Islam > Scholars > Imam al-Nasa'i
Biography of Imam al-Nasa'i (Ahmad ibn Shu'ayb) as related by al-Dhahabi in Siyar A lam al-Nubala. He died in 303 H.
Updated on 14 September 2026 at 8:10 PM
📖 13 min readNo. 67: an-Nasa'i, Abou Abd ar-Rahman Ahmad ibn Chou'ayb ibn Ali.
The imam, the hafiz, the reliable one, the sheikh of Islam, the critic of hadith, Abou Abd ar-Rahman Ahmad ibn Chou'ayb ibn Ali ibn Sinan ibn Bahr the Khurasanian, an-Nasa'i, author of the "Sunan".
He was born in Nasa in the year two hundred fifteen. He pursued knowledge from his youth and set out to Qoutayba in the year two hundred thirty; he stayed with him in Baglan for a year and narrated much from him.
He heard from: Ishaq ibn Rahawayhi; Hicham ibn Ammar; Muhammad ibn an-Nadr ibn Moussawir; Souwayd ibn Nasr; 'Isa ibn Hammåd Zoughba; Ahmad ibn Abda ad-Dabbi; Abou at-Tahir ibn as-Sarh; Ahmad ibn Mani'; Ishaq ibn Chahine; Bichr ibn Mu'adh al-Aqadi; Bichr ibn Hilal as-Sawwaf; Tamim ibn al-Mountasir.
He also heard al-Harith ibn Miskine; al-Hasan ibn as-Sabbah al-Bazzar; Houmayd ibn Mas'ada; Ziyad ibn Ayyoub; Ziyad ibn Yahya al-Hassani; Sawwar ibn Abdallah al-Anbari; al-Abbas ibn Abd al-Azim al-Anbari; Abou Houssayn Abdallah ibn Ahmad al-Yarbou'i; Abd al-A'la ibn Wasil; Abd al-Jabbar ibn al-Ala' al-Attar; Abd ar-Rahman ibn Ubaydallah al-Halabi, nephew of the imam; Abd al-Malik ibn Chou'ayb ibn al-Layth; Abda ibn Abdallah as-Saffar; Abou Qoudama Ubaydallah ibn Sa'id; 'Outba ibn Abdallah al-Marwazi; Ali ibn Houjr; Ali ibn Sa'id ibn Masrouq al-Kindi; Ammar ibn Khalid al-Wasiti; Imran ibn Moussa al-Qazzaz; Amr ibn Zourara al-Kilabi; Amr ibn Uthman al-Himsi; Amr ibn Ali al-Fallas; 'Isa ibn Muhammad ar-Ramli; 'Isa ibn Younous ar-Ramli.
He also heard Kathir ibn Ubayd; Muhammad ibn Aban al-Balkhi; Muhammad ibn Adam al-Massissi; Muhammad ibn Isma'il ibn Oulayya, judge of Damascus; Muhammad ibn Bachchar; Muhammad ibn Zounbour the Meccan; Muhammad ibn Sulayman Louwayn; Muhammad ibn Abdallah ibn Ammar; Muhammad ibn Abdallah al-Moukharrimi; Muhammad ibn Abd al-Aziz ibn Abi Rizma; Muhammad ibn Abd al-Malik ibn Abi ach-Chawarib; Muhammad ibn Ubayd al-Mouharibi; Muhammad ibn al-Ala' al-Hamdani; Muhammad ibn Qoudama al-Massissi the lexicographer; Muhammad ibn Mouthanna; Muhammad ibn Moussaffa; Muhammad ibn Ma'mar al-Qaysi; Muhammad ibn Moussa al-Harachi; Muhammad ibn Hachim al-Baalbekki; Abou al-Mou'afa Muhammad ibn Wahb; Moujahid ibn Moussa; Mahmoud ibn Ghaylan; Makhlad ibn Hasan al-Harrani; Nasr ibn Ali al-Jahdami; Haroun ibn Abdallah al-Hammal; Hammad ibn as-Sari; al-Haytham ibn Ayyoub at-Taliqani; Wasil ibn Abd al-A'la; Wahb ibn Bayan; Yahya ibn Douroust al-Basri; Yahya ibn Moussa Khatti; Ya'qoub ad-Dawraqi; Ya'qoub ibn Mahan the builder; Youssouf ibn Hammåd al-Ma'ni; Youssouf ibn 'Isa az-Zouhri; Youssouf ibn Wadih the tutor; and a great multitude, down to narrating from his own companions.
