Biography of Imam al-Daruqutni (Ali ibn Umar)

He possesses: "The accounts of the poets", five thousand folios, and another on the poets, very massive, about thirty-two volumes.

Izz ad-Dawla once gave him a thousand dinars.

No. 332: ad-Daruqutni, Abou al-Hasan Ali ibn Umar ibn Ahmad.

The imam, the hafiz, the master craftsman, the sheikh of Islam, the standard of the eminent solitaries, Abou al-Hasan Ali ibn Umar ibn Ahmad ibn Mahdi ibn Mas'oud ibn an-Nu'man ibn Dinar ibn Abdallah the Baghdadian, the Quran reciter, the traditionist, of the people of the Dar al-Qoutn quarter in Baghdad.

The birth and the teachers of Imam al-Daruqutni

He was born in the year three hundred six: that is the most exact on this.

He heard, still a child, from: Abou al-Qasim al-Baghawi; Yahya ibn Muhammad ibn Sa'id; Abou Bakr ibn Abi Dawoud; Muhammad ibn Nayrouz al-Anmati; Abou Hamid Muhammad ibn Haroun al-Hadrami; Ali ibn Abdallah ibn Moubachchir al-Wasiti; Abou Ali Muhammad ibn Sulayman al-Maliki; Muhammad ibn al-Qasim ibn Zakariyya al-Mouharibi; Abou Umar Muhammad ibn Youssouf ibn Ya'qoub the judge; Abou Bakr ibn Ziyad an-Nisabouri; al-Hasan ibn Ali al-Adawi al-Basri; Youssouf ibn Ya'qoub an-Nisabouri; Abou Bakr Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Isma'il al-Adami; Umar ibn Ahmad ibn Ali ad-Dayrabi.

He also heard Ishaq ibn Muhammad az-Zayyat; Ja'far ibn Abi Bakr; Isma'il ibn al-Abbas al-Warraq; al-Husayn ibn Isma'il al-Mahamili; his brother Abou Ubayd al-Qasim; Abou al-Abbas ibn Ouqda; Muhammad ibn Makhlad al-Attar; Abou Salih Abd ar-Rahman ibn Sa'id al-Isbahani; Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn Hafs; Ja'far ibn Muhammad ibn Ya'qoub as-Saydali; Abou Talib Ahmad ibn Nasr the hafiz; al-Husayn ibn Yahya ibn Ayyach; Muhammad ibn Sahl ibn al-Foudayl; Ahmad ibn Abdallah, the agent of Abou Sakhra; Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr al-Wasiti; al-Husayn ibn Muhammad al-Mouttabiqi; Abou Ja'far ibn al-Bakhtari; Isma'il as-Saffar; and a great multitude.

He stayed with Abou Bakr ach-Chafi'i and with Ibn al-Mouzaffar. In old age he travelled to Syria and Egypt, and heard from: Ibn Haytouya an-Nisabouri; Abou at-Tahir adh-Dhuhli; Abou Ahmad ibn an-Nasih; and a great multitude.

He was among the oceans of knowledge and the imams of the world: memorization and the knowledge of the defects of hadith and of its narrators reached their limit in him, along with advancement in the Quranic readings and their ways, strength of participation in fiqh, in disagreement, in the expeditions, in the days of men, and other than that.

Abou Abdallah al-Hakim said in the book "Mouzakki al-Akhbar": "Abou al-Hasan became the unique one of his era in memorization, intelligence, and piety, and the imam of the reciters and the grammarians. When I first entered Baghdad, he attended the circles while he was under thirty, and he was one of the hafiz."

I say: al-Hakim erred, for al-Hakim entered Baghdad only in the year three hundred forty-one, and Abou al-Hasan was thirty-five years old.

The works of Imam al-Daruqutni

He composed works, his fame ran through the world, and he was the first to compose on the Quranic readings, opening for them chapters before the disposition of the letters.

