/3]). A celebrated Companion of the Prophet who joined Islam sometime after the battle of Badr, whereupon he is said to have given up commerce in order to occupy himself with worship with the ahl a1-Ṣuffa. He was one of those who gathered together the text of the Qur’ān during the Prophet’s lifetime. He died in Damascus, where he was buried, and is venerated in particular by the Sufis (EI2, 1:113-4 [A. Jeffery]; Abū Nuʿaym, 1:208-27.)
ABŪ DHARR, Jundub ibn Junāda al-Ghifārī (d. c 32 [652/3]). One of the earliest Muslims, his shyness and devout temperament made him the protagonist of a rich variety of legendary material. He also transmitted a large number of Traditions: al-Bukhārī and Muslim between them include thirty-one of these. (EI2, 1:114-5 [J. Robson]; Massignon, Essai, 158-9; Istīʿāb, 4:62-5.)
ABŪ HĀSHIM AL-RUMMĀNĪ. Possibly to be identified with Abū Hāshim Yaḥyā al-Zummānī, a highly-regarded traditionist of Wāsiṭ, who died in 122 (739/40). (Zabīdī, 10:241; Kāshif, 3: 341.)
ABŪ ḤĀTIM AL-RĀZĪ, Muḥammad ibn Idrīs al-Ḥanẓalī (d. 277 [890/1]). A respected scholar with a fine memory who taught Ibrāhīm al-Ḥarbī and Ibn Abi’l-Dunyā in Baghdad. (Bidāya, 11: 59; Tārīkh Baghdād, 2:73-8.)
ABŪ ḤĀZIM, Salama ibn Dīnār al-Madanī (d. 140 [757/8]). An ascetic who became an important figure for the early Sufis. ‘Everything which does not bring you to God’, he said, ‘can only bring you to destruction’. (GAS, 1:634-5; Mashāhīr, 79; Abū Nuʿaym, 3:229–59.)
ABŪ HURAYRA al-Dawsī al-Yamānī (d. c 58 [677/8]). One of the most copious narrators of Tradition, and also a model of poverty and the fear of God’s chastisement. He is said to have joined Islam during the Khaybar expedition (7/629); after which he became one of the ahl a1-Ṣuffa. After the Prophet’s death he was appointed governor of Baḥrayn by ʿUmar. (Azami, 35–7; EI2, 1:129 [J. Robson]; Iṣāba, 4: 200-8.)
ABŪ JAʿFAR. See ‘Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī.’
ABŪ JAʿFAR AL-ṢAYDALĀNĪ. A Sufi of Baghdad, a companion of al-Sarrāj and a spiritual instructor of Ibn al Aʿrābī. He spent many years in Mecca. (Tārīkh Baghdād, 14:416.)
ABŪ LAHAB, ʿAbd al-ʿUzzā ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib (d. 2 [623/ 4]). A patrician of Mecca who became one of the leading persecutors of the Prophet when he made his mission public. His sons, ʿUtba and Muʿattib eventually joined Islam. (EI2, 1:136-7 [W. Montgomery Watt].)
ABŪ LU’LU’A (d. 23 [644]. A slave who killed the Caliph ʿUmar, whom, he believed, had failed to rectify a tax grievance. (Cf, e.g., Ibn Aʿtham, 2:83-6.)
ABŪ MUḤAMMAD IBN ʿALĪ. Unidentified.
ABŪ MŪSĀ AL-ASHʿARĪ, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Qays (d. c 42 [662/3]). Abū Mūsā joined Islam during the Khaybar campaign. During the caliphate of ʿUmar he was responsible for the conquest of Khūzistān, and was made governor of Basra. Later he became ʿAlī’s representative at the arbitration following the battle of Ṣiffīn (37/657), after which he took no further part in public life. (EI2, 1:695–696 [L. Veccia Vaglieri].)
ABŪ MŪSĀ AL-TAMĪMĪ. A traditionist of Basra. (Zabīdī, 10: 355.)
ABŪ QAYS, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Thābit (d. 54 [673/4]). A mawlā of ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ, he transmitted Traditions from ʿAmr and Umm Salama; he is also reported to have been well versed in fiqh. (Kāshif, 3:326.)
ABŪ QILĀBA-118. Probably ʿAbd Allāh ibn Zayd al-Jarmī, (d. 104 [722/3]), a traditionist of Basra, who is said to have fled to Syria to escape being made a judge. He is said to have known the caliph ʿUmar II and ʿAnbasa ibn Saʿīd. (Ṣafadī, 17:185; Azami, 63; Mashāhīr, 89.)
ABŪ SAʿĪD AL-KHARRĀZ, AḤmad ibn ʿĪsā (d. 277 [890/1]). An important Sufi who, according to Hujwīrī, was ‘the first to explain the doctrine of annihilation (fanāʾ) and subsistence (baqāʾ).’ He was a close companion of Dhu’l-Nūn, Bishr al-Ḥāfī, and al-Sarī al-Saqaṭī, and was renowned for the emphasis he placed on ʿishq, the passionate love of God, and upon the scrupulous observance of the Law. (Sulamī, 223–228; Hujwīrī, 143, Qushayrī, 1:140; GAS, 1:646.)
ABŪ SAʿĪD AL-KHUDRĪ, Saʿd ibn Mālik al-Khazrajī (d. c 64 [683/4] or 74 [693/4]). A Companion who was considered too young to participate in the battle of Uḥud, in which his father was killed. He related a large corpus of Ḥadīths to Ibn ʿAbbās and Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib, and was buried in Medina. (Iṣāba, 2:32–33; Nawawī, Tahdhīb, 723–724.)
ABŪ SAʿĪD AL-ṢAFFĀR. Unidentified.
ABŪ SAʿĪD AL-SHAḤḤĀM. A Sufi of the circle of al-Qushayrī (who died 465 [1072]). (Zabīdī, 10:438.)
ABŪ SINĀN, Ḍirār ibn Murra al-Shaybānī (d. 132 [749-50]). One of the ‘weepers’ (bakkāʾūn), who is recorded as having achieved sanctity through serving his family. A respected traditionist of Kūfa. (Abū Nuʿaym, 5:91–94; Mashāhīr, 164; Kāshif, 2:34.)
ABŪ SULAYMĀN AL-DĀRĀNĪ, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān (d. 205 [820/1] or 215 [830/1]). Well-known to the Sufis for his piety and renunciation, he was responsible for characteristic maxims such as ‘The heart is ruined when fear departs from it even for one moment’, and ‘The sign of perdition is the drying-up of tears’. (Qushayrī, 1:96-8; Sulamī, 68–73; Hujwīrī, 112–113; Abū Nuʿaym, 9:254–280.)
ABŪ ʿUBAYDA AL-NĀJĪ, Bakr ibn al-Aswad (d. c 170 [786/7]). An ascetic, and a traditionist usually considered to be unreliable. (Ṣafadī, 10:202; Ḍuʿafāʾ, 261.)
ABŪ UMĀMA, Asʿad ibn Sahl ibn Ḥanīf al-Najjārī (d. 100 [718/9])-114. An early Muslim who is sometimes held to have been a Companion of the Prophet. (Iṣāba, 4:10; Mashāhīr, 28.)
ABŪ UMĀMA AL-BĀHILĪ, Ṣudayy ibn ʿAjlān (d. 81 [700/1] or 86 [705/6]). A companion of the Prophet who related a large number of Traditions. He was sent to certain of the desert tribes, and won many converts with the aid of miracles. He later removed to Ḥimṣ; according to Ibn ʿUyayna he was the last Companion of the Prophet to die in Syria. (Iṣāba, 2:175–176; Istīʿāb, 4:4; Mashāhīr, 50.)
ABŪ ʿUMAR ṢĀḤIB AL-SUQYĀ. Unidentified.
ABŪ YAḤYĀ AL-MAZANĪ. Unidentified.
ABŪ YAʿQŪB AL-QĀRIʾ AL-DAQĪQĪ. Unidentified.
ABŪ ZAKARĪYĀ AL-TAYMĪ, Yaḥyā (d. 200 [815/6]). Born in Kūfa, this traditionist and Qurʾānic exegete travelled to Basra, Egypt and North Africa, dying in Mecca on pilgrimage. (GAS, 1:39.)
AḤMAD IBN ABI’L-ḤAWĀRĪ, Abu’l-Ḥasan (d. c 230 [844/5]). An early Syrian exponent of Sufism, a disciple of al-Dārānī and a companion of Ibn ʿUyayna. He is said to have thrown away his books and lived the life of a wandering ascetic. (Hujwīrī, 118–119; Qushayrī, 1:17; Sulamī, 88–92.)
AḤMAD IBN ḤANBAL (d. 241 [855]). The great Ḥādīth scholar after whom the Ḥanbalī school of law is named. He travelled extensively in search of Traditions, of which he is said to have committed over three hundred thousand to memory. A companion of Bishr al-Ḥāfī and Maʿrūf al-Karkhī, he was held in high regard by the Sufis, who attribute a number of miracles to him. His tomb became one of the most frequented centres of pilgrimage in Baghdad. (EI2, 1:272–277 [H. Laoust]; Abū Nuʿaym, 9:161–234; Hujwīrī, 117–118.)
AḤMAD IBN ḤARB al-Marwazī (d. 234 [848/9]). A traditionist who studied under Ibn ʿUyayna and Abū Dāūd al-Ṭayālisī, and who was sometimes accused of sympathy with the Murjiʾite heresy. (Tārīkh Baghdād, 4:118–119; ʿAṭṭār, 146–149.)
AḤMAD IBN KHIḌRAWAYHI (d. 240 [854/5]). A prominent Khurāsānī Sufi, born in Balkh, who lived and taught at Merv, where he died at the age of 95. He was a disciple of Ḥātim al-Aṣamm and a companion of Abū Turāb al-Nakhshabī. (Sulamī, 93–97; Qushayrī, 1:115–116; Ṣafadī, 4:373.)
ʿĀʾISHA bint Abī Bakr (d. 58 [678]). The third and most beloved wife of the Prophet. During his final illness he asked his other wives for leave to stay in her house, where he died. After his death she was involved in the revolt of Ṭalḥa and al-Zubayr against the caliph ʿAlī, after which she lived quietly at Medina until she died. She was well-versed in Arab history and in poetry, and some of her verses have been preserved. (EI2, 1:307–308 [W. Montgomery Watt].)
AL-ʿALĀʾ IBN ZIYĀD ibn Maṭar al-ʿAdawī (d. 94 [712/3])-160. An early ascetic of Basra, who remained solitary all his life, only going out to the mosque, or to funerals or to visit the sick. He had a vision in which the world appeared to him in the shape of a misshapen hag wearing fine jewellery. (Mashāhīr, 90; Abū Nuʿaym, 2:242–249; Kāshif, 2: 309.)
