Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj

{{Short description|Arab Muslim hadith scholar (815–875)}} {{Expand Arabic|date=February 2016|topic=bio}} {{Infobox religious biography | image = | name = Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj<br/>{{lang|ar|مسلم بن الحجاج}} | caption = | title = Imām Muslim | birth_date = after {{Circa}} 815 | birth_place = Nishapur, Abbasid Caliphate | death_date = May {{Circa}} 875 | death_place = Nasarabad, Abbasid Caliphate | resting_place = Nasarabad | jurisprudence = Shafi'i/Mujtahid | ethnicity = | era = Islamic Golden Age <br/>(Abbasid era) | region = Abbasid Caliphate | occupation = Islamic scholar, Muhaddith | religion = Islam | denomination = Sunni | school = | alma_mater = | main_interests = Hadith Aqidah | notable_ideas = | works = ''Sahih Muslim'' | influences = Ishaq Ibn Rahwayh,<ref name="Balushipp150To165"/> Muhammad al-Bukhari<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ibnamin.com/Manhaj/muslim.htm|title=منهج الإمام مسلم بن الحجاج|website=www.ibnamin.com|access-date=2006-09-23|archive-date=2018-10-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181030021719/http://www.ibnamin.com/Manhaj/muslim.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> | influenced = All Sunni Scholars | creed = | honorific prefix = Imam | module = {{infobox Arabic name|embed=yes |ism=Muslim |ism-ar=مُسْلِم |nasab=Ibn al-Ḥajjāj ibn Muslim ibn Ward ibn Kushādh |nasab-ar=ٱبْن ٱلْحَجَّاج ٱبْن مُسْلِم ٱبْن وَرْد ٱبْن كُشَاذ |kunya=Abū al-Ḥusayn |kunya-ar=أَبُو ٱلْحُسَيْن |nisba=Al-Qushayrī al-Naysābūrī |nisba-ar=ٱلْقُشَيْرِيّ ٱلنَّيْسَابُورِيّ }} }}

'''Abū al-Ḥusayn Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj ibn Muslim ibn Ward al-Qushayrī an-Naysābūrī'''{{#tag:ref

|The name of his father has sometimes been given as {{lang|ar|حجاج}} (''Ḥajjāj'') instead of {{lang|ar|الحجاج}} (''al-Ḥajjāj''). The name of his great-great-grandfather has variously been given as {{lang|ar|كوشاذ}} (''Kūshādh''<ref name="abdulmawjood"/> or ''Kawshādh''), {{lang|ar|كرشان}}&lrm;<ref name="Awali1985">{{cite book |title='Awālī Muslim: arba'ūna ḥadīthan muntaqātun min Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim (عوالي مسلم: أربعون حديثا منتقاتا من صحيح مسلم) |publisher=Mu’assasat al-kutub ath-Thaqāfīyah (مؤسسة الكتب الثقافية) |location=Beirut |year=1985 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fqkXAAAAIAAJ&q=%D9%83%D8%B1%D8%B4%D8%A7%D9%86 |language=ar |access-date=2016-01-07 |archive-date=2016-04-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160427164911/https://books.google.com/books?id=fqkXAAAAIAAJ&q=%D9%83%D8%B1%D8%B4%D8%A7%D9%86 |url-status=live }}</ref> (''Kirshān'', ''Kurshān'', or ''Karshān''), or {{lang|ar|كوشان}} (''Kūshān or Kawshān'').

|group="note"}} ({{langx|ar|أبو الحسين مسلم بن الحجاج بن مسلم بن وَرْد القشيري النيسابوري}}; after 815 – May 875 CE / 206 – 261 AH), commonly known as '''Imam Muslim''', was an Islamic scholar from the city of Nishapur, particularly known as a ''muhaddith'' (scholar of hadith). His hadith collection, known as ''Sahih Muslim'', is one of the six major hadith collections in Sunni Islam and is regarded as one of the two most authentic (''sahih'') collections, alongside ''Sahih al-Bukhari''.