He recited before: Abou al-Husayn Ahmad ibn Bouyan; Abou Bakr an-Naqqach; Ahmad ibn Muhammad ad-Daybaghi; Ali ibn Dhou'aba al-Qazzaz, and others. And he heard the seven readings from Abou Bakr ibn Moujahid. He assumed the leadership of Quranic recitation at the end of his days, but no mention of anyone who read before him has reached us; I shall examine that, if Allah, the Most High, wills.

Ibn Tahir said: "He has a method in the matter of concealment (tadlis): for what he had not heard from al-Baghawi, he would say: it was read before Abou al-Qasim al-Baghawi: so-and-so related to you."

The narrators of Imam al-Daruqutni

Those who narrated from him: the hafiz Abou Abdallah al-Hakim; the hafiz Abd al-Ghani; Tammam ibn Muhammad ar-Razi; the jurist Abou Hamid al-Isfara'ini; Abou Nasr ibn al-Joundi; Ahmad ibn al-Hasan at-Tayyan; Abou Abd ar-Rahman as-Sulami; Abou Mas'oud ad-Dimashqi; Abou Nu'aym al-Isbahani; Abou Bakr al-Barqani; Abou al-Hasan al-Atiqi; Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Harith al-Isbahani the grammarian; the judge Abou at-Tayyib at-Tabari; Abd al-Aziz ibn Ali al-Azaji; Abou Bakr Muhammad ibn Abd al-Malik ibn Bichran; Abou al-Hasan ibn as-Simsar ad-Dimashqi; Abou Hazim ibn al-Farra', brother of the judge Abou Ya'la; Abou an-Nu'man Tourab ibn Umar the Egyptian; Abou al-Ghana'im Abd as-Samad ibn al-Ma'moun; Abou al-Husayn ibn al-Mouhtadi billah; Abou al-Husayn ibn al-Abanousi Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad; Abou al-Husayn Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Hasnoun an-Narsi; Hamza ibn Youssouf as-Sahmi; and a crowd besides, from Baghdad, Damascus, Egypt, and among the travellers.

Al-Hakim said: "Our sheikh Abou Abdallah ibn Abi Dhouhl performed the pilgrimage and began to describe his memorization and his singular advancement, in the year three and fifty, until his description seemed implausible to me, until I performed the pilgrimage in the year seven and sixty. I came to Baghdad and stayed there more than four months; our meetings multiplied, by night and by day. I found him above what Ibn Abi Dhouhl described. I asked him about the defects of hadiths and about the masters. He has works whose mention would be long."

Abou Bakr al-Khatib said: "Ad-Daruqutni was the unique one of his era, the wonder of his age, the fabric of his own hand, the imam of his time: the elevation of tradition and the knowledge of the defects of hadith and the names of the narrators reached their limit in him, together with truthfulness, trustworthiness, soundness of creed, and mastery of sciences other than hadith, among them the Quranic readings: he has on them a condensed book, in which he gathered the foundations into chapters that he opened at the beginning of the book. I heard one of those devoted to the readings say: Abou al-Hasan was not preceded in his method in this, and the reciters after him followed that way."

He said: "Among them, the knowledge of the doctrines of the jurists: his book the 'Sunan' attests to that. It has reached me that he studied the fiqh of ash-Shafi'i under Abou Sa'id al-Istakhri; it is said: under another. And among them, the knowledge of literature and poetry: Hamza ibn Muhammad ibn Tahir related to me that ad-Daruqutni memorized the 'Diwan of Sayyid al-Himyari', which earned him the suspicion of Shi'ite sympathy."

Abou al-Fath ibn Abi al-Fawaris said: "We used to pass by al-Baghawi, and ad-Daruqutni, still a child, would walk behind us, holding in his hand a loaf covered with kamakh."