He was among the oceans of knowledge, with intelligence, mastery, insight, criticism of the narrators, and fine composition.
He travelled in quest of knowledge in Khurasan, the Hijaz, Egypt, Iraq, the Jazira, Syria, and the frontier lands, then settled in Egypt. The hafiz travelled to him, and no one remained who was his equal in this matter.
Those who narrated from him: Abou Bichr ad-Doulabi; Abou Ja'far at-Tahawi; Abou Ali an-Nisabouri; Hamza ibn Muhammad al-Kinani; Abou Ja'far Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Isma'il an-Nahhas the grammarian; Abou Bakr Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn al-Haddad the Shafiite; Abd al-Karim ibn Abi Abd ar-Rahman an-Nasa'i; al-Hasan ibn al-Khadir al-Ousyouti; Abou Bakr Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn as-Sinni; Abou al-Qasim Sulayman ibn Ahmad at-Tabarani; Muhammad ibn Mou'awiya ibn al-Ahmar the Andalusian; al-Hasan ibn Rachiqa; Muhammad ibn Abdallah ibn Haytouya an-Nisabouri; Muhammad ibn Moussa al-Ma'mouni; Abyad ibn Muhammad ibn Abyad; and a multitude.
He was an imposing sheikh, of handsome face, visible blood, fine white hair.
The judge of Egypt Abou al-Qasim Abdallah ibn Muhammad ibn Abi al-Awamm as-Sa'di said: Ahmad ibn Chou'ayb an-Nasa'i related to us: Ishaq ibn Rahawayhi informed us: Muhammad ibn A'yan related to us, saying: "I said to Ibn al-Moubarak: so-and-so claims that whoever claims that the word of the Most High: 'I am Allah, there is no god but Me: so worship Me' (Surah Taha, verse 14) is created is an unbeliever." Ibn al-Moubarak said: "He spoke the truth." An-Nasa'i said: "Such is my word."
From an-Nasa'i: "I stayed with Qoutayba ibn Sa'id one year and two months."
An-Nasa'i lived in the lane of the lamps (souq al-Qanadil) in Cairo.
His face was smooth despite old age; he favored white and green Nabatean garments; he took great delight in lawful pleasures: he had four wives, made the division among them, and did not remain without concubines; he ate often the rooster that was bought for him, fattened, and castrated.
One day some students said: "I think Abou Abd ar-Rahman drinks nabidh, given the freshness of his face."
Another said: "Would that I knew what he thinks of coming to women from behind?"
He was asked about that and said: "Nabidh is unlawful, and nothing sound (is transmitted) concerning the rear."
Yet Muhammad ibn Ka'b al-Qurazi narrates from Ibn Abbas: "Sow your field where you wish." That saying must not be exceeded.
I say: we have become certain, through ways that cannot be avoided, that the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, forbade the rear of women; we have firmly asserted its prohibition, and I possess on that a great authored work.
The vizier Ibn Hinzaba said: "I heard Muhammad ibn Moussa al-Ma'mouni, the companion of an-Nasa'i, say: I heard people reproaching Abou Abd ar-Rahman an-Nasa'i for the book of the 'Khasa'is' of Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, and for his leaving aside the composition of the merits of the two sheikhs. I mentioned that to him, and he said: 'I entered Damascus while many there were turning away from Ali, so I composed the book of the "Khasa'is", hoping that Allah, the Most High, would guide them.'"
Then he afterwards composed the merits of the Companions. It was said to him: "And I hear: do you not relate the merits of Mou'awiya, may Allah be pleased with him?"
He said: "What should I relate? The hadith: 'O Allah, do not fill his belly'?" The questioner fell silent.
I say: it might be said that this is a merit for Mou'awiya, according to the saying of the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him: "O Allah, the one whom I cursed or struck, make that for him purification and mercy."
Ma'moun al-Misri, the traditionist, said: "We set out for Tarse with an-Nasa'i in the year of the ransom. A group of imams gathered: Abdallah ibn Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Muhammad ibn Ibrahim Mourabba', Abou al-Adhane, and Kaylaja. They deliberated: who will select for them against the ancients? They agreed on Abou Abd ar-Rahman an-Nasa'i, and all of them wrote of his selection."
Al-Hakim said: "An-Nasa'i's discourse on the fiqh of hadith is abundant, and whoever looks into his 'Sunan' is bewildered by the beauty of his speech."
