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al-Daraqutni

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Al-Daraqutni
ٱلدَّارَقُطْنِيّ
Title
Personal
Born918 CE / 306 AH
Baghdad, Abbasid Caliphate
Died995 CE / 385 AH (aged 77/79)
Baghdad, Abbasid Caliphate
ReligionIslam
DenominationSunni[3]
JurisprudenceShafi'i[4]
CreedAsh'ari[5][6][7]
Main interest(s)Hadith
Notable work(s)Sunan al-Daraqutni
Occupation
Muslim leader
Influenced by
Influenced

Ali ibn Umar al-Daraqutni (Arabic: عَلِيّ بْن عُمَر ٱلدَّارَقُطْنِيّ, romanized: ʿAlī ibn ʿUmar al-Dāraquṭnī; 918–995 CE / 306–385 AH), was a Sunni Muslim scholar and traditionist best known for compiling the hadith collection Sunan al-Daraqutni. He is commonly celebrated in Sunni tradition with titles such as "Imam" and "Amir al-Mu'minin fi al-Hadith".[9][10]

Biography

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Birth

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Al-Daraqutni was born in c. 918 CE/306 AH in the Dar al-Qutn (Arabic: دار القطن, romanized: Dār al-Quṭn) quarter of Baghdad, whence he got his nisba.[11]

Education

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Al-Daraqutni grew up in a house of knowledge and virtue, as his father was one of the trustworthy Hadith transmitters, and he watched him in his youth frequenting the circles of knowledge and hearing, memorizing his audios and narrations, and spending the clouds of his day learning and studying.[12] His studies were initially largely restricted to his native Iraq, where he frequented Wasit, Basra and Kufa.[9] Later in life, he travelled to Syria and Egypt and while in the latter, he enjoyed the patronage of the Ikhishid vizier Jafar bin al-Fadl for assisting him with compiling his own hadith collection.[9]

Teachers

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His teachers in his period include[13]

Students

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His students included the hadith scholars:[13][8][14][15]

Death

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He died in 995 CE/385 AH and was buried in the Bab al-Dayr cemetery in Baghdad, near the grave of Maruf Karkhi.[8]

Theological position

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Al-Daraqutni was a committed follower of the Shafi‘i school, studying jurisprudence under the Shafi'ite scholar Abu Sa'id al-Istakhri. According to Al-Dhahabi under the authority of Al-Sulami, Al-Daraqutni was not a fan of kalam and did not engage in theological discussions.[9] However, he supported the kalam that was with accordance to the Qur'an and Sunnah, and this is evident based on his support for Al-Baqillani refuting against the Mu'tazilah and Karramiyya.[6] His story with Al-Baqillani dispenses with prolongation in proving his adherence to the Ash'ari school.[5]

If Baghdad's public milieu had been more supportive of middle-of-the-road traditionalism, Al-Daraqutni, a Shafi'te inhabitant, would have rejected the anthropomorphic account as unreliable. However, the Hanbali extremists who controlled Baghdad made it nearly difficult to reject the anthropomorphic version. The poem gives precise instructions to the Muhaddithun, who were perplexed when they came across these two distinct, if not contradictory, writings, in addition to the implicit preference for the mild version over the anthropomorphic one. Al-Daraqutni bluntly described the most crucial aspect of the Ash'arite method of transmission in this short poem: a systematic insistence on a strict transmission procedure in which the text was communicated verbatim without any verbal or gestural embellishments. Al-Daraqutni undoubtedly saw this stringent procedure as a defence against anthropomorphism. In other words, Hanbalite violence forced Baghdad's middle-of-the-road traditionalists to accept the anthropomorphic version in the tenth century.[7]

According to Ibn al-Jawzi's book entitled Mirat al Zamanwzi, Al-Daraqutni considered Ibn Qutayba to be one of the innovators whose beliefs leaned towards anthropomorphism attributing direction, shape and image to God. He also claimed that Ibn Qutayba showed enmity towards Ahl al-Bayt.[16] He wrote a treatise against Muʿtazilite Amr ibn Ubayd on the subject of anthropomorphic narrations in relation to God's attributes and defending the ambiguous texts by providing evidence for its authenticity.[9]

Works

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Several of al-Daraqutni's extant works have been published:[9][13]

General hadith works

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  • al-Sunan, his primary hadith collection.
  • Kitab al-du'afa wa-l-matrukin, an alphabetically ordered list of 632 hadith transmitters considered to be da'if or rejected.
  • al-'Ilal al-warida fi al-ahadith
  • al-Mukhtalif wa-l mu'talif fi asma al-rijal, a list of hadith transmitters who names are similar in spelling but differ in pronunciation.

Works on Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim

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Al-Daraqutni wrote a series of commentaries, addendums and analyses of narrations contained within Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim.

