Abu Nu'aym al-Isfahani
| Full Name | Ahmad b. Abd Allah b. Ahmad b. Ishaq b. Musa b. Mihran |
|---|---|
| Religious Affiliation | Sunni Muslim |
| Birth | 336/947-8 |
| Place of Birth | Isfahan |
| Death | 430/1038 |
| Burial Place | Isfahan |
| Professors | Al-Daraqutni • Al-Hakim Nishapuri • Abu Bakr al-Ajurri |
| Students | Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi • Abu l-Qasim Hudhali Sahib al-Kamil • Abu Ali al-Haddad |
| Notable roles | He played a significant role in the creation of Shiite tendencies among people of hadiths |
| Works | Hilyat al-awliya' , al-Imama wa l-radd 'ala l-rafida, Arba'un haditha fi al-Mahdi (a) |
Abū Nuʿaym al-Iṣfahānī (Arabic: أبو نعيم الأصفهاني), (b. 336/947-8, d. 430/1038), was a prominent Sunni muhaddith and author.
Abu Nu'aym was one of the scholars who played a significant role in the creation of Shiite tendencies among people of hadiths. In spite of explicit comments by some Imamiyya authors such as Ibn Shahrashub, Ali b. Tawus, and his brother Ahmad b. Tawus to the effect that Abu Nu'aym was Sunni, some more recent Imamiyya sources claim that he was a Shi'a who dissimulated as Sunni.
His book, Hilyat al-awliya', has always been a source extensively cited by Shi'as for the virtues of Imam Ali (a) and Ahl al-Bayt (a).
A number of prominent Sunni scholars have strongly criticized some hadiths cited by Abu Nu'aym, which shows that hadiths cited and transmitted by Abu Nu'aym al-Isfahani could be deployed by Shi'as to counter the some Sunni claims. Such criticisms might partly justify the claim by some Shiite authors that Abu Nu'aym was a Shi'a.
However, Abu Nu'aym wrote a book under al-Imama wa l-radd 'ala al-rafida (Imamate and the rejection of Rafida), which provides strong evidence that he was not a Shi'a. He wrote the book to criticize the Imamiyya view of Imamate. He cites hadiths to show, on the basis of Sunni beliefs, that the Three Caliphs were superior to Imam Ali (a) with regard to the caliphate.
Life
Lineage
Most biographers believe that Ahmad b. Abd Allah b. Ahmad b. Ishaq b. Musa b. Mahran known as Abu Nu'aym al-Isfahani was born in 336/947-8, but some others hold that he was born in 334/945-6[1]. His lineage goes back to Mahran, an emancipated slave of Abd Allah b. Mu'awiya b. Abd Allah b. Ja'far al-Tayyar, who converted to Islam at the instruction of Abd Allah[2]. Abu Nu'aym's ancestors were usually well-known scholars and pious people in Isfahan.
His mother's ancestor was the well-known ascetic, Muhammad b. Yusuf, who was widely thought to be "mustajab al-da'wa" (a person whose prayers are answered and brought into reality by God) and had many advocates[3]. His father, Abd Allah, and his brothers, Abu Mas'ud Muhammad and Abu Ahmad Abd al-Razzaq, were knowledgeable of Islamic sciences[4].
Educations
Abu Nu'aym was a student of many scholars of his time, such as the following:
- Abd Allah b. Ahmad b. Ishaq (his father)
- Abd Allah b. Ja'far b. Fars
- Ja'far Khuldi
- Abu l-Abbas Asam
- Al-Daraqutni
- Al-Hakim Nishapuri
- Abu Bakr al-Ajurri
- Abu Bakr b. Khulad al-Nasibi
- Ibrahim b. Abu al-'Aza'im
- Muhammad b. Hubaysh
- Abu Bakr al-Qati'i
- Muhammad b. Ahmad al-Mu'addil
- Muhammad b. Ahmad al-Anmati
- Muhammad b. Ishaq al-Ahwazi
- Ibn Sawwaf[5]
Students
Abu Nu'aym had many students, including:
- Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi
- Abu l-Qasim al-Hudhali
- Abu Ali Haddad.[6].