Ibn al-Athir said at the beginning of the 'Jami al-Ousoul': "He was a Shafiite; he has rites of pilgrimage according to the Shafiite madhhab, and he was devout and cautious."
It is said that he came to al-Harith ibn Miskine wearing a garment he disapproved: he had on a turban and a robe. Al-Harith feared matters connected with the ruler, and feared he might be a spy upon him, so he turned him away. He would then come and sit behind the door and listen. For that reason he did not say: "al-Harith related to us", but rather: "al-Harith ibn Miskine said, reading it before him, while I listened."
Ibn al-Athir said: "An emir asked Abou Abd ar-Rahman about his 'Sunan': are they all authentic? He said: no. He said: then write for us what is authentic of it." He compiled the "Moudjtana".
I say: this is not sound; rather the "Moudjtana" is the selection of Ibn as-Sounni.
The hafiz Abou Ali an-Nisabouri said: "The imam without rival in hadith informed us: Abou Abd ar-Rahman an-Nasa'i."
Abou Talib Ahmad ibn Nasr the hafiz said: "Who can bear what an-Nasa'i bears? He had the hadith of Ibn Lahi'a in full, meaning from Qoutayba, from Ibn Lahi'a, and he did not narrate it."
Abou al-Hasan ad-Daruqutni said: "Abou Abd ar-Rahman is preferred over everyone mentioned with this knowledge among the people of his era."
The hafiz Ibn Tahir said: "I asked Sa'd ibn Ali az-Zinjani about a man, and he authenticated him. I said: an-Nasa'i weakened him. He said: my son, Abou Abd ar-Rahman has a condition concerning the narrators stricter than the condition of al-Boukhari and Muslim."
I say: he spoke truly, for he weakened a group of the narrators of the two Sahihs of al-Boukhari and Muslim.
The hafiz Muhammad ibn al-Mouzaffar said: "I heard our masters in Egypt describe an-Nasa'i's striving in worship by night and by day, and that he set out for the ransom with the emir of Egypt. His courage was described, and his establishing of the transmitted traditions in the ransoming of the Muslim, and his reserve toward the sessions of the ruler he went out with, and his plainness in food; and that remained his habit until he was slain as a martyr in Damascus at the hands of the Kharijites."
Ad-Daruqutni said: "Abou Bakr ibn al-Haddad the Shafiite narrated much hadith and narrated from no one but an-Nasa'i. He said: I am content with him as a proof between me and Allah, the Most High."
At-Tabarani said in his "Collection": "Abou Abd ar-Rahman an-Nasa'i, the judge of Egypt, related to us"; then he mentions a hadith.
Abou Awana said in his "Sahih": "Ahmad ibn Chou'ayb an-Nasa'i, judge of Homs, related to us: Muhammad ibn Qoudama related to us"; then he mentions a hadith.
Abou Abdallah ibn Manda narrated, from Hamza al-'Aqabi the Egyptian and others, that an-Nasa'i left Egypt at the end of his life for Damascus. He was questioned there about Mou'awiya and about what had come of his merits.
He said: "Does one head content itself with another head until it is preferred?"
He said: "They kept pressing him in the ribs until he was expelled from the mosque. Then he was carried toward Mecca, and he died there."
Such are his words; the correct version is: toward Ramla.
Ad-Daruqutni said: "He set out as a pilgrim, was put to the test in Damascus, attained the rank of martyr, and said: carry me to Mecca. He was carried and died there. He is buried between Safa and Marwa. His death took place in Chaabane of the year three hundred three."
He said: "He was the most knowledgeable in fiqh of the masters of Egypt in his era, and the most knowledgeable of them in hadith and narrators."
Abou Sa'id ibn Younous said in his "Chronicle": "Abou Abd ar-Rahman an-Nasa'i was an imam, a hafiz, reliable. He left Egypt in the month of Dhou al-Qi'da of the year two hundred three, and died in Palestine on Monday the thirteenth remaining of Safar, of the year three."
I say: this is the sounder version, for Ibn Younous is a vigilant hafiz who took from an-Nasa'i and knew him well.
No one at the beginning of the fourth century had a better memory than an-Nasa'i: he is the most skilled in hadith, its defects, and its narrators, more than Muslim, more than Abou Dawoud, more than Abou Isa; he runs in the racecourse of al-Boukhari and Abou Zur'a, except that he contains a little Shi'ite sympathy and a deviation from the adversaries of the imam Ali, such as Mou'awiya and Amr; may Allah treat him with forbearance.
