Abu Hamza al-Thumali

Priority: b, Quality: b
From wikishia
Abu Hamza al-Thumali
Full NameThabit b. Dinar al-Thumali
Companion ofImam al-Sajjad (a)
TeknonymAbu Hamza
Epithetal-Thumali
Well Known AsAbu Hamza al-Thumali
Religious AffiliationShi'a
Birthbefore 82/701-2
Place of BirthKufa
Place(s) of ResidenceKufa
Death/MartyrdomAfter 150/767-8
WorksRisalat al-huquq 'an Ali b. al-Husayn (a) • Tafsir al-Qur'an etc.


Thābit b. Dīnār al-Thumālī (Arabic:ثابِت بن دينار الثُمالي), known as Abū Ḥamza al-Thumālī (أبو حَمزَة الثُمالي) was a Shi'a narrator of hadith and exegete of the Qur'an in the 2nd/8th century and a companion of Imam al-Sajjad (a). Abu Hamza has narrated a supplication from Imam al-Sajjad (a) known as Supplication of Abu Hamza which is recited at dawn (sahar) during the month of Ramadan.

Birth Place

Abu Hamza was from Kufa. Al Muhallab considered him among their mawali, but al-Najashi has rejected this idea. He was from Tayy tribe and Banu Thu'al family and his title as "al-Thumali" was because he was living in the neighborhood where Thumala family of Azd tribe lived. Abu Hamza associated with Zayd b. 'Ali in Kufa and was a witness to his call and then his martyrdom. The three children of Abu Hamza, i.e. Hamza, Nuh, and Mansur were killed in the uprising of Zayd b. 'Ali.

Birth and Demise

The exact date of his birth is not known, but since he has narrated from Zadhan al-Kindi (d. 82/701-2), he must have been born before 82/701.[1] The year of his demise is mentioned as 150/767-8.[2] However, since al-Hasan b. Mahbub (b. 149/766-7 – d. 224/838-9) has narrated from him, the year of his demise must be after 150/767-8.[3] There are other opinions about the date of the demise of Abu Hamza, the origins of which are the mistakes in hadith and rijal references made by scribes.[4]

From the Viewpoint of the Scholars of Rijal

Al-Ya'qubi has considered Abu Hamza among jurists of Kufa[5] and al-Kashshi[6] and al-Najashi[7] have mentioned narrations about his great status. There are also two narrations in al-Kashshi's Rijal criticizing Abu Hamza[8] which have problems in their references in the view of Ayatollah al-Khoei.[9] Abu Hamza had many sources of hadiths and many people narrated from him.

Al-Mizzi[10] and al-Khoei[11] listed the people al-Thumali narrated from and those who narrated from al-Thumali. Although most Sunni scholars criticized him and considered him weak regarding narration of hadiths,[12] Hakim al-Nayshaburi has narrated hadith from Abu Hamza in al-Mustadrak[13] and have considered them authentic. In the preface of the book, he has said that all the narrators he has mentioned in the chains of hadiths are reliable.[14] Fadl b. Shadhan has narrated from Imam al-Rida (a) that Abu Hamza was similar to Salman in his time and in another narration similar to Luqman in his time.[15]

Works

Al-Najashi[16] has mentioned Tafsir al-Qur'an, al-Nawadir, and Risalat al-huquq 'an Ali b. al-Husayn (a) among Abu Hamza's works.

