Aban b. Uthman

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Aban b. Uthman
Full NameAban b. Uthman al-Ahmar al-Bajali
Companion ofImam al-Sadiq (a)Imam al-Kazim (a)
TeknonymAbu Abd Allah
Epithetal-Ahmar, al-Bajali
Place of BirthKufa
Place(s) of ResidenceKufa • Basrah
Death/Martyrdom2nd/8th century
ProfessorsZurara b. A'yanAbu Basir al-AsadiLayth al-Muradi, ...
StudentsFadala b. AyyubIbn Abi Umayral-BazantiHasan b. Mahbub, ...
WorksAl-Mab'ath wa l-maghazi wa l-wafat wa al-saqifa wa al-radda


ʾAbān b. ʿUthmān al-ʾAḥmar al-Bajalī (Arabic: أبان بن عثمان الأحمر البجلي) (fl. 2nd/8th century), was a companion of Imam al-Sadiq (a) and Imam al-Kazim (a) and one of the People of Consensus. He has quoted hadiths from Imam al-Sadiq (a) both directly and indirectly.

Aban was familiar with Arabic history, literature, and genealogy. He wrote a book on the biography of the Prophet (s).

Biography

Al-Najashi states that Aban was originally from Kufa who would sometimes live in Kufa and sometimes in Basra. However, according to al-Kashshi's report, Aban was "from the people of Basra... and he resided in Kufa."[1]

In rijal sources and in the chains of transmission of hadiths, he is mentioned by such names as Aban b. al-Ahmar,[2] Aban al-Ahmar, and Aban al-Ahmari[3] as well. His teknonym was Abu Abd Allah.[4]

People of Consensus

Comapnions of Imam al-Baqir (a)
Zurara b. A'yan
Ma'ruf b. Kharrabudh
Burayd b. Mu'awiya
Abu Basir
al-Fudayl b. Yasar
Muhammad b. Muslim


Companions of Imam al-Sadiq (a)
Jamil b. Darraj
Abd Allah b. Muskan
Abd Allah b. Bukayr
Hammad b. 'Uthman
Hammad b. 'Isa
Aban b. 'Uthman


Companions of Imam al-Kazim (a) and Imam al-Rida (a)
Yunus b. 'Abd al-Rahman
Safwan b. Yahya
Muhammad b. Abi 'Umayr
Abd Allah b. al-Mughira
Hasan b. Mahbub
Ahmad b. Abi Nasr al-Bazanti

Reliability in Hadith Transmission

Aban was a companion of Imam al-Sadiq (a) and Imam al-Kazim (a),[5] though al-Shaykh al-Tusi mentions him only among the companions of the former.[6]

Aban is regarded as one of the People of Consensus whose reliability is agreed upon among all Shi'a scholars.[7]

Religious Affiliation

Some sources mention that Aban belonged to the sect Nawusiyya.[8] However, al-Khoei believes that this is a false accusation based on a copyist's error mistakenly changing the word Qadisiyya (the name of a town in Iraq) in the original manuscripts into Nawusiyya. This can be supported by the fact that al-Najashi and al-Shaykh al-Tusi both testify that Aban had quoted hadiths from Imam al-Kazim (a).[9]

Aban is also accused of being a Fatahi or a Waqifi. Al-Khoei rejects these accusations as well, based on the fact that such claims are not compatible with Aban's being one of the People of Consensus. He believes the accusation of being Fatahi is a mistake of al-Allama al-Hilli.[10]

Teachers and Students

Aban has quoted hadith from Imam al-Sadiq (a)[11] and Imam al-Kazim (a),[12] and from such hadith transmitters as

In his Mu'jam rijal al-hadith, al-Khoei mentions the names of more than one-hundred hadith transmitters from whom Aban quoted hadiths.[20]

More than fifty hadith transmitters quoted hadiths from Aban,[21] including:

Works

The book Al-Mab'ath wa l-maghazi wa l-wafat wa al-saqifa wa al-Radda of Aban b. 'Uthman

Al-Najashi and al-Shaykh al-Tusi mention that Aban had a book[28] that contained the following parts:

  • The Beginning (al-Mubtada'),
  • The Mission of the Prophet (al-Mab'ath),
  • The Battles (al-Maghazi),
  • The Demise (al-Wafat),
  • The Saqifa,
  • The Apostasy (al-Radda).