Al-Khatib said: al-Azhari related to us: "It has reached me that ad-Daruqutni, in his youth, attended the circle of Isma'il as-Saffar and would copy out a fascicule he had with him while Isma'il dictated. A man said: your audition is not valid while you copy. Ad-Daruqutni said: my understanding of the dictation is other than yours. How much do you retain of what the sheikh dictates? He said: I retain nothing. Ad-Daruqutni said: he dictated eighteen hadiths: the first from so-and-so from so-and-so, with such and such a text; and the second from so-and-so from so-and-so, with such and such a text. And he went through all the hadiths. The people marvelled at him, or something close to that."

The hafiz Abou Dharr al-Harawi said: "I heard that ad-Daruqutni read the 'Book of Genealogy' before Mouslim al-Alawi. Al-Mou'ayti the man of letters said to him after the reading: O Abou al-Hasan, you are bolder than the lion's testicle: you read a book like this, with its poetry and literature, and no solecism is charged against you! And he marvelled at him." This is an account al-Khatib related from al-Azhari. And Mouslim ibn Ubaydallah said: "He transmitted the 'Book of Genealogy' from al-Khadir ibn Dawoud, from az-Zoubayr."

Raja' ibn Muhammad the corrector said: "I said to ad-Daruqutni: have you seen anyone like yourself? He replied: Allah has said: 'Do not praise yourselves' (Surah an-Najm, verse 32). I pressed him, and he said: I have seen no one who gathered what I have gathered." Abou Dharr and as-Souri related it, from Raja' al-Misri. Abou Dharr said: "I said to Abou Abdallah al-Hakim: have you seen anyone like ad-Daruqutni? He said: he himself has not seen his like: how then I?!"

The hafiz Abd al-Ghani al-Azdi, whenever he related from ad-Daruqutni, would say: "My master said."

As-Souri said: "I heard the hafiz Abd al-Ghani say: the three men who spoke best on the hadith of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, are: Ibn al-Madini in his time, Moussa ibn Haroun, meaning Ibn al-Hammal, in his time, and ad-Daruqutni in his time."

The judge Abou at-Tayyib at-Tabari said: "Ad-Daruqutni was the commander of the faithful in hadith."

Al-Azhari said: "Ad-Daruqutni was intelligent: when some knowledge was mentioned, whatever kind it was, an abundant share of it was found with him. Muhammad ibn Talha an-Ni'ali related to me that he attended with Abou al-Hasan an invitation at some people's house, one night. A dish came up in conversation, and Abou al-Hasan launched into the accounts about dishes, their anecdotes and their rarities, until he passed most of the night that way."

Al-Azhari said: "I saw Ibn Abi al-Fawaris ask ad-Daruqutni about the defect of a hadith or a name. He answered, then said: O Abou al-Fath, between East and West there is no one who knows this but me."

The judge Abou at-Tayyib at-Tabari said: "I attended ad-Daruqutni's session when the hadiths he had gathered on the touching of the member were read before him. He said: if Ahmad ibn Hanbal were present, he would have profited from these hadiths."

Abou Bakr al-Barqani said: "Ad-Daruqutni dictated the 'Defects' to me from memory."

I say: if the existing book of the 'Defects' was dictated by ad-Daruqutni from memory, as this account indicates, that is an immense matter, by which it would be judged that ad-Daruqutni was the greatest memorizer of the world; and if he dictated only part of it from memory, that is possible, for before him Ali ibn al-Madini, the memorizer of his time, had compiled the book of the 'Defects'.

Raja' ibn Muhammad the corrector said: "We were at ad-Daruqutni's one day, and the reader was reading before him while he snacked. A hadith passed in which figured Nousayr ibn Dhu'louq. The reader said: Bachir. Ad-Daruqutni pronounced the glorification and said: Bouchayr. He glorified again and said: Youssouf? No: Youssayr."

Ad-Daruqutni then recited: "Noun. By the pen" (Surah al-Qalam, verse 1).

