Ibn Udhayna

Without priority, Quality: b
From wikishia
Ibn Udhayna
Full Name'Umar b. Muhammad b. 'Abd al-Rahman al-Basri
Companion ofImam al-Sadiq (a) and Imam al-Kazim (a)
EpithetIbn 'Udhayna
Religious AffiliationShiite
Place(s) of ResidenceBasra


ʿUmar b. Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Baṣrī (Arabic: عمر بن‌ محمد بن‌ عبدالرحمان‌ البصري), known as Ibn Udhayna ( ابن اُذَینه), was a Shiite muhaddith (hadith transmitter) in the 2nd/8th century and a companion of Imam al-Sadiq (a) and Imam al-Kazim (a). There are 482 hadiths narrated by Ibn Udhayna in Shiite collections of hadiths, and Shiite scholars of 'ilm al-rijal have confirmed his reliability. Most hadiths narrated by him are concerned with the rulings of jurisprudence. However, he has also narrated hadiths regarding issues of theology, such as imamate.

Companion of Imam al-Sadiq (a)

There is not much information about ibn Udhayna's life and his dates of birth and death. It is just known that he was a companion of Imam al-Sadiq (a).[1] He was also a student and a companion of Imam al-Kazim (a) as well.[2] According to al-Najashi, he narrated hadiths from Imam al-Sadiq (a) by correspondence. If this is true, then he must have lived in Basra throughout his life, and this might be the reason why he is considered to a senior Shiite figure in Basra.[3]

Reliability in 'Ilm al-Rijal

Most Shiite scholars of 'ilm al-rijal took him to be a reliable narrator of hadiths.[4] According to Nuri, Ibn Udhayna's reliability is agreed upon by all Shiite scholars of hadiths and 'ilm al-rijal.[5]

Teachers

Ibn Udhayna narrated many hadiths; there are 482 hadiths narrated by him.[6] Most of these hadiths, which are narrated from Imam al-Sadiq (a), are quoted from Zurara b. A'yan, the well-known Shiite hadith transmitter[7] and companion of Imam al-Sadiq (a), and some other hadith transmitters.

Narrators

Many hadith transmitter in the 2nd/8th century have narrated hadiths from Ibn Udhayna.

Expertise in Theology

Although most hadiths narrated by Ibn Udhayna are concerned with the rulings of shari'a and jurisprudence, he sometimes narrated hadiths with regard to Imamate and other issues of theology, and this shows that he was an expert of theology as well. Nuri's account[20] according to which Ibn Udhayna had theoretical debates with his opponents supports this idea.

According to al-Shaykh al-Tusi,[21] Ibn Udhayna wrote an essay called al-Fara'iḍ in two short and long versions, which is narrated by Ahmad b. Maytham b. Dukayn.

Ibn Udhayna's Namesake

According to al-Shaykh al-Tusi in his book, Ikhtiyar ma'rifat al-rijal,[22] there is another hadith scholar called "Muhammad b. 'Umar b. Udhayna", who is mentioned in later sources of Shiite 'ilm al-rijal. Al-Shaykh al-Tusi held that he was from Kufa, and had escaped from al-Mahdi al-'Abbasi's government, and then died in Yemen. This is why few hadiths were narrated from him. According to al-Barqi,[23] this person was from Medina.

In general, these remarks show that there were two people called "Ibn Udhayna", because 'Umar b. Udhayna was from Basra and many hadiths were narrated by him, unlike the latter person. It is probable that Muhammad was the son of 'Umar b. Udhayna. This possibility is supported by al-Shaykh al-Tusi's remark[24] that Muhammad was called Ibn Udhayna because of his father.