Ali b. Ibrahim al-Qummi in his exegesis[29] and al-Tabrisi in his I'lam al-wara heavily rely on this work.

Rasul Ja'farian reconstructed the book's text from different sources, and it was published in 1375 Sh/1996-7 in Qom.[30]

Disambiguation

Aban has been sometimes mistaken with Aban, son of the third Caliph. For instance, Fuat Sezgin mentions Aban b. 'Uthamn b. 'Affan as one of the early biographers of the Holy Prophet (s), from whom al-Ya'qubi quoted in his Tarikh al-Ya'qubi. However, the Aban that al-Ya'qubi refers to is Aban b. 'Uthman al-Ahmar, because al-Ya'qubi clearly states that he quoted hadiths from Imam al-Sadiq (a),[31] and this does not accord with the age range of Aban the son of the third Caliph, present in the Battle of Jamal.[32]

Notes

  1. Kashshī, Rijāl al-Kashshī, p. 352.
  2. Kulaynī, al-Kāfī, vol. 2, p. 673; Ḥurr al-ʿĀmilī, Wasāʾil al-Shīʿa, vol. 12, p. 138.
  3. Ṣadūq, Man lā yaḥḍuruh al-faqīh, vol. 4, p. 163.
  4. Ṭūsī, Fihrist, p. 47; Quhpāʾie, Majmaʿ al-rijāl, vol. 1, p. 25.
  5. Quhpāʾie, Majmaʿ al-rijāl, vol. 1, p. 25; Khoei, Muʿjam rijāl al-ḥadīth, vol. 1, p. 157.
  6. Ṭūsī, al-Rijāl, p. 164.
  7. Ibn Dāwūd al-Ḥillī, Kitāb al-rijāl, p. 12.
  8. Najāshī, Rijāl al-Najāshī, p. 13; Quhpāʾie, Majmaʿ al-rijāl, vol. 1, p. 25; Ibn Dāwūd al-Ḥillī, Kitāb al-rijāl, p. 13; Ḥillī, Rijāl al-ʿallāma al-Ḥillī, p. 22.
  9. Khoei, Muʿjam rijāl al-ḥadīth, vol. 1, p. 161.
  10. Khoei, Muʿjam rijāl al-ḥadīth, vol. 1, p. 161.
  11. Kashshī, Rijāl al-Kashshī, p. 107.
  12. Khoei, Muʿjam rijāl al-ḥadīth, vol. 1, p. 157.
  13. Ṣadūq, Man lā yaḥḍuruh al-faqīh, vol. 4, p. 163; Kashshī, Rijāl al-Kashshī, p. 209.
  14. Kashshī, Rijāl al-Kashshī, p. 104.
  15. Kashshī, Rijāl al-Kashshī, p. 136.
  16. Kashshī, Rijāl al-Kashshī, p. 177.
  17. Kashshī, Rijāl al-Kashshī, p. 94.
  18. Kashshī, Rijāl al-Kashshī, p. 185.
  19. Kashshī, Rijāl al-Kashshī, p. 40.
  20. Khoei, Muʿjam rijāl al-ḥadīth, vol. 1, p. 162-164.
  21. Khoei, Muʿjam rijāl al-ḥadīth, vol. 1, p. 164.
  22. Kashshī, Rijāl al-Kashshī, p. 107.
  23. Kashshī, Rijāl al-Kashshī, p. 136.
  24. Kashshī, Rijāl al-Kashshī, p. 209, 93.
  25. Kashshī, Rijāl al-Kashshī, p. 94, 104, 177, 209.
  26. Kashshī, Rijāl al-Kashshī, p. 185.
  27. Khoei, Muʿjam rijāl al-ḥadīth, vol. 1, p. 161.
  28. Najāshī,al-Rijāl, p. 13; Ṭūsī, Fihrist, p. 49.
  29. Qummī, Tafsīr al-Qummī, vol. 1, p. 328.
  30. The publication of the book Aban b. Uthman by Rasul Ja'fariyan
  31. Yaʿqūbī, Tārīkh al-Yaʿqūbī, vol. 2, p. 6.
  32. Abān b. ʿUthmān, al-Mabʿath wa al-maghāzī, p. 8.