  • Dhikr asma' al-tabi'in wa-man ba'dahum mimman sahhat riwayatuhuu min al-thiqat 'ind Muhammad ibn Isma'il al-Bukhari
  • Dhikr asma' al-tabi'in wa-man ba'dahum mimman sahhat riwayatuhu 'ind Muslim
  • al-Ilzamat ala sahiay al-Bukhari, a compilation of 109 narrations whose chains of narration, according to al-Daraqutni, satisfy the requirements for inclusion in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim.
  • Asma al-sahaba allati ittafaqa fiha al-Bukhari wa-Muslim wa-ma infarada bihi kull minhuma
  • Kitab al-tatabbu'
  • Kitab fi dhikr riwayat al-sahihayn

Kitab al-tattabu

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In his Kitab al-tatabbu', al-Daraqutni reviews 217 narrations within the two collections which he deems to be flawed using both isnad and matn criticism. Reasons given include the isnad not meeting the requirements for inclusion in the collections, and the commentary of the hadith's transmitters being inadvertently merged with its matn. Jonathan A. C. Brown cautions that the work is an adjustment to the two collections rather than an attack on their overall integrity.[9]

Works on theology

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  • Kitāb as-sifāt, a collection of hadiths concerning the attributes of God.[17]
  • Kitab al-Ru'ya, a collection of hadiths concerning the vision of Allah on the Day of Judgement.
  • Ahadith An-Nuzūl, a collection of hadiths concerning the descent (nuzūl) of Allah from the heavens.

Other

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  • Kitab al-qira'at, a work on the different recitations of the Quran.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Jaques, R. Kevin (2006). Authority, Conflict, and the Transmission of Diversity in Medieval Islamic Law. Brill. p. 83. ISBN 9789004147454.
  2. ^ Lucas, Scott C. (2004). Constructive Critics, Ḥadīth Literature, and the Articulation of Sunnī Islam The Legacy of the Generation of Ibn Saʻd, Ibn Maʻīn, and Ibn Ḥanbal. Brill. p. 368. ISBN 9789004133198.
  3. ^ Al-Dhahabi, Imam. Siyar A'lam al-Nubala' [ed. Shu'ayb al-Arna'ut]. Vol. 17. p. 558.
  4. ^ Brown, Jonathan (2013). The Canonization of al-Bukhari and Muslim: The Formation and Function of the Sunni Hadith Canon (Islamic History and Civilization). Brill. p. 138. ISBN 978-9004158399.
  5. ^ a b "Ahl al-Sunna: The Ash'aris - The Testimony and Proofs of the Scholars". almostaneer.com (in Arabic). Archived from the original on 28 January 2021.
  6. ^ a b 'Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn al-Tahir. "دور أبي ذر الهروي في نشر الأشعرية بالمغرب" [The role of Abu Dharr al-Harawi in the spread of Ash'ari theology in Morocco] (in Arabic). Muhammadiya Association of Scholars (al-Rabita al-Muhammadiyya lil-'Ulamā' in Morocco). Archived from the original on 13 April 2023.
  7. ^ a b Holtzman, Livnat (7 March 2018). Anthropomorphism in Islam - The Challenge of Traditionalism (700-1350). Edinburgh University Press. p. 361. ISBN 9780748689576.
  8. ^ a b c Lewis, B.; Pellat, Ch.; Schacht, J. (1991) [1st. pub. 1965]. Encyclopaedia of Islam. Vol. I (C-G) (New ed.). Leiden, Netherlands: Brill. p. 136. ISBN 9004070265.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g Brown, Jonathan A. C. (2004). "Criticism of the Proto-Hadith Canon: Al-Dāraquṭnī's Adjustment of the "Ṣaḥīḥayn"". Journal of Islamic Studies. 15 (1): 1–37. doi:10.1093/jis/15.1.1. ISSN 0955-2340. JSTOR 26199539 – via JSTOR.
  10. ^ Brown, Jonathan A. C. (2012-10-01). "al-Dāraquṭnī". Encyclopaedia of Islam, Three.
  11. ^ Muhammad al-Bukhari (7 August 2022). Encyclopedia of Sahih Al-Bukhari. Translated by Arabic Virtual Translation Center. Arabic Virtual Translation Center.
  12. ^ Asalaat al-Barqani by Daraqutni, pages 1-2
  13. ^ a b c Çakan, İsmail Lütfi. "Dârekutnî". İslâm Ansiklopedisi. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  14. ^ Brown, Jonathan (30 September 2007). The Canonization of Al-Bukhārī and Muslim The Formation and Function of the Sunnī Ḥadīth Canon. Brill. pp. 96–7. ISBN 9789047420347.
  15. ^ "Scholar Of Renown: Abu Bakr Al-Baqillani". arabnews.com.
  16. ^ Gibril Fouad Haddad (2 May 2015). The Biographies of the Elite Lives of the Scholars, Imams & Hadith Masters. Zulfiqar Ayub. p. 109.
  17. ^ foreword by Shaykh Muqbil
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