Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. al-Ḥusayn b. Mūsā b. Bābawayh al-Qummī(Arabic: علي بن الحسين بن موسی بن بابويه القمي) (d. 329/941) was a Shi'a jurist, hadith scholar and religious authority for the people of Qom and suburb. He was the father of al-Shaykh al-Saduq.

Ali b. al-Husayn b. Musa b. Babawayh al-Qummi
The tomb of Ibn babawayh al-Qummi in Qom
The tomb of Ibn babawayh al-Qummi in Qom
Personal Information
Full Name'Ali b. Husayn b. Musa b. Babawayh al-Qummi
LineageAl Babawayh
Well-Known RelativesAl-Shaykh al-Saduq,Husayn b. 'Ali b. Babawayh
ResidenceQom
Death329/941
Burial PlaceQom
Scholarly Information
WorksAl-Imama wa al-tabsara min al-hayra,Nawadir kitab al-mantiq, ...


Family

Babawayh or Babuyih is the name of their ancestor[1] which is an ancient Persian name.[2] Ibn babawayh established a family of knowledgeable scholars, generations of whom were famous until the late 6th/12th century and Muntajab al-Din al-Razi, the last scholar of whom had the same teknonym and his name was Abu l-Hasan 'Ali b. babawayh.[3]

Bahrani wrote the biography of this family in a book called Fihrist Al babawayh wa 'ulama' al-bahrayn.

Major Events of Life

There are not much known about his life except for certain events such as Imam Hasan al-'Askari (a)'s letter to him, his meeting with Husayn b. Mansur al-Hallaj (d. 309/922) and his travels to Baghdad.

Letter of Imam Hasan al-'Askari (a)

Imam Hasan al-'Askari's (a) letter to Ibn babawayh shows his long life.

Meeting with Hallaj

Ibn Babawayh met Hallaj in Qom. According to reports, Hallaj introduced himself as the delegate of the promised Imam al-Mahdi (a) and was severely criticized by Ibn Babawayh and was expelled from Qom.

Travels

It is recorded that Ibn Babawayh had three travels to Iraq:

His first travel has seemingly been a short time after Muhammad b. 'Uthman (d.305/917) passed away.[4] His second travel was in 326/937-8 in which Talla'ukbari learned hadiths from him[5] and his last travel to Baghdad has been in 328/939-40 when Abu l-Hasan 'Abbas b. 'Amr Kaludhani known as Ibn Abi Marwan received a permission from him for narrating hadiths.

Scholarly and Social Position

Ibn Nadim described him among reliable Shi'a authorities.[6]

In addition to having a scholarly position, Ibn Babawayh was a rich businessman who had a business office.[7]

Ibn Babawayh's son, al-Shaykh al-Saduq has mentioned his father among his hadith references.[8]

Ibn Babawayh was a trust-worthy jurist and the leader of the people of Qom.[9]

He had such a great position in jurisprudence and hadith that when there was no hadith about a situation or there was a doubt in the text of available hadiths, Shi'a scholars referred to his rulings in al-Sharayi'; i.e they regarded his rulings as in full agreement with hadiths and believed that he must have referred to a reliable hadith for his ruling.[10]

Narrating Hadith

Ibn Babawayh narrated hadiths from different people such as 'Abd Allah b. Hasan Mu'addab, 'Ali b. Musa Kumidani,[11] Sa'd b. 'Abd Allah,[12] Muhammad b. Yahya, 'Ali b. Hakam.[13]

People who have narrated hadith from him include his two sons Abu Ja'far Muhammad al-Saduq and Abu 'Abd Allah Husayn as well as Muhammd b. Ahmad b. Dawud, Harun b. Musa al-Talla'ukbari and Salamat b. Muhammad.[14]

Works

Ibn Babawayh was a prolific writer as Ibn Nadim[15] reports seeing al-Shaykh al-Saduq's written permission to another to quote from 100 works of his father.

Al-Najashi has mentioned Ibn Babawayh's works as follows,

Children

Ibn Babawayh had three sons: Muhammad (al-Shaykh al-Saduq) and Husayn who were among greatest Shi'a jurists and Hasan who was a pious and ascetic man who did not associate with people.[16]

Demise and Tomb

According to a report on his demise, Abu al-Hasan 'Ali b. Muhammad Samuri, who passed away in the month of Sha'ban of the same year Ibn Babawayh passed away, told his students of Ibn Babawayh's demise when he was in Baghdad and when seventeen days later, the news of Ibn Babawayh's demise came to Baghdad, his report was confirmed.[17]

The year of Ibn Babawayh's demise was called Tanathur al-Nujum due to shower of many meteors or dying of some notable Shi'a scholars.[18] He is buried in Qom, Iran.

Notes

  1. Dehkhudā , Dehkhoda Dictionary, under the word Babawayh.
  2. Justi, Iranisches Namenbuch, p.55.
  3. Nafīsī, Muqaddima maṣādiqat al-ikhwān, vol. 1, p. 11-28.
  4. Ṣadūq, Kamāl al-dīn wa itmām al-niʿma, vol. 1, p. 276; Najāshī, Rijāl, vol. 1, p. 184.
  5. Māmaqānī, Tanqīh al-maqāl, vol. 2. p. 283.
  6. Ibn al-Nadīm, al-Fihrist, p. 227.
  7. Ṭūsī, al-Ghayba, p. 247-248.
  8. Ṭūsī, al-Amālī, p. 81, 115.
  9. Najāshī, Rijāl, p. 184; Ḥillī, Rijāl, p. 241.
  10. Shahīd al-Awwal, al-Dhikrā al-shīʿa fī aḥkām al-sharīʿa, p. 4-5.
  11. Ṣadūq, al-Amālī, p. 81-115.
  12. Ṣadūq, Kamāl al-dīn wa itmām al-niʿma, p. 101.
  13. Ṭūsī, Tahdhīb al-aḥkām, vol. 1, p. 302; vol. 6, p. 38.
  14. Ṭūsī, Tahdhīb al-aḥkām, vol. 1, p. 302; Ṭūsī, Rijāl, p. 482; Ṭūsī, al-Fihrist, p. 157.
  15. Ibn Nadīm, al-Fihrist, p. 277.
  16. Afandī Iṣfahānī, Rīyāḍ al-ʿulamā, vol. 4, p. 11.
  17. Ṣadūq, Kamāl al-dīn wa itmām al-niʿma, vol. 1, p. 276; Ṭūsī, al-Ghayba, vol. 1, p. 242.
  18. Najāshī, Rijāl, vol. 1, p. 185.

References

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