ʿALĪ IBN ABĪ ṬĀLIB (d. 40 [660]). The cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet, having married his daughter Fāṭima. He was usually the Prophet’s standard-bearer on expeditions, and became the model of the Muslim knight for later generations. He lived a life of austerity and piety. Upon the death of ʿUthmān (35/656) he accepted, with some reluctance, the office of Caliph, which he held for five years disturbed by several rebellions, including that of Muʿāwiya, the governor of Syria. He was assassinated at Kūfa by a member of the extreme Khārijite sect, which repudiated him for having agreed to negotiate with Muʿāwiya. (EI2, 1:381–386 [L. Veccia Vaglierij; Istīʿāb, 3:26–67.)
ʿALĪ IBN ʿĀṢIM ibn Ṣuhayb al-Wāsiṭī (d. 201 [816/7]). A traditionist who taught at Baghdad. Although considered unreliable by some authorities, a number of his Ḥadīths are to be found in the Musnad of Ibn Ḥanbal. (Tarīkh Baghdād, 11: 446–458; Azami, 119–120; Bidāya, 10:248.)
ʿALĪ IBN MŪSĀ AL-ḤADDĀD. Unidentified.
ʿALĪ AL-ṬALḤĪ. Unidentified.
ʿALQAMA ibn Qays al-Nakhaʿī (d. c 62 [681/2]). A pupil of Ibn Masʿūd, who called him the most erudite of his disciples. He also related traditions from ʿAlī, Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ and ʿUthmān. (Tarīkh Baghdād), 12:296; Abū Nuʿaym, 2:98–102; GAS, 1:398.)
AL-AʿMASH, Sulaymān ibn Mihrān al-Asadī (d. 147 [764/5]). A Qurʾān specialist of Persian origin who studied under Mujāhid at Kūfa. One of the fourteen canonical readings of the Qurʾān bears his name. In addition, Sufyān al-Thawrī and Ibn ʿUyayna both studied Ḥadīth under him. (Azami, 101–102; Tarīkh Baghdād, 9:3–13; Mashāhīr, 3:?. EI2, 1:431 [C. Brockelmann-[Ch. Pellat]].)
ĀMINA BINT WAHB al-Zuhrīya (d. c 575 AD). The mother of the Prophet, she died when he was about six. She was probably buried at a place known as al-Abwāʾ between Mecca and Medina. The historians record a number of miracles surrounding her pregnancy and the Prophet’s birth. (EI2, 1:438 [W. Montgomery Watt].)
ʿĀMIR IBN ʿABD ALLĀH ibn al-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwām (d. 121 [738/9]). An ascetic of Medina, who is recorded as having kept his hands raised in supplication between the night and morning prayers. He is said to have died in prayer. He also transmitted a number of Traditions which are recorded by both al-Bukhārī and Muslim. (Ṣafadī, 16:589; Kāshif, 2:51; Abū Nuʿaym, 3:166–168.)
ʿĀMIR IBN ʿABD AL-QAYS (d. c 41-60 [661-80]). A tābiʿī of Basra who died at Damascus, where he had become famous for his austere and eloquent sermons. A number of miracles are recorded of him-he is said to have lived in the desert where wild beasts came tamely to him. He was also known for his charity towards orphans. These and other aspects of his life are often cited by the Sufis. (Abū Nuʿaym, 2:87–95; Ṣafadī, 16:585–586; Ibn Marthad, 37–38.)
ʿAMR IBN AL-ʿĀṢ al-Sahmī (d. 42 [663/4]). A Companion of the Prophet and a politician and general of great skill. To him goes the credit for the conquest of Palestine (12 [633]) and Egypt (19-21 [640-2]), where he founded the city of Fusṭāṭ, which was to grow into Cairo. He sided with Muʿāwiya at the battle of Ṣiffīn, and represented him at the arbitration which followed. (EI2, 1:451 [A. J. Wensinck].)
ʿAMR IBN DĪNĀR al-JumaḤī (d. 126/743 or 734). A scholar of the Law in Mecca, where he learnt the recitation of the Qurʾān and a number of Traditions from Ibn ʿAbbās. (Mashāhīr, 84; Abū Nuʿaym, 3:347–354; Ghāya, 1:600–601.)
ʿAmr b. Ḥazm al-Anṣārī al-Khazrajī (d. 51/671 or 672). A Companion who distinguished himself in the ‘Battle of the Trench,’ and who became the Prophet’s governor of Najrān. A number of ḥadīths are related on his authority by al-Nasāʾī. (Iṣāba, 2:525; Kāshif, 2:282.)
ʿAMR IBN MAYMŪN al-Awdī (d. c. 74/693 or 694). A ‘Follower’ who was present at the murder of ʿUmar, and who later moved to Kūfa. He transmitted a number of Ḥadīths which have been recorded by al-Bukhārī, and was much given to devotional practices. (Mashāhīr, 99; Abū Nuʿaym, 4:148–154; Kāshif, 2:296.)
ANAS ibn Mālik ibn al-Naẓīr (d. 91-3 [709/10-711/2])-10, 17, 114, 119, 127, 146, 192, 196, 202, 209, 215, 224, 228, 244, 246. A celebrated Companion of the Prophet, he had been presented to the Prophet by his mother at an early age in fulfillment of a vow. After the Prophet’s death he participated in the wars of conquest. One hundred and twenty eight Traditions on his authority are to be found in the collections of al-Bukhārī and Muslim. (Iṣāba, 1:84–85; EI2, 1:482 [A. J. Wensinck- J. Robson].)
ʿANBASA ibn Saʿīd (d. 100 [718/9]). A respected traditionist, originally of Kūfa, who taught Ibn al-Mubārak and was a judge at Rayy. (Kāshif, 2:304; Zabīdī, 10:232.)
AL-AṢBAGH AL-ḤANẒALĪ, ibn Nubāta. An unreliable traditionist of Kūfa accused of Shīʿite tendencies. (Zabīdī, 10:318; ʿUqaylī, 1:129–130; Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb, 1:362–363.)
ASHʿATH IBN ASLAM. Unidentified.
ʿĀṢIM IBN ḌAMRA (d. 174 [790/1]). A traditionist of Kūfa, generally regarded as reliable. (Kāshif, 2:45; Ghāya, 1:349.)
ʿĀṢIM AL-AḤWAL, ibn Sulaymān (d. c 141 [758/9]). A traditionist from Basra who became chief judge of al-Madāʾin. (Mashāhīr, 98; Bidāya, 10:78; Ṣafadī, 16:568.)
ʿĀṢIM AL-JAḤDARĪ, ibn al-ʿAjjāj (d. 129 [746/7]). An ascetic of Basra and an authority on the reading of the Qurʾān; he had his own reading which is considered one of the qirāʾāt shādhdha. (Ghāya, 1:349; Ṣafadī, 16:568; Mashāhīr, 94.)
AL-ASWAD. Possibly a reference to al-Aswad ibn Yazīd al-Nakhaʿī (d. c 80 [699/700]), an ascetic who is said to have performed the Pilgrimage eighty times, and to have slept only between the sunset and night prayers. (Abū Nuʿaym, 2:102–105; Kāshif, 1:80; Ibn Marthad, 53–55.)
ʿAṬĀʾ AL-KHURĀSĀNĪ, ibn Abī Muslim (d. 135 [752/3]). A traditionist who was a mawlā of al-Muhallab ibn Abī Ṣufra; a number of his narratives are to be found in the Ṣaḥīḥ of Muslim. (Kāshif, 2:233; Bidāya, 10:57; GAS, 1:33–34.)
ʿAṬĀʾ AL-SALĪMĪ (d. 121 [738/9]). An ascetic and traditionist of Basra. (Abū Nuʿaym, 6:215–227; Mashāhīr, 152.)
ʿAṬĀʾ IBN YASĀR al-Hilālī (d. c 103 [721/2]). A Follower who spent his life in Medina and Syria. He transmitted Ḥadīths from Abū Dharr and Zayd ibn Thābit, some of which are to be found in the collections of al-Bukhārī and Muslim. (Mashāhīr, 69; Kāshif, 2:233.)
AL-AWZĀʿĪ, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAmr, Abū ʿAmr (d. 157 [774]). The principal authority on the sharīʿa in Syria of his generation, who placed especial emphasis on the ‘living tradition’ of the Muslim community as an authoritative source of law. His madhhab also spread in North Africa and Spain, where it was then replaced by that of Mālik. His tomb near Beirut is still visited. (EI2, 1:772–773 [J. Schacht]; GALS, 1:308–309; Fihrist, 227.)
AYYŪB AL-SAKHTIYĀNĪ ibn Abī Tamīma (d. 131 [748/9]). A pupil of Anas ibn Mālik, he was a reputable narrator of Traditions, and is recorded as having been particularly scrupulous about the sunna. A number of miracles are reported of him. (Mashāhīr, 150; Azami, 81; Abū Nuʿaym, 3:3–14; GAS, 1:87–88.)
BAKR IBN ʿABD ALLĀH AL-MAZANĪ (d. 106 [724/5] or 108 [726/7]). A ‘Follower’ of Basra, who, despite his considerable wealth, spent much time teaching and sitting with the poor. A prolific narrator of Tradition, he was known for the importance he attached to the fear of Hell. (Mashāhīr, 90; Ṣafadī, 10:207; Abū Nuʿaym, 2:224–232; Kāshif, 1:108.)
BAKR AL-ʿĀBID, ibn ʿAmr al-Nājī (d. 108 [726/7]). A Follower who related Ḥadīths from ʿĀʾisha, in particular to Qatāda and ʿĀṣim al-Aḥwal; considered a sound authority. (Kāshif, 1:108; Abū Nuʿaym, 3:101–102.)
BAKRĀN AL-DĪNAWARĪ-92. A Sufi of the circle of al-Shiblī (d. 334 [945/6]). (Qushayrī, 1:183.)
AL-BARĀʾ IBN ʿĀZIB al-Awsī (d. c 72 [691/2]). A Companion of the Prophet, who is said to have taken part in all his expeditions save that of Badr, for which he was considered to be too young. Later he was set in charge of the armies which conquered Rayy and Qazwīn. (EI2, 1:1025 [K. V. Zetterstéen]; Iṣāba, 1:146–147.)
BASHSHĀR IBN GHĀLIB AL-NAJRĀNĪ. Unidentified.
BILĀL ibn Rabāḥ (d. 17-21 [638/9-642/3]). Usually held to have been the second adult convert to Islam, Bilāl was born in Mecca into slavery, and was tortured by his master Umayya ibn Khalaf when he refused to renounce his new faith. He was purchased by Abu Bakr, who set him free. He became the Prophet’s muezzin at Medina, and later moved to Syria, where he died. (EI2, 1:1215 [W. ʿArafat].)
