Ibn al-Ji'abi

Ibn al-Ji'abi

Personal Information
Full Name	Muhammad b. 'Umar b. Muhammad al-Ji'abi
Teknonym	Abu Bakr
Well-Known As	Ibn al-Ji'abi
Religious Affiliation	Twelver Shi'a
Birth	284/897-8
Place of Birth	Baghdad
Residence	Baghdad, Mosul, Egypt, ...
Studied in	Baghdad
Death	355/965-6
Burial Place	Baghdad
Scholarly Information
Professors	Muhammad b. Yahya al-Marwazi, Muhammad b. Ja'far al-Qattat, ...
Students	Harun b. Musa b. Ahmad al-Talla'ukbari, al-Shaykh al-Mufid, 'Ali b. 'Umar al-Darqutni, ...
Works	Al-Shi'a min ashab al-hadith wa tabaqatihim, ...
Socio-Political Activities
Socio-Political Activities	Judge of Mosul

Abū Bakr Muḥammad b. ʿUmar b. Muḥammad al-Tamīmī (Arabic: ابوبکر محمد بن عمر بن محمد التمیمي) (b. 284/897-8 , d. 355/965-6), known as Ibn al-Ji'abi was a Shi'a scholar of hadith and rijal. He has been praised in Shi'a books of rijal and has been introduced as reliable in some copies of al-Shaykh al-Tusi's al-Fihrist.

Life

Ibn Nadim recorded his name 'Amr b. Muhammad and al-Shaykh al-Tusi has mentioned it 'Umar b. Muhammad. According to some copies of al-Tusi's al-Fihrist, Ibn 'Abdun made the same mistake too. Ibn al-Ji'abi was perhaps born in Baghdad and passed away there.

Toward the last decade of 3rd/9th century, he was studying in Baghdad, as he visited teachers including Qadi Abu Muhammad Yusuf b. Ya'qub (d. 297 /909-10) and others.

There is not much information about his life during 300/912-3 – 330/941-2, except that he had a trip to Dinwar to hear hadiths from 'Abd Allah b. Muhammad al-Dinwari. It is very likely that his trip to Mosul and his position as a judge was at this time.

During the rule of Ikhshid (324/935-6 – 334/945-6), Ibn al-Ji'abi had a trip to Egypt and visited him. He also spent a while near Sayf al-Dawla, Shi'a ruler of Aleppo (333/944-5 – 356/966-7). In addition to Aleppo, Ibn al-Ji'abi traveled to other places of Syria including Damascus and coastal line of Mediterranean Sea.

Although the accounts about the order of these journeys are a little different, but these trips to Egypt and Syria may be considered after each other and taking place around 333/944-5. After all, he returned to Baghdad when al-Hakim al-Neyshaburi was his student from 341/952-3 - 343/954-5 and Ibn 'Ayyash studied with him after 340/951-2.

In 348/959-60, Ibn al-Ji'abi was with Ibn 'Amid, the famous Buyid minister in Arjan and apparently, less than a year later, he returned to Baghdad with him, but he did not stay there and immediately went to Isfahan in 349/960-1. There is little information about him during 349/960-1 - 353/964-5. It is known that he was in Baghdad in 353/964-5 and 354/965, when al-Shaykh al-Mufid and Ibn Babiwayh heard hadiths from him. During his life, Ibn al-Ji'abi went to Kufa at least once and went to Raqqah two times about the dates of which there is no information.

Characteristics

Ibn al-Ji'abi was competent in recording texts and keeping documents; and in addition to narrating hadiths, he analyzed hadiths. He had good information about rijal and genealogy. He heard hadiths from greatest sources of his time in Iraq, Syria and Egypt and had the information about the chains of transmission of hadiths from Khurasan as well.

Teachers

Some of his teachers are as follow:

• Muhammad b. Yahya al-Marwazi
• Muhammad b. Ja'far al-Qattat
• Muhammad b. Hasan b. Suma'a al-Hadrami
• Ja'far b. Muhammad al-Faryabi
• Muhammad b. Muhammad b. Sulayman al-Baghandi
• Ahmad b. Muhammad b. 'Uqda al-Hamdani
• Haytham b. Khalaf al-Dawri

Students

• 'Ali b. 'Umar al-Darqutni
• 'Umar b. Ahmad al-Shahin
• Harun b. Musa b. Ahmad al-Talla'ukbari
• Husayn b. 'Ubayd Allah al-Ghada'iri
• Hilal b. Muhammad al-Haffar
• Ahmad b. 'Abd al-Wahid b. 'Abdun
• Bazzaz
• 'Abd Allah b. Ahmad al-Khazin
• Ahmad b. 'Abd Allah al-Isfahani

Religion

It has been frequently mentioned by scholars of rijal that Ibn al-Ji'abi was Shi'a, but Sunnis have different views regarding his reliability.

In the Views of Scholars of Rijal

In a report, al-Darqutni emphasized on Ibn al-Ji'abi's preservation of hadith, however, some people in his time made slanders against him.

Some recent scholars of rijal, relied on these slanders and considered Ibn al-Ji'abi weak and corrupt in religion. One of the reasons for considering him weak was his Shi'a beliefs and associating with the mentioned scholars of kalam (theology).

However, in Shi'a books of rijal, he has been praised and even in some copies of al-Tusi's al-Fihrist, he has been considered reliable.

His Works

According to al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, Ibn al-Ji'abi had many works in hadiths, history and rijal. Some said that in his deathbed, he ordered to burn all his books and thus a pile of his books was put on fire, while previously some of his books were destroyed in Raqqah too. However, some of his works were available a while after his death, some of which are not available now such as the following:

• Tasmiyat man rawa l-hadith wa ghayrah min al-'ulum wa man kanat lah sana'a wa madhhab wa nihla.
• Al-Shi'a min ashab al-hadith wa tabaqatihim: (الشیعة من اصحاب الحدیث و طبقاتهم) according to the report of al-Najashi, this book was available for at least a century after Ibn al-Ji'abi.
• Man haddatha huwa wa waladah (abuh) 'an al-Nabi (s)': Ibn al-Hajar attributed it to Ibn al-Ji'abi and quoted from it.
• Man rawa hadith Ghadir Khumm: Perhaps, Ibn Shahr Ashub saw this book. He mentioned that Ibn al-Ji'abi collected hadith of Ghadir from 125 different chains of transmission, seven ways of which have been mentioned by Ibn Babiwayh inMa'ani al-akhbar.