Exegesis

The chain of reference for Abu Hamza's exegesis on the Holy Qur'an among Twelver Shi'a is through Abu Bakr Muhammad b. 'Umar Ji'abi from Abu Sahl 'Amr b. Hamdan in 307/919-20 from Sulayman b. Ishaq Muhallabi and Sulayman b. Ishaq narrated Abu Hamza's exegesis in Basra in 267/880-1 from his uncle, Abu 'Amr 'Abd Rabbih Muhallabi.[17] 'Abd Allah b. Hamza al-Mansur Billah (d. 614/1217-8)[18] has mentioned this chain of reference for Abu Hamza's tafsir and also referred to the difference between this chain of reference and the version of tafsir which has been common among Sunni Muslims. He has also mentioned some reports about the version narrated through Ji'abi. Apparently, Ahmad b. Muhammad al-Tha'labi (d. 427/1035-6) who has benefited from Abu Hamza's exegesis in his own exegesis,[19] al-Kashf wa l-bayan has actually benefited from the mentioned version.[20] The text of Abu Hamza's exegesis has been available until 6th/12th century. Al-Tabrisi in Majma' al-bayan[21] and Ibn Shahr Ashub (d. 588/1192) in Manaqib Al Abi Talib (a)[22] have narrated hadiths from this exegesis. 'Abd al-Razzaq Muhammad Husayn Hirz al-Din has collected hadiths narrated from Abu Hamza—which have either been related to tafsir or they have been referred to because they have been mentioned in Abu Hamza's tafsir— in a book titled as Tafsir al-Qur'an al-Karim li Abi Hamza b. Thabit b. Dinar al-Thumali.

Features of Abu Hamza's Exegesis

In Abu Hamza's exegesis, contrary to other influential commentaries, there are fewer mursal hadiths mentioned. Abu Hamza considered the cause of revelation of verses and has used the method of interpreting the Qur'an by the Qur'an while benefitting from merits of the Ahl al-Bayt (a) and regarded ijtihad, recitation, lexicology, grammar and mentioning different views about the meaning of verses.[23]

Musnad of Abu Hamza

'Abd al-Razzaq Muhammad Husayn Hirz al-Din has collected hadiths in fiqh narrated from Abu Hamza and has compiled in Musnad Abi Hamza Thabit b. Dinar al-Thumali. In different sources, there is no mention of Musnad among the works of Abu Hamza and only al-Shaykh al-Tusi[24] has mentioned such a name which he seems to mean an Asl (one of the al-Usul al-arba'ami'a).

Chains of Transmission in Musnad of Abu Hamza

Al-Shaykh al-Tusi[25] has mentioned the book (Asl) of Abu Hamza through two chains of transmission: first through some Twelver Shi'a scholars transmitted by al-Shaykh al-Saduq, from his father and Ibn Walid al-Qummi (d. 343/954-5), Musa b. Mutawakkil from Sa'd b. 'Abd Allah al-Ash'ari (d. 299/911-2 or 301/913-4) and 'Abd Allah b. Ja'far al-Himyari from Ahmad b. Muhammad b. 'Isa from al-Hasan b. Mahbub from Abu Hamza. The second chain of transmission is transmitted by Ahmad b. 'Abdun (d. 423/1031-2) from Abu Talib 'Ubayd Allah b. Ahmad al-Anbari (d. 356/966-7) from Humayd b. Ziyad who narrated the book from Yunus b. Ali al-'Attar from Abu Hamza.

Other Works

From other works of al-Thumali, al-Najashi[26] has mentioned al-Nawadir transmitted by Hasan b. Mahbub from Abu Hamza. Also, al-Shaykh al-Tusi[27] has mentioned al-Nawadir together with another book called al-Zuhd and also has mentioned his way of receiving both works transmitted by Humayd b. Ziyad (d. 310/922-3) from Abu Ja'far Muhammad b. 'Ayyash b. 'Isa from Abu Hamza. Another work of Abu Hamza is Risalat al-huquq 'an Ali b. al-Husayn (a). This treatise is available in two versions with little difference, one of which has been transmitted by Ibn Babawayh[28] and the other by Ibn Shu'ba al-Harrani (4th/10th century) in Tuhaf al-'uqul.[29]

Du'a of Abu Hamza al-Thumali

Main article: Supplication of Abu Hamza

Abu Hamza learned several supplications from Imams (a).[30] In Misbah al-mutahajjid, al-Shaykh al-Tusi[31] narrated a supplication by Imam al-Sajjad (a) from Abu Hamza which is recited at dawn (Sahar) during the month of Ramadan, known as Supplication of Abu Hamza al-Thumali on which several commentaries have been written.[32] This relatively lengthy supplication contains moral and mystical messages and is commonly recited among Shi'a.