Belief and Denomination
There are references in certain sources to Abu Nu'aym's jurisprudential school and intellectual tendencies as well as his relationships with Shi'as. Since Abu Nu'aym was criticized by different groups of people, there have been various speculations about his espoused Islamic denomination. Subki takes him to be Shafi'i[7], and ibn al-'Asakir has referred to him as an Ash'ari on the ground of the strong opposition of Hanbalis to him.
One way to learn more about his beliefs is to study some of his works, such as the following:
- Arba'un hadith ala madhhab ahl al-sunna wa l-jama'a
- Tathbit al-ru'ya yawm al-qiyama
- Hadith al-nuzul
- Al-Rad ala al-lafziya wa l-hululiya
- Al-Sifat
- Al-Mustakhrij ala kitab al-tawhid li-Ibn khuzayma
- Al-Mu'taqid[8] .
Abu Nu'aym also wrote a number of books about the virtues of Imam Ali (a) and others from Ahl al-Bayt (a):
- Ma nazal min al-qur'an fi Amir al-mu'minin (a)
- Manqabat al-mutahhirin wa martabat al-tayyibin
- Arba'un haditha fi l-Mahdi (a)
- Al-Khasa'is fi fadl Ali (a)
- Hadith al-tayr
- Dikr al-Mahdi wa nu'utih wa haqiqat makhrajih wa thubutih
- Hilyat al-awliya'[9].
His Hilyat al-awliya' has always been a source cited by Shi'as for the virtues of Imam Ali (a) and Ahl al-Bayt (a)[10].
However, in his Minhaj al-sunna[11], Ibn Taymiyya has strongly criticized Abu Nu'aym's hadiths, which shows that hadiths transmitted by Abu Nu'aym al-Isfahani could be deployed by Shi'as against certain Sunni claims. This could partly justify the claim by some Shiite scholars that Abu Nu'aym was a Shi'a.
Possibility of Abu Nu'aym being Shi'a
Although some Imamiyya authors, such as Ibn Shahrashub[12], Ali b. Tawus[13], and his brother Ahmad b. Tawus[14], made it explicit that Abu Nu'aym was Sunni, some recent Imamiyya sources have claimed that he was a Shi'a[15] who dissimulated as Sunni.
In the Safavid era, al-Majlisi Family traced their lineage back to Abu Nu'aym, contending that Abu Nu'aym was indeed a Shi'a. They found a piece of epitaph on Abu Nu'aym's grave, which implied that he was a Shi'a. However, Mirlawhi who was hostile to al-'Allama al-Majlisi destroyed Abu Nu'aym's tombstone[16].
Rejection of His Shiism
However, Abu Nu'aym's book, al-Imama wa l-radd 'ala l-rafida (Imamate and the rejection of the Rafida), suffices to show that he was not a Shi'a. The book is concerned with the criticism of the Imamiyya. In the book, Abu Nu'aym relies on Sunni beliefs and cites many hadiths to show that the Three Caliphs were superior to Imam Ali (a) in matters of caliphate. He criticizes Imamiyya arguments for the superiority of Imam Ali (a) with respect to caliphate and virtues and rejects Imamiyya criticisms of the Three Caliphs. In the final section of the book, Abu Nu'aym writes about the virtues of 'Ali (a) and his rightfulness as the Fourth Caliph. The book is one of the oldest and available Sunni books written in the rejection of the Imamiyya.
Notes
- ↑ Sarīfīnī, Tārikh Nayshābur, p. 198.
- ↑ Abū Nuʿaym al-Iṣfahānī, Dhikr akhbār Iṣbahān, vol. 2, p. 93.