BISHR IBN AL-ḤĀRITH ‘al-Ḥāfī’ (d. c 227 [841/2]). One of the most celebrated figures of early Sufism, he was a companion of Fuḍʾayl ibn ʿIyāḍʾ. Formerly given to riotous living, his repentance is said to have come when, in a state of inebriation, he picked up a scrap of paper on which was written the name of God, which he perfumed and put in a clean place. That night he received a dream in which God told him that He would perfume his name as a reward for his act. Many other tales of his charismatic and devout life have found their way into the classical works on Sufism. (Qushayrī, 1:73–77; Hujwīrī, 105–106; Siyar, 10:469; Abū Nuʿaym, 8:336–360; Sulamī, 33–40; EI2, 1:1244–1246 [F. Meier]; Dermenghem, 67–78.)
BISHR IBN MANṢŪR al-Azdī (d. 180 [796/7]). A Follower much given to devotional practices in private, who was a recognised authority on Ḥadīth. He lived in Basra, but is said to have spent some time in Syria. (Ṣafadī, 10:156; Kāshif, 1:104; Abū Nuʿaym, 4:239–243.)
AL-ḌAḤḤĀK ibn Muzāḥim al-Hilālī (d. 105 [7-23/4]). A traditionist of Balkh (and later Merv) whose material was used by al-Bukhārī, and who was particularly erudite in Qurʾānic exegesis. According to some authorities he met one or more of the Prophet’s Companions. (Mashāhīr, 194; Azami, 64; Ghāya, 1:337.)
DĀŪD AL-ṬĀʾĪ, ibn Nuṣayr (d. c 165 [781/2]). A companion of lbrāhīm ibn Adham, and an ascetic of whom many anecdotes are told in the early works on Sufism. He placed emphasis on poverty as an aid to the struggle against the lower self, gave all he had to the poor, and is said to have subsisted on a diet of barley bread and water. He was also an outstanding authority on the Law, which he studied under Abū Ḥanīfa. (Siyar, VII. 423; Tarīkh Baghdād, VIII. 347-55; Qushayrī, I. 81; Abū Nuʿaym, VII. 335-367; Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb, III. 203.)
DHU’L-NŪN al-Miṣrī, Thawbān (d. 245 [859/60]). Born in Upper Egypt, he travelled to Mecca and Damascus, and became a leading exponent of Sufism. It is said that he was the first to give a systematic explanation of the aḤwāl (‘states’) and maqāmāt (‘stations’) encountered on the spiritual path. A number of miracles are attributed to him, as well as some fine poetry. (EI2, 2:242 [M. Smith]; Sulamī, 23–32; Qushayrī, 1:58–61; Hujwīrī, 100–103; Massignon, Essai, 206–213.)
AL-FAḌL ibn al-ʿAbbās ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib (d. 13 [634]). A Companion of the Prophet who died fighting the Byzantines at the battle of the Yarmūk at the age of 22. (Mashāhīr, 9.)
AL-FARAZDAQ, Abū Firās Tammām ibn Ghālib, (d. c 110 [728/9]). A poet of Bedouin origin who wrote verse chiefly of a satirical and panegyric nature. Many of his poems are directed against his great rival Jarīr. (EI2, 2:788–789 [R. Blachère].)
FĀṬIMA (d. 11 [632]). The youngest and bestloved of the daughters of the Prophet. He once told her that ‘God is angry when you are angry, and glad when you are glad’. In the year 2 she married ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib in the union which was to produce al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn. Her piety made her a figure greatly revered by later generations. (Iṣāba, 4:365–368; EI2, 2:841–850 [L. Veccia Vaglieri].)
FĀṬIMA, Umm Salama bint Aḥmad. The sister of the famous Sufi Abū ʿAlī al-Rūdhbārī, of an aristocratic and wealthy family; she is remembered for her sanctity and devoutness. (Tarīkh Baghdād, 1:330.)
FĀṬIMA BINT ʿABD AL-MALIK. The wife of the caliph ʿUmar II and the sister of his successor Yazīd II. When ʿUmar assumed power he is said to have given away all his wealth, and asked her whether she still wished to remain with him: she chose to remain. She reported many of his secret prayers and devotions after his death. (Bidāya, 9:198–201.)
FĀṬIMA BINT AL-ḤASAN. As Zabīdī points out, this is a mistake for Fāṭima bint al-Husayn, the granddaughter of the caliph ʿAlī and of Ṭalḥa ibn ʿUbayd Allāh. She married her cousin al-Ḥasan ibn al-Ḥasan, and related a number of Ḥadīths. (Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb, 12:442–443.)
FUḌAYL ibn ʿIyāḍʾ (d. 187 [803/4].). A brigand who repented and became a pioneer of early Sufism. He studied Ḥadīth under Sufyān al-Thawrī and Abū Ḥanīfa, and became wellknown for his sermons on the worthlessness of the world, which he likened to ‘a madhouse, the people in which are lunatics wearing the shackles of desire and sin’. (Hujwīrī, 97–100; Sulamī, 7–12; Mashāhīr, 149; EI2, 2:936 [M. Smith]; GAS, 1:636; Dermenghem, 51–66.)
FUḌAYL AL-RUQĀSHĪ (d. 95 [713/4]). A Ḥadīth scholar and ascetic of Basra, remembered for a number of fine sayings on the devotional life. (Mashāhīr, 98; Abū Nuʿaym, 3:102–103.)
ḤAFṢA bint ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb (d. c 45 [665/6]). An early Muslim who married the Prophet in the year 3. After the death of her father she inherited the copy of the Qurʾān prepared by the Prophet’s secretary Zayd ibn Thābit, which became the ‘authorised version’ approved by ʿUthmān. (Iṣāba, 4:264; EI2, 3:63–65 [L. Veccia Vaglieri].)
AL-ḤAJJĀJ ibn Yūsuf al-Thaqafī (d. 95 [714]). An Umayyad general notorious for his ruthlessness. Of humble origins, he was born near al-Ṭāʾif, and became a policeman at Damascus. He attracted the attention of the caliph ʿAbd al-Mālik, who put him in charge of a campaign against Ibn al-Zubayr, whom he defeated and killed at Mecca. He also fought extensively against the Khārijites. (EI2, 3:39–43 [A. Dietrich].)
AL-ḤAKAM IBN AL-MUṬṬALIB al-Makhzūmī. An early traditionist of Manbij in northern Syria. (Zabīdī, 10:343.)
ḤAMZA ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib (d. 3 [625]). The paternal uncle of the Prophet, he helped to arrange his first marriage. A brave warrior, his conversion greatly heartened the early Muslim community in Mecca. He was killed at the battle of Uḥud by an Abyssinian slave who had been promised his freedom should he accomplish this deed. (EI2, 3:152–154 [G. M. Meredith-Owens].)
HĀRŪN AL-RASHĪD (regn. 170-193 [786-809])-88. Perhaps the best-known ʿAbbāsid caliph, whose cultured and sumptuous court presided nevertheless over an empire troubled by rebellion and Byzantine encroachment.
AL-ḤASAN IBN ʿALĪ (d. c 50 [670/1]). Grandson of the Prophet, and second Imām of the Shīʿa. Until the reign of ʿAlī he lived a secluded life at Medina, which was interrupted by a short period in which he claimed the Caliphate. (EI2, 3:240–243 [L. Veccia Vaglieri].)
AL-ḤASAN al-Baṣrī (d. 110 [728/9]). Perhaps the best known personality among the second generation of Muslims, he was born in Medina and took part in the conquest of eastern Iran. He then moved to Basra, where his sanctity and great eloquence attracted great numbers to his circle. He was also a judge and an authority on Ḥadīth. His tomb at Basra remains an important centre for devout visits. (Hujwīrī, 86–87; Abū Nuʿaym, 2:131–161; ʿAṭṭār, 19–26; EI 2, 3: 247–248 [H. Ritter].)
AL-ḤASAN IBN AL-ḤUSAYN. Probably a mistake for al-Ḥasan ibn al-Ḥasan (ibn ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib), a Ḥadīth scholar who died c 97 (715/6). (Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb, 2:263.)
AL-ḤASAN IBN ṢĀLIḤ ibn Ḥuyayy al-Thawrī (d. 167 [783/4]). An ascetic of Kūfa of Shīʿite leanings, who spent all of his nights in prayer. (Mashāhīr, 170; Bidāya, 10:150; Abū Nuʿaym, 7:327–335.)
ḤĀTIM AL-AṢAMM al-Balkhī (d. 237 [851/2]). A disciple of the Khurāsānī Sufi Shaqīq al-Balkhī, he was known as the ‘Luqmān of this nation’ for his wise sayings. (Hujwīrī, 115; Ṣafadī, 11:233–234; Sulamī, 80–87; Abū Nuʿaym, 8:73–84.)
ḤUDHAYFA ibn al-Yamān al-ʿAbasī (d. 36 [656/7]). One of the earliest converts to Islam, whose father was martyred at the battle of UḤud. He is particularly revered by the Sufis. He related a considerable number of Ḥadīths, particularly those relating to eschatology: according to the sources he said that ‘the Prophet told me all that would occur from the present until the Day of Judgement’. (Iṣāba, 1:316–317; Massignon, Essai, 159–161; Nawawī, Tahdhīb, 199–201; Abū Nuʿaym, 1:270–283.)
ḤUDHAYFA. Unidentified.
AL-ḤUSAYN IBN ʿALĪ ibn Abī Ṭālib (d. 61 [680]). A grandson of the Prophet, who, although he acquiesced in the caliphate of Muʿāwiya, refused to recognise his son al-Yazīd upon his accession in 60 AH (680 AD). Against the advice of Ibn ʿAbbās and ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar, al-Ḥusayn marched with a handful of supporters to Kūfa, where he believed that he could muster support; the Kūfans, however, intimidated by Yazīd’s governor, met him in battle at nearby Karbalāʾ, where he was slain. (EI2, 3:607–615 [L. Veccia Vaglieri].)
IBN ʿABBĀS, ʿAbd Allāh (d. 68 [687/8]). A cousin and close companion of the Prophet respected for his piety and commonly acknowledged as the greatest scholar of the first generation of Muslims, a narrator of Ḥadīth and the founder of the science of Qurʾānic exegesis. He fought alongside ʿAlī at Ṣiffīn, and died at al-Ṭāʾif, where the site of his grave is still visited. (Nawawī, Tahdhīb, 351-4; Abū Nuʿaym, 1:314–329; Mashāhīr, 9; Iṣāba, 2:322–326; EI2, I. 40–41 [L. Veccia Vaglieri].)
IBN ABĪ MULAYKA, ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUbayd Allāh (d. 117 [735/6]). A prominent Follower (tābiʿī) of Mecca who joined the revolt of Ibn al-Zubayr, who made him a judge. He is said to have met eighty Companions of the Prophet. (Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb, 5:306; Mashāhīr, 82–83.)
IBN MASʿŪD, ʿAbd Allāh al-Hudhalī (d. 32-3 [652/3-653/4]). Of Bedouin origin, Ibn Masʿūd is said to have been either the third or the sixth convert to Islam; he became one of the most erudite Companions. He was particularly well versed in the recitation and interpretation of the Qurʾān, and was an expert in matters of law. In addition, he related a number of the most important eschatological Ḥadīths. (EI2, 3:873–875 [J.-C. Vadet]; Iṣāba, 2:360–362; Istīʿāb, 2:308–316.)