==Biography== Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj was born in the town of Nishapur<ref name="EDI7">{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/EncyclopaediaDictionaryIslamMuslimWorldEtcGibbKramerScholars.13/07.EncycIslam.NewEdPrepNumLeadOrient.EdEdComCon.BosDonLewPel.etc.UndPatIUA.v7.Mif-Naz.Leid.EJBrill.1993./page/n744/mode/1up|title=Encyclopaedia Dictionary Islam Muslim World, etc, Gibb, Kramer volume 7. 1960-2004.1875.2009.|last=Oriental Scholars|page=691}}</ref> in the Abbasid province of Khorasan, in what is now northeastern Iran. Historians differ as to his date of birth, though it is usually given as 202 AH (817/818),<ref name="siddiqui"/><ref name="ahmad"/> 204 AH (819/820),<ref name="abdulmawjood"/><ref name="ali"/> or 206 AH (821/822).<ref name="siddiqui"/><ref name="ahmad"/><ref name="ibnkhallikan"/>

Al-Dhahabi said, "It is said that he was born in the year 204 AH," though he also said, "But I think he was born before that."<ref name="abdulmawjood"/>

Ibn Khallikan could find no report of Muslim's date of birth or age at death by any of the ḥuffāẓ "hadith masters", except their agreement that he was born after 200 AH (815/816). Ibn Khallikan cites ibn al-Salah, who cites al-Hakim al-Nishapuri's ''Kitab ʿUlama al-Amsar'', in the claim that Muslim was 55 years old when he died on 25 Rajab, 261 AH (May 875)<ref name="ibnkhallikan"/> and therefore his year of birth must have been 206 AH (821/822).

Ibn al-Bayyiʿ reports that he was buried in Nasarabad, a suburb of Nishapur.

According to scholars, he was of Arab origin.<ref name="Frye1975"/><ref name="Qushayri"/> The nisba "al-Qushayri" signifies he belonged to the Arab tribe of Banu Qushayr, members of which migrated to the newly conquered Persian territory during the expansion of the Rashidun Caliphate. According to two scholars, ibn al-Athīr and ibn al-Salāh, he was a member of that tribe. His family had migrated to Persia nearly two centuries earlier following the conquest.<ref name=abdulmawjood/>

The author's teachers included Harmala ibn Yahya, Sa'id ibn Mansur, Abd-Allah ibn Maslamah al-Qa'nabi, al-Dhuhali, al-Bukhari, ibn Ma'in, Yahya ibn Yahya al-Nishaburi al-Tamimi, and others. Among his students were al-Tirmidhi, ibn Abi Hatim al-Razi, and Ibn Khuzayma, each of whom also wrote works on hadith. After his studies throughout the Arabian Peninsula, Egypt, Iraq and Syria, he settled in his hometown of Nishapur, where he met, and became a lifelong friend of al-Bukhari.

=== Sources === Several sources became prominent loci for learning about the biography of Muslim. The ''History of Baghdad'' by al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, produced in the 11th century, formed the basis of all subsequent descriptions of his life in Islamic sources. For example, the complete biography of Muslim in the ''History of Islam'' by al-Dhahabi contains 27 reports, 11 of which (41%) come from Al-Baghdadi's ''History''. The second most important source for information about Muslim's life, was the ''History of Nishapur'' of al-Hakim al-Nishapuri. The ''History of Baghdad'' itself, which contains 14 reports about Muslim, took half of them (7) from the ''History of Nishapur''.{{Sfn|Brown|2007|p=274}}

== Sahih Muslim == {{Main|Sahih Muslim}} In the mid-9th century, Muslim composed a collection of what he considered entirely sahih hadith, now known as Sahih Muslim. Today, it is considered one of the six canonical books of hadith in Sunni Islam. In particular, it along with Sahih al-Bukhari are considered the two pre-eminent collections in this canon; together they are called the Sahihayn. Figures on the number of hadiths in this book vary from three to twelve thousand, depending on whether duplicates are included, or only the text is. Muslim's collection has a substantial overlap with Sahih al-Bukhari: according to Al-Jawzaqi, 2,326 traditions are shared between the two. The collections also roughly share 2,400 narrators; only 430 of the narrators in Sahih al-Bukhari are not found in Sahih Muslim, and only 620 narrators in Sahih Muslim are not found in Sahih al-Bukhari.{{Sfn|Brown|2007|p=84}}