- ↑ Abū Nuʿaym al-Iṣfahānī, Dhikr akhbār Iṣbahān, vol. 2, p. 220;Abū Nuʿaym al-Iṣfahānī, Ḥilyat al-awliyā, vol. 1, p. 407.
- ↑ Abū Nuʿaym al-Iṣfahānī, Dhikr akhbār Iṣbahān, vol. 2, pp. 93,136-37.
- ↑ Abū Nuʿaym al-Iṣfahānī, Maʿrifat al-sahābaAbū Nuʿaym al-Iṣfahānī, vol. 1, pp. 109-111; al-imāma wa al-radd ʿalā al-rāfiḍa, p. 293; Ḥilyat al-awliyā', vol. 5, p. 14, vol. 8, p. 46; Ibn Nuqṭa, al-Taqyīd, vol. 1, pp. 156-57; Subkī, ʿAbd al-Wahhāb, Ṭabaqāt al-shafiʿīyya al-kubrā, vol. 4, pp. 18-19; Dhahabī, Tadhkirat al-ḥuffāẓ, vol. 3, pp. 1092-93.
- ↑ Khaṭīb Baghdādī, Tārīkh-i Baghdād, vol. 12, pp. 407, 412; Subkī, ʿAbd al-Wahhāb, Ṭabaqāt al-shafiʿīyya al-kubrā, vol. 4, pp. 18-19; Ibn al-Jazarī, Ghāyat al-nihāya, vol. 1, p. 71.
- ↑ Subkī, ʿAbd al-Wahhāb, Ṭabaqāt al-shafiʿīyya al-kubrā, vol. 4, pp. 18-19.
- ↑ See: Tahāmi, Muqaddama bar tathbīt al-imamat Abu Nuʿaym Iṣfahānī, pp. 28-31; Fāruq Hamāda, Muqaddama bar al-Ḍuʿafā, pp. 13-22; Muḥammad Rāḍī b. Ḥāj ʿUthmān, Muqaddama bar maʿrifat al-ṣahāba, pp. 37-55.
- ↑ See: Ibn Shahrāshūb, Manāqib Āl Abī Ṭālib, vol. 2, pp. 183, 350; Maʿālim al-ʿulamā, p. 25; Irbilī, Kashf al-ghumma, vol. 3, pp. 257-65; Kohlberg, A Medieval Muslim Scholar at Work, p. 105; Samʿānī, al-Tahbīr, vol. 1, pp. 180-81; Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Ahl al-Bayt fi l-maktaba al-'arabiyya, pp. 69, 82; Ibn Ṭāwūs, al-Ṭarāʾif fī maʿrifat madhāhib al-ṭawāʾif, p. 179.
- ↑ See: Ibn Shahrāshūb, Maʿālim al-ʿulamā, vol. 1, p. 9; Ibn Baṭrīq, ʿUmdat ʿuyūn ṣiḥāḥ al-akhbār fī manāqib Imām al-abrār, pp. 23-24, 199; Ibn Ṭāwūs, Banāʾ al-maqāla al-fāṭimīyya, p. 301; Irbilī, Kashf al-ghumma fī maʿrifat al-aʾimma, vol. 1, pp. 110-11; Khāwnsārī, Rawḍāt al-jannāt, vol. 1, p. 272.
- ↑ Ibn Taymīyya, Minhāj al-sunna, vol. 4, pp. 15, 53.
- ↑ Ibn Shahrāshūb, Maʿālim al-ʿulamā, vp. 25.
- ↑ Ibn Ṭāwūs, al-Ṭarāʾif fī maʿrifat madhāhib al-ṭawāʾif, p. 181.
- ↑ Ibn Ṭāwūs, Banāʾ al-maqāla al-fāṭimīyya, p. 260.
- ↑ Khāwnsārī, Rawḍāt al-jannāt, vol. 1, p. 273-74.
- ↑ Khāwnsārī, Rawḍāt al-jannāt, vol. 1, p. 275.
References
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