IBN AL-MUBĀRAK. See ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak.
IBN MULJAM, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Murādī (d. 40 [661]). The Khārijite assassin of the caliph ʿAlī, he was caught and put to death after carrying out his mission. (EI2. 3:887–890 [L. Veccia Vaglieri].)
IBN AL-MUNKADIR, Muḥammad al-Taymī (d. 130 [747/8]). A prominent Follower and reciter of the Qurʾān, who transmitted a number of Ḥadīths. (Mashāhīr, 65; Abū Nuʿaym, 3:146–158.)
IBN MUṬĪʿ. Possibly ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muṭīʿ al-ʿAdawī (d. 73 [692]), one of the leaders of the Medinese insurrection against Yazid I. Defeated at the battle of the Ḥarra in 63 (683) he became governor of Kūfa for Ibn al-Zubayr, with whom he was killed at Mecca. (EI2, 1:50 [K. V. Zetterstéen-Ch. Pellat].)
IBN RĀSHID, Muḥammad, al-Makḥūlī (d. c 170 [786/7]). A respected traditionist of Damascus, who later moved to Basra. A number of his Ḥadīths are cited by Abū Dāwūd, al-Nasāʾī and al-Tirmidhī. (Kāshif, 3:37; Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb, 9:158–160.)
IBN AL-SAMMĀK, Muḥammad ibn Ṣabīḥ (d. 183 [799/800]). A traditionist and preacher of Baghdad who delivered a famous sermon before Hārūn al-Rashīd, and who wrote to the wealthy urging them to renounce their riches in favour of poverty and the religious life. He was a disciple of Sufyān al-Thawrī in Ḥadīth, and taught Ibn Ḥanbal. (Siyar, 8:291–293; Tarīkh Baghdād, 5:368–373; Taʿjīl, 364–365.)
IBN SĪRĪN, Muḥammad, al-Anṣārī (d. 110 [728/9]). Born during the caliphate of ʿUthmān, his father was clerk to Anas ibn Mālik. He moved to Basra, where he preached in the marketplaces and where he became known as an authority on law. He is also remembered as a master interpreter of dreams, and a book on the subject is attributed to him. (Mashāhīr, 88; Azami, 94–95; Abū Nuʿaym, 2:263–282; EI2, 3:947–948 [T. Fahd]; GAS, 1:633–634.)
IBN AL-TAYYĀḤ. Unidentified.
IBN ʿUMAR, ʿAbd Allāh (d. 73 [693/4]). A Companion of the Prophet who, at the age of fourteen asked to be permitted to fight at Uḥud, which permission was denied. Possessed of high moral qualities he commanded universal deference and respect. Although it is said that he was offered the caliphate on three separate occasions he kept himself aloof from politics and occupied himself instead with study and instruction. (EI2, 1:53–54 [L. Veccia Vaglieri]; Iṣāba, 2:338–341; Abū Nuʿaym, 1:292–314.)
IBN ʿUYAYNA, Sufyān al-Hilālī (d. c 198 [813/4]). An influential Ḥadīth specialist born in Kūfa and reared in Mecca, who studied under Ibn Shihāb al-Zuhrī. ‘But for Mālik and Ibn ʿUyayna’, al-Shāfiʿī is represented as saying, ‘the knowledge of the Ḥijāz would have been lost’. He is a principal source of Ḥadīth in the Musnad of al-Ḥumaydī. (Mashāhīr, 149; GAS, 1:139; Azami, 169–170.)
IBRĀHĪM IBN ISḤĀQ AL-ḤARBĪ (d. 285 [898/9]). A grammarian, historian and traditionist of Baghdad, an important disciple of Ibn Ḥanbal, and an admirer of Bishr al-Ḥāfī. His book on the Pilgrimage has recently been published. (Ṣafadī, 5:320–324; Bidāya, 10:297; Zabīdī, 10:434.)
IBRĀHĪM AL-NAKHAʿĪ, ibn Yazīd (d. c 96 [714/5]). A devout and learned scholar of Kūfa who opposed the writing of Ḥadīth as an unjustified innovation. He studied under al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī and Anas ibn Mālik, and taught Abū Ḥanifa, who may have been influenced by his extensive use of personal judgement (raʾy) in matters of jurisprudence. (Mashāhīr, 101; Azami, 65–66; Ghāya, 1:29.)
IBRĀHĪM AL-TAYMĪ, ibn Yazīd (d. c 93 [711/2]). An ascetic of Kūfa who is said to have placed great emphasis on ‘short hopes’ (qiṣar al-amal). He figures in many hortatory tales with his father, Yazīd ibn Sharīk. A respected traditionist, he taught al-Aʿmash, and use is made of his Ḥadīths by al-Bukhārī and Muslim. (Abū Nuʿaym, 4:210–219; Mashāhīr, 101; Kāshif, 1:50)
IBRĀHĪM AL-ZAYYĀT. Unidentified.
ʿIKRIMA, mawlā Ibn ʿAbbās (d. c 105 [723-4]). Said to have been of Berber origin, he was a manumitted slave of Ibn ʿAbbās, whose exegesis of the Qurʾān he passed on to Mujāhid. Although accused of Khārijite sympathies, he is regarded as a reliable authority on Ḥadīth. (Azami, 66–67; Ghāya, 1:515; EI2, 3:1081–1082 [J. Schacht]; Abū Nuʿaym, 3:326–347.)
JĀBIR ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Khazrajī al-Anṣārī (d. 68-78 [687/8-697/8]). A Companion of the Prophet whose father died at the battle of Uḥud. He participated in nineteen of the expeditions of the Prophet, and related a sizeable number of Traditions. (Iṣāba, 1:214–215; Nawawī, Tahdhīb, 184–186; Mashāhīr, 11.)
JĀBIR IBN WADĀʿA. Unidentified.
JĀBIR IBN ZAYD al-Azdī (d. 93 [711/21). Usually known as Abu’l-Shaʿthāʾ. A Basran authority on the sharīʿa and the interpretation of the Qurʾān, and a leader of the Ibāḍʾī branch of the Khārijite movement. He was a pupil of Ibn ʿAbbās, and related Ḥadīths to Qatāda. (Kāshif, 1:121; Abū Nuʿaym, 3:85–92; Mashāhīr, 89.)
JAʿFAR ibn Abī Ṭālib (d. 8 [629]). A cousin of the Prophet and the elder brother of ʿAlī. It was he that led the emigration to Abyssinia, whence he returned in time for the Khaybar expedition (7/628). He was known as ‘Abu’l-Masākīn’ because of his concern for the poor. (EI2, 2:372 [L. Veccia Vaglieri]; Istīʿāb, 1:211–214.)
JAʿFAR IBN MUḤAMMAD ibn ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn, ‘al-Ṣādiq’ (d. 148 [765]). A major authority on law and Ḥadīths, he taught both Abū Ḥanifa and Mālik. His austere and saintly life made him an important ideal for the Sufis, who gathered large numbers of sayings attributed to him. He was later made into the seventh Imām of the Shīʿa: the Jaʿfarīya sect is named after him. (EI2, 2:374–375 [M.G.S. Hodgson]; Mashāhīr, 127; Abū Nuʿaym, 3:192–206; Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb, 2:104.)
JAʿFAR IBN NUṢAYR al-Khuldī (d. 348 [959/60]). (Correct name: Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad ibn Nuṣayr al-Khuldī.) A major Sufi of Baghdad, a companion of Ruwaym, al Junayd and al-Nūrī, who spent much of his life engaged in extensive travels. He left a number of aphorisms which are much quoted in the classical works on Sufism. (GAS, 1:661; Qushayrī, 1:178; Hujwīrī, 156–157; Tarīkh Baghdād, 7:226–231; Abū Nuʿaym, 10:381.)
JAʿFAR IBN SAʿĪD. As Zabīdī remarks (10:394) this is probably an error for ‘Jaʿfar ʿan Saʿīd’ (ibn al-Musayyib), a reference to Jaʿfar ibn Sulaymān (d. 178 [794/5]), a Shīʿite traditionist and ascetic of Basra. (Kāshif, 1:129; Bidāya, 10:173; Mashāhīr, 159.)
AL-JĀḤIẒ (d. 255 [868/9]). One of the finest Arabic prose stylists, he left a wealth of elegant and witty books, such as the Animals and the Misers which have furnished much information about early Islamic society. Although originally of Basra he wrote principally in Baghdad. In addition to his literary tastes he was a theologian of the Muʿtazilite school. (C. Pellat, Le Milieu baṣrien et la formation de Ğāḥiẓ.)
JARĪR IBN ʿABD ALLĀH al-Bajalī (d. 51 [671/2]). A Companion of the Prophet. Of an aristocratic family, he was renowned for his handsomeness. A number of Ḥadīths were related by him. (Mashāhīr, 44; Kāshif, 1:126.)
JARĪR ibn ʿAṭīya al-Khaṭafī (d. 110 [728-9]). With al-Farazdaq and al-Akhṭal, Jarīr represents the last flowering of the Bedouin poetic tradition. His work is composed primarily of panegyrics, and ruthless broadsides directed against his rival al Farazdaq. (GALS, 2:53–55.)
AL-JUNAYD, Abu’l-Qāsim ibn Muḥammad (d. 298 [910/11]). The best known of the Sufis of Baghdad. A nephew and disciple of al-Sarī al-Saqaṭī, he vowed that would not teach during the latter’s lifetime out of deference to his preceptor; however he received a vision of the Prophet, who told him that ‘God shall make your words the salvation of a multitude of mankind’; he then began to teach. His gatherings ‘were attended by jurists and philosophers (attracted by his precise reasoning), theologians (drawn by his orthodoxy) and Sufis (for his discoursing upon the Truth)’. In addition, he was an authority on theology and law, in which he followed the school of Abū Thawrī. (Sulamī, 141–150; GAS, 1:647–650; EI2, 2:600 [A. J. Arberry]; A. H. Abdel-Kader, The Life, Personality and Writings of al-Junayd.)
AL-JURAYRĪ (d. 311 [923/4]). A companion of Junayd, sometimes said to have been his successor. He was also a theologian and a jurist. (Hujwīrī, 148; Qushayrī, 1:166–167; Sulamī, 253–259; Tarīkh Baghdād, 4:430–434.)
KAʿB al-Aḥbār, ibn Mātiʿ al-Ḥimyarī (d. 32 [652/3] or 34 [654/5]). A rabbi from the Yemen who converted to Islam during the caliphate of ʿUmar. (EI2, 4:316–317 [M. Schmitz]; Mashāhīr, 118.)
AL-KATTANĪ, Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī (d. 322 [933/4]. A Baghdad Sufi of the circle of al Junayd and al-Kharrāz; he spent much of his life in Mecca, where he died. (Sulamī, 386–391; Tarīkh Baghdād, 3:74–76; Abū Nuʿaym, 10:357–358; ʿAṭṭār, 253–256.)