Notes

  1. Barqī, Kitāb al-Rijāl, p. 47; Najāshī, Rrijāl al-Najāshī, p. 283.
  2. Barqī, Kitāb al-Rijāl, p. 47.
  3. Najāshī, Rrijāl al-Najāshī, p. 283.
  4. Ṭūsī, al-Fihrist, p. 240; Ḥillī, Khulāṣat al-aqwāl, p. 59; Majlisī, al-Wajīza fī al-rijāl, p. 160.
  5. Nūrī, Mustadrak al-wasāʾil, vol. 3, p. 636.
  6. Khoeī, Muʿjam rijāl al-ḥadīth, vol. 13, p. 20.
  7. Ṭūsī, Ikhtiyār maʿrifat al-rijāl, vol. 1,(2) p. 64.
  8. Ṭūsī, Ikhtiyār maʿrifat al-rijāl, vol. 1,(2) p. 152.
  9. Quhpāʾie, Majmaʿ al-rijāl, vol. 3, p. 156.
  10. Nūrī, Mustadrak al-wasāʾil, vol. 3, p. 644.
  11. Khoeī, Muʿjam rijāl al-ḥadīth, vol. 13, p. 20.
  12. Najāshī, Rrijāl al-Najāshī, p. 284.
  13. Ṭūsī, al-Istibṣār, vol. 3, p. 314.
  14. Ṭūsī, al-Fihrist, p. 240.
  15. Tafrishī, Naqd al-rijāl, p. 255.
  16. Quhpāʾie, Majmaʿ al-rijāl, vol. 3, p. 156.
  17. Gharawī Ḥāʾirī, Jāmiʿ al-ruwāt, vol. 1, p. 631-632.
  18. Kāzimī, Hidāyat al-muḥaddithīn, p. 123.
  19. Khoeī, Muʿjam rijāl al-ḥadīth, vol. 13, p. 20.
  20. Nūrī, Mustadrak al-wasāʾil, vol. 3, p. 636.
  21. Ṭūsī, al-Fihrist, p. 240.
  22. Ṭūsī, Ikhtiyār maʿrifat al-rijāl, vol. 1, p. 335.
  23. Barqī, Kitāb al-Rijāl, p. 21.
  24. Ṭūsī, Ikhtiyār maʿrifat al-rijāl, vol. 1, p. 335.

References

  • Barqī, Aḥmad b. Muḥammad. Kitāb al-Rijāl. Edited by Sayyid Kāzim Mūsawī. Tehran: 1342 Sh.
  • Gharawī Ḥāʾirī, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī. Jāmiʿ al-ruwāt. Beirut: 1983.
  • Ḥillī, al-Ḥasan b. Yūsuf al-. Khulāṣat al-aqwāl. Tehran: 1311 AH.
  • Khoeī, Sayyid Abū l-Qāsim al-. Muʿjam rijāl al-ḥadīth. Qom: Manshūrāt Madīnat al-ʿilm, [n.d].
  • Kashshī, Muḥammad b. ʿUmar al-. Ikhtīyār maʿrifat al-rijāl known as Rijāl al-Kashshī. Edited by Ḥasan Muṣṭafawī. Mashhad: 1348 Sh.
  • Kāzimī, Muḥammad Amīn b. Muḥammad ʿAlī. Hidāyat al-muḥaddithīn ilā ṭarīq al-muḥammadīn. Edited by Mahdī Rajāʾīe. Qom: 1405 AH.
  • Majlisī, Muḥammad Bāqir al-. Al-Wajīza fī al-rijāl. Tehran: 1312 AH.
  • Najāshī, Aḥmad b. ʿAlī al-. Rrijāl al-Najāshī. Edited by Mūsā Shubayrī Zanjānī. Qom: 1407 AH.
  • Nūrī, Mīrzā Ḥusayn al-. Mustadrak al-wasāʾil. Qom: Muʾassisa-yi Ismāʿīlīyān, [n.d].
  • Quhpāʾie, ʿInāyat Allāh. Majmaʿ al-rijāl. Edited by Ḍīyāʾ al-Dīn ʿAllāma Iṣfahānī. Isfahan: 1387 AH.
  • Tafrishī, Muṣṭafā b. Ḥusayn al-. Naqd al-rijāl. Qom: Intishārāt-i al-Rasūl al-Muṣṭafā, [n.d].
  • Ṭūsī, Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-. Al-Istibṣār. Tehran: 1390 AH.
  • Ṭūsī, Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-. Ikhtiyār maʿrifat al-rijāl. [n.p].[n.d].
  • Ṭūsī, Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-. Al-Fihrist. Edited by Rāmyār, Maḥmūd. Mashhad: 1351 Sh.