Hamza ibn Muhammad ibn Tahir said: "I was at ad-Daruqutni's while he stood snacking. Abou Abdallah ibn al-Katib read to him: Amr ibn Chou'ayb. He said: Amr ibn Sa'id. Ad-Daruqutni pronounced the glorification. He repeated, saying: ibn Sa'id, and stopped. Ad-Daruqutni recited: 'O Chou'ayb, does your prayer command you' (Surah Houd, verse 87). Ibn al-Katib said: Chou'ayb."

Abou al-Hasan al-Atiqi said: "I attended upon Abou al-Hasan when Abou al-Husayn al-Baydhawi came to him with a rare hadith to read something to him. He refused, alleging some defect. He said: this one is rare. And he asked him to dictate hadiths to him. Abou al-Hasan dictated to him from memory a session exceeding twenty hadiths, all their texts being: 'What a fine thing is the gift before the need.'"

He said: "The man left, then came back later, having made the sheikh a present. He drew him near and dictated to him from memory seventeen hadiths, all their texts being: 'When a noble of your people comes to you, honour him.'"

I say: this account is authentic; al-Khatib related it from al-Atiqi, and it attests to the breadth of this imam's memory, and to his hinting at the request of something: that is a doctrine of some scholars. Perhaps ad-Daruqutni was then in need; he accepted the gifts of Dawlatjaj as-Sijzi and others; likewise the vizier Ibn Hinzaba sent him a quantity of gold for having compiled for him the "Musnad".

Al-Hakim said: "Ad-Daruqutni entered Syria and Egypt in old age, performed the pilgrimage, profited and made profit. His works are too long to mention."

Abou Abd ar-Rahman as-Sulami said, in what al-Hakim transmitted from him, and said: "I bear witness by Allah that our sheikh ad-Daruqutni left behind him on the face of the earth no one like him in the knowledge of the hadith of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, nor of the Companions, the Followers, and their successors."

The death of Imam al-Daruqutni

He said: "He died on Thursday, eight days remaining of Dhou al-Qi'da of the year three hundred eighty-five." That is also the date al-Khatib gives for his death.

Al-Khatib said in his notice: Abou Nasr Ali ibn Hibbatallah ibn Makoula related to me, saying: "I saw in a dream as if I were asking about ad-Daruqutni's state in the hereafter. It was said to me: that one is called in Paradise: the imam."

It is established from ad-Daruqutni that he said: "Nothing is more hateful to me than the science of theological dialectic."

I say: the man never entered theological dialectic nor dispute, and did not wade into that: he was a follower of the early generations. It is this saying that Abou Abd ar-Rahman as-Sulami heard from him.

Ad-Daruqutni said: "Some people of Baghdad disagreed: some said Uthman is the best, and some said Ali is the best. They took me as arbiter. I withheld, and said: withholding is better. Then I did not see the silence befitting my religion, and said to the one who had asked my ruling: return to them and say to them: Abou al-Hasan says: Uthman is better than Ali, by the consensus of the community of the Companions of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him. That is the doctrine of the people of the Sunna, and it is the first covenant that is broken by rejection."

I say: preferring Ali is not rejection, and it is not an innovation: a group of the Companions and the Followers held it. Each of Uthman and Ali possesses merit, precedence, and striving; they are close to one another in knowledge and majesty, and in the hereafter they may perhaps be equal in rank; they are among the lords of the martyrs, may Allah be pleased with them both. But the majority of the community holds the preferring of Uthman over the imam Ali, and that is what we follow. The discussion of that is brief. The better of the two, without any doubt, is Abou Bakr and Umar. Whoever differs in that is an excessive Shi'ite; whoever hates the two sheikhs while believing in the validity of their imamate is an abject rejecter; whoever insults them and believes they are not two imams of guidance is among the extremes of the rejecters, may Allah banish them.

Ad-Daruqutni said: "In the 'Mouwatta', preference is given to Ma'n, Ibn Wahb, and al-Qa'nabi."

He said: "Abou Mas'oub is trustworthy in the 'Mouwatta'."