KHADĪJA BINT KHUWAYLID (d. 3 BH [619]). The first wife of the Prophet. She was a businesswoman of Mecca, and married him after having been impressed with his efficiency and honesty in the matter of a caravan to Syria which he had supervised for her. (EI2, 4:898–899 [W. Montgomery Watt].)
KHAYTHAMA ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥman al-Kūfī (d. c 80 [699/700]). A traditionist who studied under ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr and ʿAlī. A wealthy man, he is said to have given lavish banquets for the poor. (Mashāhīr, 103; Abū Nuʿaym, 4:113–126.)
LUQMĀN-37. A sage of pre-Islamic Arabia who figures prominently in Arab legend and proverbs. He is shown in the Qurʾān as a monotheist giving advice to his son. (EI2, 5:811–813 [B. Heller-[N. A. Stillman]].)
AL-MAGHĀZILĪ. Possibly a reference to Banān ibn YaḤyā al-Maghāzili (d. 264 [877/8]), a traditionist. (Tarīkh Baghdād, 7:99–100.)
MAJNŪN. The protagonist of a Bedouin love story. A shepherd, he falls in love with the girl Laylā. When he loses her he turns mad, wandering in the desert and communing with wild beasts. The tale was later turned into a symbol of the Sufi love of God. (EI2, 5:1102–1107 [C. Pellat et al.].)
MAKḤŪL, Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Dimashqī (d. 112 [730/1]). A prisoner of war taken at Kabul and given to an Egyptian woman, who set him free. He later became one of the more prominent jurists of Damascus, where he influenced al-Awzāʿī. (Kāshif, 3:152; Fihrist, 227; Mashāhīr, 114.)
MĀLIK IBN ANAS al-Aṣbaḥī (d. 179 [795/6]). The founder of one of the four main schools of Islamic law. Born into a family of Ḥadīth scholars at Medina, he studied the recitation of the Qurʾān with Nāfiʿ and heard Ḥadīths from al-Zuhrī and Ibn al-Munkadir. He taught al-Shāfiʿī, al-Thawrī and Ibn al-Mubārak. His book, the Muwaṭṭaʾ, is the earliest surviving work of Muslim law, and places great emphasis on the actual practice of Islam in Medina in Mālik’s time. (SEI, 320–324 [J. Schacht].)
MĀLIK IBN DĪNĀR al-Nājī (d. 131 [748/9]. An ascetic of Basra who made a living by copying the Qurʾān. A companion of al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī, he was credited with a number of miracles, including the ability to walk on water. (Mashāhīr, 90; Hujwīrī, 89–90; Ghāya, 2:36; Abū Nuʿaym, 2:357–388.)
AL-MAʾMŪN (regn. 198-218 [813-833]). The caliph who presided over the zenith of Abbasid civilisation. He led a number of successful campaigns against the Byzantines and provincial rebels. His adoption of Muʿtazilite theology may have been an attempt to reconcile both the Shīʿa and the emerging Sunni orthodoxy to the ruling dynasty.
MANṢŪR IBN ISMĀʿĪL al-Maghribī. A Sufi who taught al- Qushayrī. (Zabīdī, 10:433.)
MAʿRŪF AL-KARKHĪ, ibn Fīrūz (d. 200-1 [815/6-816/7]). One of the major early Sufis. His parents are said to have been Christians. He was a major influence on al-Sarī al-Saqaṭī, but also instructed Ibn Ḥanbal in Ḥadīths. His grave, restored in 1312 AH, is an important focus of the religious life of Baghdad, and many miraculous cures are said to be worked there. (Hujwīrī, 113–115; Sulamī, 74–79; Qushayrī, 1:65–68; Ibn al-Jawzī, Manāqib Maʿrūf al-Karkhī wa-akhbāruhu.)
MARWĀN ibn al-Ḥakam (regn. 64-5 [684-5]). An Umayyad caliph whose reign stands out only for his defeat of the forces of the rebel Ibn al-Zubayr at the battle of Marj Rāhiṭ.
MASRŪQ ibn al-Ajdaʿ (d. 63 [682/3]). Chiefly resident in Kūfa, he was a respected traditionist and ‘Follower’ who taught Ibrāhīm al-Nakhaʿī. He is said to have fought on the side of ʿAlī against the Khārijites. (Mashāhīr, 101; Tarīkh Baghdād, 13:232–235; Kāshif, 3:120.)
AL-MASŪḤĪ, al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī. A Sufi who was a follower of Bishr al-Ḥāfī and who taught al-Jurayrī. It is said that he was the first to give lessons on Sufism in Baghdad. Having no house, he slept in the portico of a mosque. (Tarīkh Baghdād, 7:366–367; Abū Nuʿaym, 10:322.)
MAYMŪN IBN MIHRĀN al-Jazarī (d. c 117 [735/6]). An ascetic of Raqqa on the upper Euphrates, he was a pupil of al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī and a traditionist who became secretary to the caliph ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz. (Mashāhīr, 117; Bidāya, 9:314; Abū Nuʿaym, 4:82–97.)
MUʿĀDH IBN JABAL al-Khazrajī (d. c 18 [639/401). An early convert to Islam, he became well versed in fiqh in a short space of time. He was the Prophet’s governor of the Yemen, and died in Syria. (Iṣāba, 3:406–407; Mashāhīr, 5.)
MUʿĀWIYA IBN ABĪ SUFYĀN ibn Ḥarb ibn Umayya (regn. 40-60 [661-80]). The first caliph of the Umayyad dynasty, able and astute, he continued the conquests of his predecessors.
MUBASHSHIR IBN ISMĀʿĪL AL-ḤALABĪ (d. 200 [815/6]). A traditionist of Aleppo who studied under al-Awzāʿī and taught a number of ʿIraqī scholars. He is usually accounted a reliable authority. (Kāshif, 3:104; Bidāya, 10:247.)
AL-MUFAḌḌAL IBN FAḌĀLA (d. 181 [797/8]). A somewhat unreliable traditionist of Basra, remembered for his love of prayer. (Abū Nuʿaym, 8:321–323; Kāshif, 3:150; Ḍuʿafāʾ, 226.)
AL-MUGHĪRA IBN SHUʿBA al-Thaqafī (d. 50 [670/1]). A Companion of the Prophet. He took part in a number of the early conquests, and lost an eye at the battle of Yarmūk. The caliph ʿUmar made him governor of Basra and then of Kūfa; he subsequently retired from politics until it became clear that Muʿāwiya had won, when he again assumed the governorship of the latter city. (Iṣāba, 3:432–433.)
MUḤAMMAD IBN ABĪ TAWBA. Unidentified.
MUḤAMMAD IBN AḤMAD AL-MARWAZĪ. Probably a reference to a certain Shāfiʿite jurist and ascetic of this name who died at Merv in 371 (981/2). (Tarīkh Baghdād, 1:314.)
MUḤAMMAD IBN ʿALĪ ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭā1ib, ‘al-Bāqir’. (d. c 114 [732/3]). The father of the traditionist Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq, he taught al-Zuhrī and al-Awzāʿī. He was later made into the fifth Imam of the Shīʿa. (Mashāhīr, 62; Kāshif, 3:71.)
MUḤAMMAD IBN AL-ḤUSAYN. Unidentified.
MUḤAMMAD IBN KAʿB AL-QURAẒĪ (d. 108 [726/7] or 118 [736/7]). A Follower (tābiʿī) of Kūfa (later of Medina) much given to worship and the recitation of the Qurʾān. He related a number of Ḥadīths to Ibn al-Munkadir. (Abū Nuʿaym, 3:212–221; Mashāhīr, 65; Ghāya, 2:233.)
MUḤAMMAD IBN AL-MUNKADIR. See ‘Ibn al-Munkadir’.
MUḤAMMAD IBN QUDĀMA AL-JAWHARĪ (d. 237 [851/21]). A traditionist of Baghdad who studied under Ibn ʿUyayna. His reliability is sometimes questioned. (Zabīdī, 10:370; Kāshif, 3:80.)
MUḤAMMAD IBN ṢABĪḤ. See ‘Ibn al-Sammāk’.
MUḤAMMAD IBN SULAYMĀN ibn ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās (d. 173 [789/90]). A traditionist of doubtful reliability who was governor of Basra for a period. (Bidāya, 10:103, 162–163; ʿUqaylī, 4:73.)
MUḤAMMAD AL-ṬŪSĪ, ibn Aslam (d. 242 [856/7]). A traditionist said to have been one of the first to write on the subject of weak Ḥadīths. He was known for the sermons he preached against the Murjiʾite heresy. (Ṣafadī, 2:204; Abū Nuʿaym, 9:237–254; Bidāya, 10:344.)
MUḤAMMAD IBN WĀSIʿ al-Azdī (d. 127 [744/5]). An early Ḥadīth scholar noted for his asceticism. His statement, ‘I never saw anything without seeing God therein’ was much discussed by later Sufis. He fought under Qutayba ibn Muslim during the conquest of Transoxiana, and later became a judge. (Hujwīrī, 91–92; Abū Nuʿaym, 2:345–357; Ghāya, 2:274; Mashāhīr, 151.)
MUḤAMMAD IBN ʿUQBA-86. A qāṭʾī and traditionist. (Zabīdī; 10:322; Kāshif, 3:70; Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb, 9:347.)
MUḤAMMAD IBN YŪSUF. Possibly a reference to Muḥammad ibn Yūsuf ibn Yaʿqūb, a chief judge of Baghdad (d. 320 [932/3]), known for his retiring disposition and friendship with the traditionist Ibn Manīʿ. (Ṣafadī, 5:245–246; Bidāya, 10:76.)
MUJĀHID ibn Jabr al-Makkī (d. 104 [722/3]). Sometimes considered the most learned authority among the ‘Followers’ (tābiʿūn) on the exegesis of the Qurʾān, which he learnt from Ibn ʿAbbās, he was particularly concerned to establish the circumstances under which each verse had been revealed. He was also respected for his austere and pious lifestyle. (Mashāhīr, 82; Fihrist, 33; Ghāya, 2:41–42; Abū Nuʿaym, 3:279–310.)
MUJAMMIʿ ibn Ṣamghān al-Taymī. An ascetic of Kūfa who associated with Sufyān al-Thawrī. He is recorded as having been a person of simplicity and generosity, who would unhesitatingly allow strangers lodging in his house. (Abū Nuʿaym, 5:89–91.)
MUMSHĀD AL-DĪNAWARĪ (d. 299 [911/2]). A Sufi of the circle of lbn al Jallāʾ. (Abū Nuʿaym, 10:252–254; Sulamī, 318–320.)
AL-MUNDHIR ibn Mālik al-ʿAbdī (d. 108 [726/61). A respected traditionist of Basra, who was present at the death of al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī. (Abū Nuʿaym, 3:97–101; Kāshif, 3:154.)