He composed the "Musnad of Ali" and a full book on the kunyas. As for the book of the "Khasa'is of Ali", it is included within his "Great Sunan"; likewise the book "The deed of a day and a night", in one volume, which is part of the "Great Sunan" in some copies. He possesses the "Book of the Commentary" in one volume, the "Book of the weak narrators", and other things. What reached us of his "Sunan" is his book "Al-Moudjtana", the selection of Abou Bakr ibn as-Sounni. I heard it assembled from a group who heard it from Ibn Baqa, from his transmission of Abou Zur'a al-Maqdisi: audition for the greater part of it, and authorization for what was missing from it, defined in the original.
He said: Abou Muhammad Abd ar-Rahman ibn Hammåd ad-Douni informed us: the judge Ahmad ibn al-Husayn al-Kassar informed us: Ibn as-Sounni related it from him.
And what is transmitted today, in the year seven hundred thirty-four, of the "Sunan": an elevated chain in two fascicles, the second concerning ritual purity and the Friday prayer. Al-Bousiri alone distinguished himself in his time by their elevation, and Ahmad ibn Abi al-Khayr transmitted them to me from al-Bousiri: between me and an-Nasa'i there are five men for these two.
And I possess a fascicule of the collection of at-Tabarani, from an-Nasa'i, which reached us with an elevated chain as well.
There also reached us a large fascicule selected by as-Silafi from the "Sunan". We heard it from the sheikh Abou al-Ma'ali ibn al-Mounajja at-Tanoukhi: Ja'far al-Hamdani informed us: Abou Tahir as-Silafi informed us: ad-Douni informed us, and Badr ibn Doulf al-Fariki, from their joint audition of al-Kassar, who said: Abou Bakr ibn as-Sounni informed us: Ahmad ibn Chou'ayb informed us: Qoutayba informed us: al-Layth informed us, from Abou az-Zoubayr, from Jabir:
From the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him: he forbade urinating in stagnant water.
Ali ibn Houjr informed us: Abida ibn Houmayd informed us: Youssouf ibn Souhayb informed us: Habib ibn Yassar informed us: Zayd ibn Arqam said:
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said: "Whoever does not trim his moustache is not one of us."
The hafiz Abou Ali said: "I asked an-Nasa'i: what do you say of Bouqayya? He said: if he says: he related to us, he informed us, he is trustworthy."
Ja'far ibn Muhammad al-Muraghi said: "I heard an-Nasa'i say: Muhammad ibn Houmayd ar-Razi is a liar."
I read before Ali ibn Muhammad and Chouhda al-Amiriyya: Ja'far informed us: as-Silafi informed us: Muhammad ibn Tahir informed us in Hamadhan: Abd al-Wahhab ibn Muhammad ibn Ishaq informed us, saying: Abou Abdallah ibn Manda said to me: those who extracted the Sahih, and distinguished the established from the defective, and the error from the correct, are four: al-Boukhari, Muslim, Abou Dawoud, and Abou Abd ar-Rahman an-Nasa'i.
Among those who died with him: the traditionist Abou al-Hasan Ahmad ibn al-Husayn ibn Ishaq as-Soufi the Younger, in Baghdad; the exegete Abou Ja'far Ahmad ibn Farah al-Baghdadi the blind, Quran reciter; the exegete Abou Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Ishaq an-Nisabouri al-Anmati, the hafiz; the master of chains Abou Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Moussa al-Jawzari; the traditionist Ishaq ibn Ibrahim ibn Nasr an-Nisabouri al-Bouchti; the hafiz Ja'far ibn Ahmad ibn Nasr al-Hassiri; al-Hasan ibn Soufyan the hafiz; the traditionist Abou al-Husayn Abdallah ibn Muhammad ibn Younous as-Simnani; the traditionist Umar ibn Ayyoub as-Saqati, in Baghdad; the head of the Mou'tazilites Abou Ali al-Jouba'i; and the hafiz Muhammad ibn al-Mundhir al-Harawi, may Allah reward him.
Depending on the sources and the transliteration styles, the name is also written: Al-Nasa'i, An-Nasai, An-Nasa'i, Abu Abd ar-Rahman an-Nasa'i, Ahmad ibn Shu'ayb an-Nasa'i, Al-Nasa'i al-Kubra. All these spellings refer to the same person, as related by the hafiz al-Dhahabi.