Notes

  1. ↑ Mizzī, Tahdhīb al-kamāl, vol. 4, p. 358.
  2. ↑ Ṣadūq, Man lā yaḥḍuruh al-faqīh, ? ; Najāshī, Fihrist asmāʾ, p. 115.
  3. ↑ Kulaynī, vol. 1, p. 88.
  4. ↑ Thumālī, Muqaddima ḥirz al-dīn, p. 17.
  5. ↑ Yaʿqūbī, Tārīkh al-Yaʿqūbī, vol. 2, p. 362-363, 390-391.
  6. ↑ Kashshī, Ikhtīyār maʿrifat al-rijāl, p. 202-203.
  7. ↑ Najāshī, Fihrist asmāʾ, p. 115.
  8. ↑ Kashshī, Ikhtīyār maʿrifat al-rijāl, p. 201.
  9. ↑ Khoei, Muʿjam rijāl al-ḥadīth, vol. vol. 3, p. 389-390.
  10. ↑ Mizzī, Tahdhīb al-kamāl, vol. 4, p. 358.
  11. ↑ Khoei, Muʿjam rijāl al-ḥadīth, vol. vol. 21, p. 135.
  12. ↑ Ibn ʿUday, al-Kāmil min ḍuʿafā al-rijāl, vol. 2, p. 520.
  13. ↑ Ḥākim al-Nayshābūrī. al-Mustadrak ʿala l-ṣaḥīḥayn, vol. 2, p. 474; vol. 4, p. 222.
  14. ↑ Ḥākim al-Nayshābūrī. al-Mustadrak ʿala l-ṣaḥīḥayn, vol. 1, p. 23.
  15. ↑ Nāmdārī, Barrasī-yi sabkshināsāna-yi duʿa-yi Abū Ḥamza Thumālī, p. 115.
  16. ↑ Najāshī, Fihrist asmāʾ, p. 115,116.
  17. ↑ Najāshī, Fihrist asmāʾ, p. 115.
  18. ↑ Manṣūr Billāh, ʿAqd al-thamīn, p. 153-154.
  19. ↑ Thaʿlabī, al-Kashf wa l-bayān, vol. 1, p. 82.
  20. ↑ Sizgīn, Tārīkh al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, vol. 1, part 3, p. 273.
  21. ↑ Sizgīn, Tārīkh al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, vol. 3, p. 150-152.
  22. ↑ Ibn Shahrāshūb, Manāqib Āl Abī Ṭālib, vol. 1, p. 11, 70; vol. 2, p. 71; vol. 3, 61.
  23. ↑ Muqaddima Hirz al-Dīn, p. 60, 66.
  24. ↑ Ṭūsī, Fihrist kutub al-Shīʿa, p. 105.
  25. ↑ Ṭūsī, Fihrist kutub al-Shīʿa, p. 105.
  26. ↑ Najāshī, Fihrist asmāʾ, p. 116.
  27. ↑ Ṭūsī, Fihrist kutub al-Shīʿa, p. 105.
  28. ↑ Ṣadūq, al-Amālī, p. 368, 375; Ṣadūq, Man lā yaḥḍuruh al-faqīh, vol. 2, p. 376-381.-
  29. ↑ Ibn Shuʿba, Tuḥaf al-ʿuqūl, p. 255-272.
  30. ↑ Kulaynī, vol. 2, p. 540-541.
  31. ↑ Ṭūsī, Miṣbāḥ al-mutahajjid, p. 582, 604.
  32. ↑ Tihrānī, al-Dharīʿa, vol. 13, p. 246.