References

  • Abān b. ʿUthmān. Al-Mabʿath wa al-maghāzī wa al-wafāt wa al-saqīfa wa al-radda. Edited by Rasūl Jaʿfarīyān. Qom: Daftar-i Tablīghāt-i Islāmī-yi Ḥawza-yi Ilmīya-yi Qom, 1375 Sh.
  • Al-Dawrī, ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz. Baḥth fī nashʾat ʿilm al-tārīkh ʿind al-ʿarab. Riyadh: Maktabat al-ʿAbīkān, 1420 AH/2000.
  • Ḥurr al-ʿĀmilī, Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-. Wasāʾil al-Shīʿa. Edited by Muʾassisat Āl al-Bayt. Qom: Muʾassisat Āl al-Bayt, 1409 AH.
  • Ḥillī, al-Ḥasan b. Yūsuf al-. Rijāl al-ʿallāma al-Ḥillī. Edited by Sayyid Muḥammad Ṣādiq Baḥr al-ʿUlūm. Najaf: Dār al-Dhakhāʾir, 1381 AH.
  • Ibn Dāwūd al-Ḥillī, Ḥasan b. 'Alī. Kitāb al-rijāl. Tehran: Dānishgāh-i Tehrān, 1342 Sh.
  • Khoei, Sayyid Abū l-Qāsim al-. Muʿjam rijāl al-ḥadīth. Qom: Markaz-i Nashr-i Āthār al-Shʿīa, 1410 AH.
  • Kashshī, Muḥammad b. ʿUmar al-. Ikhtīyār maʿrifat al-rijāl known as Rijāl al-Kashshī. Edited by Ṭūsī, Muḥammad b. al-Ḥaasn and Ḥasan Muṣṭafawī. Mashhad: Muʾassisa-yi Nashr-i Dānishgāh-i Mashhad, 1409 AH.
  • Kulaynī, Muḥammad b. Yaʿqūb al-. Al-Kāfī. Edited by ʿAlī Akbar Ghaffārī & Muḥammad Ākhūndī. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmīyya, 1407 AH.
  • Najāshī, Aḥmad b. ʿAlī al-. Rijāl al-Najāshī. Qom: Muʾassisat al-Nashr al-Islāmī Tābiʿat li Jamāʿat al-Mudarrisīn, 1365 Sh.
  • Quhpāʾie, ʿInāyat Allāh. Majmaʿ al-rijāl. Edited by Ḍīyāʾ al-Dīn Iṣfahānī. Qom: Muʾassisa-yi Maṭbūʿātī-yi Ismāʿīlīyān, [n.d].
  • Ṣadūq, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-. Man lā yaḥḍuruh al-faqīh. Edited by ʿAlī Akbar Ghaffārī. Qom: Daftar-i Intishārāt-i Islāmī, 1413 AH.
  • Ṭūsī, Muḥammad b. al-Ḥaasn al-. Al-Rijāl. Qom: Jāmiʿa-yi Mudarrisīn, 1415 AH.
  • Ṭūsī, Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-. Fihrist kutub al-Shīʿa wa uṣūlihim wa asmāʾ al-muṣannifīn wa aṣḥāb al-uṣūl. Edited by ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz Ṭabāṭabāʾī. Qom: Maktabat al-Muḥaqqiq al-Ṭabāṭabāʾī, 1420 AH.