Hamza as-Sahmi said: "Abou al-Hasan was asked: if an-Nasa'i and Ibn Khuzayma narrate a hadith, which of them do we prefer? He said: an-Nasa'i: there was no one like him, and I prefer no one to him."

The transmission from Imam al-Daruqutni

Transmission from him:

Abou Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Ali and a group informed us, by authorization, saying: Dawoud ibn Ahmad the agent informed us: Abou al-Fadl Muhammad ibn Umar the judge informed us: Abd as-Samad ibn Ali informed us: Ali ibn Umar the hafiz informed us: Abdallah ibn Muhammad ibn Abd al-Aziz related to us: Sourayj ibn Younous related to me: Abd ar-Rahman ibn Abd al-Malik ibn Abjar related to me, from his father, from Wasil the one-eyed, from Abou Wa'il, who said:

Ammar preached to us, conveying and being concise, and said: "I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, say: the length of a man's prayer and the brevity of his sermon are a sign of his fiqh: lengthen the prayer and shorten the sermon." Muslim reported it, from Sourayj: we concorded with him by an elevated chain.

Abou al-Qasim al-Khadir ibn Abd ar-Rahman al-Azdi informed us, in the year seven hundred: Moussallam ibn Ahmad informed us: Ali ibn al-Hasan the hafiz informed us: Abou Ghalib Ahmad ibn al-Hasan informed us: Abd as-Samad ibn Ali informed us: Ali ibn Umar ad-Daruqutni informed us: Muhammad ibn Yahya ibn Haroun the shoemaker related to us: Ishaq ibn Chahine related to us: Khalid ibn Abdallah related to us, from Younous ibn Ubayd, from Abd ar-Rahman ibn Outba, from Ibn Mas'oud, who said:

Charity was mentioned before the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him. He said: "Among charity is to free a neck, and to emancipate a being." A man said: O Messenger of Allah, are they not one thing? He said: "No: emancipating it is to free it; freeing it is to help pay its price." He said: what if I cannot do that? He said: "You feed a hungry one and give drink to a thirsty one." He said: what if I find not? He said: "You command good and forbid evil." He said: what if I cannot? He said: "Then restrain your evil."

A rarity: Khalid the miller alone reported it.

Abd al-Khaliq ibn Abd as-Salam the judge, and Sitt al-Ahl bint Ilwan informed us, both saying: Abd ar-Rahim ibn Ibrahim the jurist informed us: Abd al-Moughith ibn Zouhayr informed us: Ahmad ibn Ubaydallah al-Oukbari informed us: Abou Talib Muhammad ibn Ali al-Harbi informed us: Ali ibn Umar the hafiz informed us: Ibn Sa'id related to us: al-Hasan ibn Arafa related to us: Isma'il ibn Ayyach related to us, from Muhammad ibn Ziyad: I heard Abou Oumama:

I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, say: "My Lord promised me to bring into Paradise, of my community, seventy thousand without account nor punishment, and with every thousand, seventy thousand, and three handfuls of the handfuls of my Lord, the Mighty and the Noble."

And Ibn Sa'id related to us: Muhammad ibn Harb related to us in Wasit: Yazid ibn Haroun informed us: Isma'il informed in the same vein.

And Bouqayya narrated from Muhammad ibn Ziyad in the same vein, and its chain is strong.

Al-Khatib said: "I asked al-Barqani: did Abou al-Hasan dictate the 'Defects' to you from memory?" He said: yes, I am the one who compiled them, and the people read them from my copy."

Hamza ibn Muhammad ibn Tahir composed for ad-Daruqutni:

We made you, between us and our Messenger,
A mediator: you wronged not, nor betrayed.
You are the one without whom mankind would not know,
Though they strove, the truthful from the liar.

I say: ad-Daruqutni has hadiths, some of which are four-narrator ones.

Al-Baghawi related to us: Talout related to us: Faddal ibn Joubayr related to us, from Abou [...]