AL-MUNTAṢIR ibn al-Mutawakkil (regn. 247-8 [861-2]). An Abbasid caliph, who came to power after inducing the Turkish palace guards to assassinate his father.
MUQĀTIL ibn Sulaymān al-Azdī (d. 150 [767/8]). A theologian and exegete from Balkh in Cental Asia who taught principally in Baghdad. He knew a large amount of Jewish lore, and compiled a commentary on the Qurʾān. (GAS, 1:60; Tarīkh Baghdād, 13:160–169; Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb, 10:284.)
MŪSĀ IBN ḤAMMĀD. Unidentified.
AL-MUʿTAMIR IBN SULAYMĀN al-Taymī (d. 187 [802/3]). An ascetic and a reliable traditionist of Basra who associated with al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī. His father, Sulaymān ibn Tarkhān (d. 143 [760/1]) was also a Ḥadīth scholar. (Mashāhīr, 161; Ibn Qutayba, Maʿārif, 240.)
MUTAMMIM AL-DAWRAQĪ. Unidentified.
MUṬARRIF IBN ʿABD ALLĀH IBN AL-SHIKHKHĪR al-ʿĀmirī (d. c 87 [806/7]). An ascetic and a traditionist of Basra. Many miracles and famous prayers are attributed to him. (Mashāhīr, 88; Abū Nuʿaym, 2:198–212; Kāshif, 3:132.)
MUṬARRIF ibn Maʿqil al-Tamīmī. A traditionist who studied under Ibn Sīrīn. (Zabīdī, 10:231.)
MUṬARRIF IBN ABĪ BAKR AL-HUDHALĪ. An early ascetic of Basra. (Zabīdī, 10:373; Massignon, Essai, 164.)
AL-MUʿTAṢIM (regn. 218-27 [833-42]). An Abbasid caliph, remembered for his victory over the Byzantines at Amorium and his regularising of the use of Turkish palace guards.
NĀFIʿ, mawla ibn ʿUmar. (d. 119 [737]). An important Ḥadīth scholar of Medina, who studied under Ibn ʿUmar and Abū Hurayra, and who taught Mālik ibn Anas and al-Layth ibn Saʿd. (Mashāhīr, 80; Kāshif, 3:174.)
NAṢR ibn Ṭarīf al-Bāhilī-90. An unreliable traditionist accused by Ibn al-Mubārak of ‘Qadarite’ leanings. (ʿUqaylī, 4:296–298.)
AL-NAṢRABADHĪ, Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad (d. c 367 [977/8]). A Sufi of Khurāsān, who associated with al-Shiblī and Abū ʿAlī al-Rūdhbārī. He was also a prolific traditionist. (Qushayrī, 1:222–223; Sulamī, 511–515; GAS, 1:663; Hujwīrī, 159–160.)
AL-NUʿMĀN IBN BASHĪR al-Khazrajī (d. c 74 [693/4]). A Companion of the Prophet who became governor of Ḥimṣ for Yazīd I. He was killed by the populace of the latter city when he tried to raise support for the rebellion of Ibn al-Zubayr. (Iṣāba, 3:529–530; EI, 3:952–953 [K. V. Zetterstéen].)
AL-NŪRĪ, Abu’l-Ḥusayn (d. 295 [907/8]). An important Sufi of the Baghdad school. A companion of al-Junayd, he left a number of poems on Divine love. (Sulamī, 151–158; GAS, 1:650; Tarīkh Baghdād, 5:130; ʿAṭṭār, 221–230; Ernst, 97–101.)
QABĪṢA IBN ʿUQBA al-Kūfī (d. 215 [830/1]). A traditionist and exegete who studied under Sufyān al-Thawrī and taught Ibn Ḥanbal and Ibn Abī Shayba. A number of Ḥadīths related on his authority are given by al-Bukhārī. (GAS, 1:40–41; Tarīkh Baghdād, 12:473–476; Bidāya, 10:269.)
AL-QAʿQĀʿ IBN ʿAMR al-Tamīmī. A noted warrior who distinguished himself at the battle of al-Qādisīya. The story of his presence at the Prophet’s death is usually regarded as a fiction. (Istīʿāb, 3:252; Iṣāba, 3:230.)
AL-QAʿQĀʿ IBN ḤAKĪM al-Kinānī. A pious and highlyregarded traditionist of the second generation of Muslims, who related Ḥadīths from Abū Hurayra and Ibn ʿUmar. (Mashāhīr, 77; Kāshif, 2:346; Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb, 8:383.)
QATĀDA ibn Diʿāma al-Baṣrī (d. 117 [735/6]. Although blind from birth, he became an authority on the exegesis of the Qurʾān. He was an associate of al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī, and is sometimes accused of Muʿtazilite sympathies. (Fihrist, 34; Mashāhīr, 96; GAS, 1:31–32; Massignon, Essai, 200.)
RĀBIʿA AL-ʿADAWĪYA, bint Ismāʿīl (d. 185 [801/2]). The most famous woman Sufi. It is said that she was stolen as a child and sold into slavery, but was released on account of her piety. She lived for a time in the desert, where she was fed miraculously by God. She later moved to Basra, where she taught Sufyān al-Thawrī and Shaqīq al-Balkhī, emphasising the importance of divine love. She left a number of fine prayers. (M. Smith, Rabiʿa the Mystic and her Fellow-Saints in Islam.)
AL-RABĪʿ IBN KHUTHAYM (or ‘KHAYTHAM’), al-Thawrī (d. c 63 [682/3])-11, 12, 103. A pupil of Ibn ʿAbbās and a famous ascetic of Kūfa. Constantly ill with a form of palsy, he became for later generations a symbol of endurance in the face of suffering. He emphasised the importance of silence, scrupulousness in religious observance, and the fear of Hell. Many traditions in the collection of al-Bukhārī are given on his authority. (Mashāhīr, 99–100; Ghāya, 1:283; Abū Nuʿaym, 2:105–119; Kāshif, 1:235; Ibn Marthad 41–43.)
AL-RABĪʿ IBN SULAYMĀN al-Murādī (d. c 270 [883/4]). A pupil of al-Shāfiʿī, and his messenger to Ibn Ḥanbal when this latter had been incarcerated by al-Maʾmūn. He was also the muezzin of the mosque of ʿAmr in Egypt. (Kāshif, 1:236; Bidāya, 10:162, 331.)
RUWAYM ibn AḤmad al-Baghdādī (d. 303 [915/6]. A Sufi of the circle of al-Junayd, who stressed the importance of tajrīd (divestment from worldly attachments). He is said to have written books on Sufism. Additionally, he was a noted expert on the exegesis of the Qurʾān, and an adherent of the literalist Ẓāhīri school of law. (Hujwīrī, 135–136; Qushayrī, 1:144–146; Abū Nuʿaym, 10:296–302.)
SAʿD ibn Abī Waqqāṣ al-Murrī (d. 50 [670/1] or 55 [674-5]). One of the ten Companions assured of Heaven by the Prophet, he distinguished himself particularly as a brilliant politician and soldier. To him goes the credit for the defeat of the Persians at al-Qādisīya (16/637), one of history’s most decisive battles, and the subsequent founding of Kūfa as a military base. He remained governor of that city until the year 20 [640/1] when he was recalled to Medina following allegations, not credited by the Caliph, of misrule. ʿUmar later made him one of the six men who were to choose the new caliph. (SEI, 482 [K. V. Zetterstéen].)
SAʿD IBN BILĀL. According to Zabīdī this is a mistake for Bilāl ibn Saʿd (d. c 120 [737/8], an ascetic and preacher of Damascus who was also regarded as the greatest Syrian authority on the readings of the Qurʾān at that time. (Ṣafadī, 10:277; Kāshif, 1:111; Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb, 1:503.)
SAʿD IBN MUʿĀDH al-Awsī (d. 5 [626]). The head of an important clan at Medina, he was an early and enthusiastic convert. During the Battle of the Trench he was wounded, and after the fighting had subsided was asked by the Prophet to pass judgement on the Jewish clan of Qurayẓa, which had been accused of dealing secretly with the enemy. He found them guilty, and sentenced their menfolk to death and their women and children to slavery. He himself died shortly afterwards. (SEI, 482–483 [K. V. Zetterstéen]); Istīʿāb, 2:25–30.)
ṢAFĪYA bint Ḥuyayy ibn Akhṭab (d. 50 [670/1] or 52 [672/3]). A Jewish woman who joined Islam and married the Prophet following the Khaybar expedition. She became particularly close to his daughter Fāṭima and showed great devotion to the Prophet, particularly during his final illness. (SEI, 487–488 [V. Vacca].)
SAHL AL-ṢUʿLŪKĪ ibn Muḥammad (d. 404 [1013/4]). A prominent Shāfiʿī jurist of Nīsābūr, whose classes were regularly attended by over five hundred students, among whom was the great traditionist al-Ḥākim. He is said to have written on theology and literature. (Subkī, 4:393; Ṣafadī, 16:12–13; Zabīdī, 10:438.)
SAʿĪD IBN ʿABD ALLĀH ibn Jurayj. A traditionist who taught al-Aʿmash. (Kāshif, 1:289; Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb, 4:51.)
SAʿĪD IBN ʿABD ALLĀH AL-AWDĪ. Unidentified.
SAʿĪD IBN ʿABD AL-RAḤMĀN al JumaḤī (d. 176 [792/3]). A respected traditionist who became Hārūn al-Rashīd’s chief judge at Baghdad. A number of traditions in the Ṣaḥīḥ of Muslim are given on his authority. (Ṣafadī, 15:237; Kāshif, 1:290; Ghāya, 1:306.)
SAʿĪD IBN AL-MUSAYYIB al-Makhzūmī (d. 93-4 [711/2-712/3]). A major genealogist and legal expert of Medina, held by some to have been the most erudite of the second Muslim generation. He refused to marry his devout and learned daughter to the caliph al-Walīd ibn ʿAbd al-Mālik, for which he was flogged. (Abū Nuʿaym, 2:161–176; Hujwīrī, 87; Mashāhīr, 63.)
ṢĀLIḤ IBN BASHĪR al-Murrī (d. c 172 [788/9]). A ‘weak’ traditionist of Basra who studied under Ibn Sīrīn and Yazīd al-Ruqāshī. Famed for his sermons, he was invited to Baghdad to preach before the caliph al-Mahdī. (Ṣafadī, 16:252; Bidāya, 10:170; Ḍuʿafāʾ, 136; Abū Nuʿaym, 6:165–77.)
ṢĀLIḤ AL-MURRĪ. See previous entry.
ṢĀLIḤ IBN MISMĀR al-Marwazī (d. 246 [860/1]). A traditionist who learnt Ḥadīths from Ibn ʿUyayna; some of his material is incorporated in the Ṣaḥīḥ of Muslim. (Kāshif, 2:22.)