References

  • Āqā Buzurg al-Tihrānī, Muḥammad Muḥsin. Al-Dharīʿa ilā taṣānīf al-Shīʿa. [n.p]. [n.d].
  • ʿAqīlī, Muḥammad b. ʿUmar. Kitāb al-ḍuʿafā al-kabīr. Edited by ʿAbd al-Muʿṭī Amīn Qalʿajī. Beirut: 1404 AH.
  • Ḥākim al-Nayshābūrī. Muḥammad b. ʿAbd Allāh al-. Al-Mustadrak ʿala l-ṣaḥīḥayn. Beirut: Dār al-Maʿrifa, [n.d].
  • Ibn Shuʿba al-Ḥarrānī, Ḥasan b. ʿAlī. Tuḥaf al-ʿuqūl ʿan Āl-i al-Rasūl. Edited by ʿAlī Akbar Ghaffārī. Qom: 1363 Sh.
  • Ibn Shahrāshūb, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī. Manāqib Āl Abī Ṭālib. Edited by Ḥāshim Rasūlī. Qom: [n.d].
  • Ibn Ṭāwūs, ʿAlī b. Mūsā. Farḥat al-gharrī fī taʿīeen qabr Amīr al-Muʾminīn. Edited by Taḥsīn Al Shabīb Mūsawī. Qom: 1419 AH.
  • Ibn ʿUday, Abū Aḥmad. Al-Kāmil min ḍuʿafā al-rijāl. Beirut: 1405 AH.
  • Khazāʿilī, Muḥammad ʿAlī. Matn, sharḥ wa tafsīr duʿā-yi Abū Ḥamza Thumālī. Qom: Ibtikār-i Dānish, 1387 Sh.
  • Kashshī, Muḥammad b. ʿUmar al-. Ikhtīyār maʿrifat al-rijāl Edited by Ḥasan Muṣṭafawī. Mashhad: 1348 Sh.
  • Mizzī, Yūsuf b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-. Tahdhīb al-kamāl. Edited by Bashār ʿAwād Maʿrūf. volume 4. Beirut: 1403 AH.
  • Manṣūr Billāh, ʿAbd Allāh b. Ḥamza. ʿAqd al-thamīn fī tabyīn al-a'imat al-hādīn. Qom: Kitābkhāna-yi Markaz-i Ihyā-yi Mīrāth-i Islāmī, No 20.
  • Najāshī, Aḥmad b. ʿAlī al-. Fihrist asmāʾ muṣannifī al-Shīʿa al-mushtahir bi rijāl al-Najāshī. Edited by Mūsā Shubayrī Zanjānī. Qom: 1407 AH.
  • Nāmdārī, Ibrāhīm and Aḥmadī ʿAlī Akbar and Mīrzāʾyī Aḥad. Barrasī-yi sabkshināsāna-yi duʿa-yi Abū Ḥamza Thumālī. No 5. Fall and Winter, 1390 Sh.
  • Sizgīn, Fuʾād. Tārīkh al-Turāth al-ʿArabī. volume 1. part 3. Riyadh: 1422 AH.
  • Ṣadūq, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-. Al-Amālī. Qom: 1362 SH.
  • Ṣadūq, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-. Man lā yaḥḍuruh al-faqīh. Edited by Ḥasan Mūsawī Kharsān. Beirut: 1401 AH.
  • Thumālī, Thābit b. Dīnār al-. Tafsīr al-Qur'ān al-karīm li Abī Ḥamza Thābit b. Dīnār al-Thumālī. Edited by ʿAbd al-Razzāq Muḥammad Ḥusayn Hirz al-Dīn. Qom: 1378 Sh.
  • Thaʿlabī, Aḥmad b. Muḥammad al-. Al-Kashf wa l-bayān ʿan tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Edited by ʿAlī Āshūr. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, 1422 AH.
  • Ṭūsī, Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-. Tahdhīb al-aḥkām. Edited by Ḥasan Mūsawī Kharsān. Beirut: 1401 AH.
  • Ṭūsī, Muḥammad b. al-Ḥaasn al-. Al-Rijāl. Najaf: 1380 AH.
  • Ṭūsī, Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-. Fihrist kutub al-Shīʿa wa uṣūlihim wa asmāʾ al-muṣannifīn wa aṣḥāb al-uṣūl. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz Ṭabaṭabaʾī, Qom: 1420 AH.
  • Ṭūsī, Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan. Miṣbāḥ al-mutahajjid. Beirut: 1411 AH.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikishia.net/w/index.php?title=Abu_Hamza_al-Thumali&oldid=99427"