SALMĀN AL-FĀRISĪ (d. 36 [656/7]). ‘Salmān the Good.’ A Persian convert to Islam who became one of the most celebrated Companions of the Prophet. It was upon his counsel that the famous ‘Fosse’ was dug to defend the city from the Meccan army. Later he participated in the conquest of Iraq. His asceticism and devotion to the Prophet made him an ideal for later generations, and in particular the Sufis, to whom he is held to have transmitted much of the Prophet’s esoteric knowledge. (Iṣāba, 2:60–61; Abū Nuʿaym, 1:185–208; SEI, 500–501 [G. Levi della Vida].)
SAMURA ibn Jundub al-Fazārī (d. 51-60 [671/2-679/80]). A Companion of the Prophet who transmitted a number of Traditions used by al-Bukhārī and Muslim. He served as governor of Basra and then of Kūfa for a short period. (GAS, 1:84–85; Mashāhīr, 38.)
AL-SARĪ AL-SAQAṬĪ, ibn al-Mughallis (d. c 251 [865/6]). The maternal uncle of al Junayd, and one of the first to present Sufism in a systematised fashion. According to Hujwīrī, his conversion to Sufism was instigated by the Baghdad saint Ḥabīb al-Rāʿī, who, upon being given a crust of bread by al-Sarī, said, ‘May God reward you!’ ‘From that time on’, al-Saqaṭī later remarked, ‘my worldly affairs never prospered again’. He was perhaps the most influential disciple of Maʿrūf al-Karkhī. (EI, 4:171 [L. Massignon]; Tarīkh Baghdād, 9:87–162; J. al-Murābiṭ, al-Sarī al-Saqaṭī; Dermenghem, 115-28.)
SAWDA bint Zamʿa al-Qurashīya (d. 54 [673/4]). The second wife of the Prophet, she was one of the earliest converts to Islam. She is remembered for her charitable and amiable temperament. (SEI, 503–504 [V. Vacca].)
SHADDĀD IBN AWS (d. 58 [677/8])-41. A Medinese companion of the Prophet whose father died at the battle of Badr. He narrated a number of Ḥadīths, and is buried at Jerusalem. (Iṣāba, II. 138; Nawawī, Tahdhīb, 312; Mashāhīr, 50.)
AL-SHĀFIʿĪ, Muḥammad ibn Idrīs al-Qurashī (d. 204 [820]). The founder of the Shāfiʿite school of Islamic law. Although born in Gaza he was brought up with a Bedouin tribe, which gave him a good grounding in poetry and the Arabic language. He later studied fiqh with Sufyān ibn ʿUyayna and Mālik ibn Anas, developing a legal theory that stood halfway between literalism and personal opinion. He travelled extensively in Iraq and Egypt, where he died; his tomb is today one of the centres of Cairene religious life. (GAS, 1:484–490; Tarīkh Baghdād, 2:56–73; SEI, 512–515 [W. Heffening].)
SHAQĪQ AL-BALKHĪ, al-Azdī (d. 194 [809/10]). One of the founders of the Khurāsānī school of Sufism, he was the disciple of the ascetic Ibrāhīm ibn Adham. He was known for his discourses on the nearness of the Resurrection and the importance of reliance (tawakkul) upon God. He was also a noted scholar of the sharīʿa. (Qushayrī, 1:85–87; Abū Nuʿaym, 8:58–73; Sulamī, 54–59; Hujwīrī, 111–112.)
AL-SHIBLĪ, ibn Jaḥdar (d. 334 [945/6]). Formerly a chamberlain at the Caliph’s palace, he converted to Sufism and became a follower of al-Junayd, whose teachings he later communicated to al-Naṣrābādhī. Well-known for his acts of asceticism and renunciation, it is said that he put salt in his eyes to stay awake for his nocturnal devotions. He was also an authority on the Mālikite school of law. His tomb at Baghdad is still venerated. (Qushayrī, 1:159–160; Sulamī, 340–355; Hujwīrī, 155–156; Tarīkh Baghdād, 14: 389–397; EI, 4: 360–361 [L. Massignon]; Dermenghem, 201–230.)
ṢILA IBN ASHYAM al-ʿAdawī (d. 76 [695/6]). A Follower (tābiʿī) of Basra who fought in the conquest of Sijistān and Ghazna, where he was killed. He was known for his gentle sermons and advice. (Abū Nuʿaym, 2:237–242; Mashāhīr, 89; Bidāya, 9:15.)
AL-SUDDĪ. Two men with this nisba are commonly recorded: (i) Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, ‘al-Suddī al-Kabīr’ (d. 127 [744/5], an exegete of Kūfa (Mashāhīr, III; Siyar, V. 264: GAS. I. 32-3); (ii) Muḥammad ibn Marwān, ‘al-Suddī al-Ṣaghīr’ an early traditionist of Kūfa who lived in Baghdad and taught al-Aṣmaʿī. (Tarīkh Baghdād, 3:291–293; Siyar, 5:265.)
SUFYĀN-103, 146. See next notice.
SUFYĀN AL-THAWRĪ, ibn Saʿīd (d. 161 [777/8]). A scholar and well-known saint of Kūfa, of whom a great number of anecdotes are recorded. He was one of the ‘Eight Ascetics,’ who included (usual list) ʿĀmir ibn ʿAbd Qays, Abū Muslim al-Khawlānī, Uways al-Qaranī, al-Rabīʿ ibn Khuthaym, al-Aswad ibn Yazīd, Masrūq, and al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī. It is said that he was offered high office under the Umayyads but consistently declined. (Fihrist, 225; Abū Nuʿaym, 6:356–393, VH. 3–144; EI, 4:500–502 [M. Plessner].)
SUFYĀN IBN ʿUYAYNA. See ‘Ibn ʿUyayna’.
ṢUHAYB ibn Sinān, ‘al-Rūmī’ (d. c 38 [658/9]. An Arab from the Mosul region captured and enslaved as a child by Byzantine raiders. He was brought up in the Byzantine empire, and then taken to Mecca and sold. Here he joined the new Muslim community at the house of al-Arqam, and was persecuted for his faith until he made the Emigration to Medina in the company of ʿAlī. (Ṣafadī, 16:335–338; Iṣāba, 2:188–189; Abū Nuʿaym, 1:151–156.)
SUḤAYM. Possibly a reference to Suḥaym al-Madanī, a reputable traditionist who studied under Abū Hurayra and taught Ibn Shihāb al-Zuhrī. (Kāshif, 1:274; Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb, 3:454.)
SULAYMĀN IBN ʿABD AL-MALIK (regn. 97-99 [715-7]). An Umayyad caliph remembered for his gluttony and licentiousness.
SULAYMĀN IBN SUḤAYM al-Madanī. A traditionist who taught Ibn ʿUyayna; some of his Ḥadīths are to be found in the collection of Muslim. He died during the reign of al-Manṣūr. (Kāshif, 1:314; Tābiʿīn, 1:95; Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb, 4:193.)
AL-ṢUNĀBIḤĪ, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Murādī (d. 70-80 [689/90699/700]). A Yemenite who went to Medina to meet the Prophet but who arrived five days after his death. He later moved to Syria, where he gained the confidence and respect of the caliph ʿAbd al-Mālik. (Mashāhīr, 111; Abū Nuʿaym, 5:129–131; Kāshif, 2:157.)
ṬALḤA ibn ʿUbayd Allāh al-Qurashī (d. 36 [656-7]). One of the ten Companions assured of Paradise by the Prophet; called ‘one of the pillars of Islam’ by ʿUmar. He distinguished himself at the Battle of Uḥud, where he personally defended the Prophet. One of the six men chosen to elect ʿUmar’s successor, he was killed at the Battle of the Camel at the age of 64. His grave is still visited at Basra. (Iṣāba, 2:220–222; Mashāhīr, 7.)
THĀBIT AL-BUNĀNĪ, ibn Aslam (d. 127 [744/5]). A Follower (tābiʿī) of Basra who kept the company of Anas ibn Mālik for forty years. One of the ‘Weepers’, he was much given to prayer and other devotional acts. A number of Ḥadīths are related on his authority. (Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb, 2:2–4; Mashāhīr, 89; Abū Nuʿaym, 2:318–333.)
THAWBĀN ibn YuḤdad (d. 54 [673/4]). A slave purchased and freed by the Prophet, whom he served until the latter’s death. He later removed to Ḥimṣ, where he died. The Ḥadīth collection of Muslim contains material given on his authority. (Iṣāba, 1:205; Mashāhīr, 50; Kāshif, 1:119.)
AL-THAWRĪ. See ‘Sufyān al-Thawrī.’
THUMĀMA IBN ḤAZN AL-QUSHAYRĪ. A companion of the caliph ʿUmar, from whom he related a number of Ḥadīths; later he moved to Basra. (Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb, 2:27; Ṣafadī, 11:18; Mashāhīr, 92.)
ʿUBĀDA IBN AL-ṢĀMIT al-Khazrajī (d. c 34 [654/5]). An early convert who took part in the battle of Badr. In later years he participated in the conquest of Egypt, and was made the first qāṭʾī of Palestine by the caliph ʿUmar. (Iṣāba, 2:260–261; Mashāhīr, 51.)
ʿUBAYD ALLĀH. Unidentified.
ʿUBAYD IBN ʿUMAYR al-Laythī (d. 74 [693/4]). A respected traditionist of Mecca who taught the exegesis of the Qurʾān to Mujāhid. He is said to have been unusually thin as a consequence of much fasting and self-denial. (Mashāhīr, 82; Abū Nuʿaym, 3:266–279; Ghāya, 1:496–497.)
ʿUKĀSHA (or ʿUKKĀSHA) ibn Miḥṣan al-Asadī (d. 12 [633]). An early convert who fought at Badr. He was killed in the ridda wars during the caliphate of Abū Bakr. (Iṣāba, 2:487–488; Abū Nuʿaym, 2:12–13; Mashāhīr, 16.)
ʿUMAR IBN ʿABD AL-ʿAZĪZ ibn Marwān (regn. 99-101 [717-20]). Sometimes called ‘the fifth rightly-guided Caliph’ for his piety, he was concerned to implement the sharīʿa in a number of neglected areas, such as the equal treatment of converts; he also ended the public cursing of ʿAlī from the pulpits. A large body of sermons and anecdotes connected with him soon found its way into religious literature.
ʿUMAR IBN DHARR al-Hamadhānī (d. c 156 [772/3]). A respected traditionist of Kūfa, and a companion of Sufyān ibn ʿUyayna. A number of fine prayers for forgiveness are ascribed to him. He is said to have been a member of the Murjiʾite sect. (Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb, 7:444; Abū Nuʿaym, 5:108–119; Kāshif, 2:269.)
ʿUMAR IBN AL-KHAṬṬĀB (regn. 13-23 [634-44]). At first an enemy of the Prophet’s mission, he became one of its staunchest defenders. His daughter Ḥafṣa married the Prophet after the Emigration. When he succeeded Abū Bakr as caliph, he showed considerable brilliance in the face of the new circumstances arising as a result of the conquests, regulating the status of minorities, arranging a military pensions system and founding a number of garrison towns (amṣār). He was universally respected for his integrity and uncompromising devotion to the faith. (Iṣāba, 2:511–512; Istīʿāb, 2:450–466; SEI, 600–601 [G. Levi della Vida].)
UMM KULTHŪM bint ʿAlī. The daughter of ʿAlī and Fāṭima, she was born during the lifetime of the Prophet. She was married first to ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, and later on to a son of Jaʿfar ibn Abī Ṭālib. (Iṣāba, 4:468–469; Istīʿāb, 4:467–469.)
UMM HĀRŪN. Unidentified; said by Zabīdī (10:232) to have been a Sufi.
UMM AL-MUNDHIR bint Qays al-Anṣārīya. A Muslim woman of Medina and a Companion of the Prophet. A number of Ḥadīths are given on her authority in the collections of Abū Dāūd and al-Tirmidhī. (Kāshif, 3:444; Iṣāba, 4:477.)
ʿUQBA IBN ʿĀMIR al-Juhanī (d. 58 [677/8]). A Companion who led a campaign for the Prophet and was present at the battle of Tabūk. He later became governor of Egypt, where he is said to be buried. (Mashāhīr, 55; Kāshif, 2:237.)
USĀMA IBN ZAYD ibn Ḥāritha (d. 54 [673/4]). Described by the Prophet as the most beloved of his Companions, he was set in charge of an expedition to Syria, preparations for which began during the Prophet’s final illness. He later moved to Damascus. (Mashāhīr, 11; Kāshif, 1:57; Iṣāba, 1:46.)
USAYD IBN ḤUḌAYR al-Ashhalī (d. c 20 [640/1]). One of the seven Medinese Muslims present at the first ʿAqaba pledge, he was severely wounded at the battle of Uḥud. A number of Ḥadīths on his authority are extant. (Iṣāba, 1:64; Kāshif, 1:82.)
ʿUTBA AL-GHULĀM, ibn Abān (d. c 153 [770/1])-165, 167. An ascetic of Basra, where he associated with al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī. It is said that he received a dream in which he was told that he would gain martyrdom; he later travelled to northern Syria where he was attached to the garrison of a frontier fortress, and shortly afterwards was killed in a cavalry sortie near Adana. (Bidāya, 10:150; Abū Nuʿaym, 6:226–238.)
ʿUTHMĀN ibn ʿAffān ibn Abi’l ʿĀṣ ibn Umayya (regn. 23-35 [644-56]). A wealthy merchant who became a Muslim before the Emigration. He became known as ‘Dhu’l-Nūrayn’-’the man of the two lights’ because he married two of the Prophet’s daughters: firstly Ruqayya, and then, after her death, Umm Kulthūm. During the latter years of his caliphate he was accused of nepotism, a charge which brought about his murder by a group of dissidents from Egypt, who beseiged his house, it is said, for forty-nine days, and then stormed it and stabbed him to death while he was reading the Qur’ān. (SEI, 615–617 [G. Levi della Vida]; Mashāhīr, 5–6; Iṣāba, 2:455–456.)
UWAYS AL-QARANĪ, ibn ʿĀmir al-Murādī (d. 37? [657?]). A Yemeni, who although he never met the Prophet, was mentioned and praised by him, and was promised that he would exercise a special intercession for the believers on the Day of Judgement. Ṣafadī tells us that ‘most of his discourses concern the remembrance of death’. (Ṣafadī, 9:456–457; Abū Nuʿaym, 2:79–87; Mashāhīr, 100; lbn Marthad, 71–74.)
WAHB IBN MUNABBIH, ibn Kāmil (d. c 110 [728/9]). A Yemeni sage possibly of Persian origin, who is said to have prayed all night for forty consecutive years. A number of sermons are ascribed to him, which make considerable use of Jewish lore. He was made a judge during the reign of ʿUmar II. (Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb, 11:166; Abū Nuʿaym, 4:23–82; Mashāhīr, 122–123.)
WARAQĀʾ IBN BISHR AL-HAḌRAMĪ. Unidentified.
AL-WĀSIṬĪ, Muḥammad ibn Mūsā (d. c 320 [932]). A Sufi who associated with al Junayd and al-Nūrī at Baghdad, and who later moved to Merv, where he died. He was also an authority on fiqh. (Qushayrī, 1:151–152; Sulamī, 302–307.)
WĀTHILA IBN AL-ASQAʿ al-Laythī (d. c 85 [704]). A Companion of the Prophet, and one of the ahl al-Ṣuffa. He took part in the Tabūk expedition and in due course moved to Syria, where he narrated Ḥadīths to Makḥūl. (Ghāya, 2:358; Kāshif, 3:204; Mashāhīr, 51; Abū Nuʿaym, 2:21–23.)
WUHAYB ibn al-Ward al-Makkī (d. c 153 [770/1]). A Ḥadīth scholar who spent his life in mortification and worship, and to whom a number of miracles are attributed. He taught Ibn ʿUyayna and Ibn al-Mubārak, and a few Ḥadīths are given on his authority by Muslim and al-Tirmidhī. (Abū Nuʿaym, 8:140–162; Mashāhīr, 148; Massignon, Essai, 169; Kāshif, 3:216.)
YAḤYĀ IBN ABĪ KATHĪR (d. 129 [746/7]). A mawlā of Ṭayyiʾ; an ascetic and a traditionist of the Yemen. (Kāshif, 3:233; Abū Nuʿaym, 3:66–75; Bidāya, 10:34.)
YAḤYĀ IBN MUʿĀDH al-Rāzī (d. 258 [871/2]). A Sufi who taught in Central Asia. One of the first to teach Sufism in mosques, he left a number of books and sayings. Despite the emphasis he placed on rajāʾ: the hope for Paradise and for God’s forgiveness, he was renowned for his perseverence in worship and his great scrupulousness in matters of religion. (Abū Nuʿaym, 10:51–70; Sulamī, 98–104; Fihrist, 184; GAS, 1:644; Hujwīrī, 122–123; Massignon, Essai, 268–272.)
YAʿLĀ IBN AL-WALĪD. Unidentified.
YAZĪD ibn Muʿāwiya (regn. 60-3 [680-3]). The second caliph of the Umayyad dynasty, he sent the army which killed the Prophet’s grandson al-Ḥusayn.
YAZĪD IBN MADHʿŪR. Unidentified.
YAZĪD IBN NAʿĀMA al-Ḍabbī. A Follower (tābiʿī) who studied Ḥadīth under Anas ibn Mālik. (Kāshif, 3:251; Zabīdī, 10:439)
YAZĪD AL-RUQĀSHĪ, ibn Abān (d. c 115 [733/4]). A traditionist and judge who taught Ṣāliḥ al-Murrī. One of the ‘Weepers’, he abandoned his studies to devote himself to worship. (Kāshif, 3:240; Ḍuʿafāʾ, 253; Abū Nuʿaym, 3: 50–55; Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb, XI. 309.)
YŪSUF IBN ASBĀṬ al-Shaybānī (d. 196 [811/2])-94. Dominated by the fear of God and of the Judgement, he influenced Bishr al-Ḥāfī. He also related a number of Ḥadīths from al-Thawrī. (Abū Nuʿaym, 8:237–253; Zabīdī, 10:343.)
YŪSUF IBN AL-ḤUSAYN al-Rāzī (d. 304 [916/7]). A disciple of Dhu’l-Nūn al-Miṣrī and an associate of al-Kharrāz, he is remembered for the emphasis he laid upon sincerity: ‘That I should meet God with every sin’, he is represented as saying, ‘would be preferable to me than to meet him with an atom’s weight of affectation’. (Qushayrī, 1:158; Sulamī, 175–182; Tarīkh Baghdād, 14:314–319; Hujwīrī, 136.)
ZAYD IBN ARQAM al-Khazrajī (d. c 65 [684/5]). A Companion of the Prophet and a close associate of ʿAlī, for whom he fought at Ṣiffīn. Thirteen of his Ḥadīths are to be found in the collections of al-Bukhārī and Muslim. (Iṣāba, 1:542; Mashāhīr, 47.)
ZAYD IBN ASLAM al-ʿAdawī al-Ṭūsī (d. 136 [753/4]). A respected traditionist and jurist who is said to have taught Mālik ibn Anas. A number of sayings on rajāʾ, hope for God’s forgiveness, are ascribed to him. (Mashāhīr, 80; Abū Nuʿaym, 3:221–229; Ghāya, 1:296.)
ZAYD IBN ḤĀRITHA al-Kaʿbī (d. 8[629]). A very early convert to Islam, given as a slave by Khadīja to the Prophet, who set him free. So close was he to him that he was called ‘Zayd ibn Muḥammad.’ He died leading the Muslim army at Muʾta. (Iṣāba, 1:545–546.)
ZAYD IBN THĀBIT al-Khazrajī (d. 45 [665/6]). A Companion who joined Islam at the age of eleven. He was one of those that wrote down the verses of the Qurʾān as these were revealed. (Iṣāba, 1:543–544; Mashāhīr, 10.)
ZAYNAB bint Muḥammad (d. 8 [629/30]). The eldest of the Prophet’s daughters, she was married to her cousin Abu’l-ʿĀṣ[ī] ibn al-Rabīʿ, and came to Medina after the battle of Badr. Her daughter Umāma married ʿAlī after the death of Fāṭima. (SEI, 653 [V. Vacca]; Iṣāba, 4:306; Istīʿāb, 304–305.)
ZUBAYDA bint Jaʿfar ibn Manṣūr (d. 216 [831/2]). Married to Hārūn al-Rashīd in 165 AH, she became the best known of the Abbasid princesses. It is said that her palace ‘sounded like a beehive’ because she employed as maids a hundred women who had memorised the Qurʾān. She is particularly remembered for the donations she made to the ulema and to the poor, and for the improvements she effected to the road from Iraq to Mecca and Medina, which was renamed the ‘Zubayda Road’ in her honour. (Ṣafadī, 14:176–8; Tarīkh Baghdād, 14:433–434; Bidāya, 10:271.)
AL-ZUBAYR ibn al-ʿAwwām (d. 35 [655/6]). One of the ten Companions who were guaranteed salvation. Perhaps the fifth convert to Islam, he was a cousin of the Prophet, who called him his ‘apostle’ (Ḥāwarī). His grave is said to be in the vicinity of Basra. (Iṣāba, 1:526-528; SEI, 660–661 [A. Wensinck].)
ZURĀRA IBN ABĪ AWFĀ al-ʿĀmirī (d. 93 [711/2]). A judge at Basra and a respected traditionist. He was renowned for his fear of Hell and the Resurrection: it is said that he once acted as Imam for the dawn prayer at Basra, and that when he reached the verse When the Trumpet shall sound he fell dead from fright. (Mashāhīr, 95; Abū Nuʿaym, 2:258-261; Kāshif, 1:250.)
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