== Legacy == The scholar of Ahlus-Sunnah, Ishaq Ibn Rahwayh was first to recommend Muslim's work.{{Sfn|Brown|2007|p=86}}

Ishaq's contemporaries did not at first accept this; Abu Zur‘a al-Razi objected that Muslim had omitted too much material which Muslim himself recognised as authentic and that he included transmitters who were weak.{{Sfn|Brown|2007|p=91–92, 155}}

Ibn Abi Hatim (d. 327/938) later accepted Muslim as "trustworthy, one of the hadith masters with knowledge of hadith"; but this contrasts with much more fulsome praise of Abu Zur‘a and also his father Abu Hatim. It is similar with Ibn al-Nadim.{{Sfn|Brown|2007|p=88–89}}

Muslim's book gradually increased in stature such that it is considered among Ahlus-Sunnah the most authentic collections of hadith, second only to Sahih Bukhari.{{Sfn|Brown|2007|p=272–274}}

==Works== *''Sahih Muslim'': his collection of authentic hadith Al-Kuna wa al-Asma: his collections of narrator's names and kunyas Al-Tamyiz: His work on the hidden defects in hadith (illal)

==Notes== {{Reflist|group=note}}

==References==

=== Citations === <references> <ref name="abdulmawjood">{{cite book |author=Salahuddin ʿAli Abdul Mawjood |translator=Abu Bakr Ibn Nasir |title=The Biography of Imam Muslim bin al-Hajjaj |publisher=Darussalam |location=Riyadh |year=2007 |isbn=978-9960988191}}</ref>

<ref name="ahmad">{{cite book |author=K.J. Ahmad |title=Hundred Great Muslims |year=1987 |publisher=Library of Islam |location=Des Plaines, Illinois |isbn=0933511167}}</ref>

<ref name="ali">{{cite book |author=Syed Bashir Ali |title=Scholars of Hadith |series=The Makers of Islamic Civilization Series |publisher=IQRAʼ International Educational Foundation |location=Malaysia |year=2003 |isbn=1563162040 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6HRKMXkxnkAC |access-date=2016-01-07 |archive-date=2016-06-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160617181312/https://books.google.com/books?id=6HRKMXkxnkAC |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name="Balushipp150To165">{{cite book |author=Isḥāq ibn Rāhwayh |date=1990 |editor=ʻAbd al-Ghafūr ʻAbd al-Ḥaqq Ḥusayn Balūshī |title=Musnad Isḥāq ibn Rāhwayh |edition=1st |publisher=Tawzīʻ Maktabat al-Īmān |pages=150–165}}</ref>

<ref name="Frye1975">{{cite book|title=The Cambridge history of Iran |editor=R.N. Frye |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=London |date=1975 |isbn=978-0-521-20093-6 |page=471}}</ref>

<ref name="ibnkhallikan">{{cite book |title=Ibn Khallikan's Biographical Dictionary |volume=III |year=1868 |orig-year=Corrected reprint |publisher=Oriental translation fund of Great Britain and Ireland |translator=William McGuckin de Slane |location=Paris |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lwlRAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA349 |author=Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Khallikan |author-link=Ibn Khallikan |page=349 |access-date=2016-01-07 |archive-date=2016-06-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160617101226/https://books.google.com/books?id=lwlRAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA349 |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name="Qushayri">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_wjYAAAAMAAJ&q=imam+muslim+arab+tribe|title=صحيح مسلم|last1=al-Qushayrī|first1=Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj|last2=Shahryar|first2=Aftab|date=2004-01-01|publisher=Islamic Book Service|isbn=9788172315924|language=en|access-date=2020-12-15|archive-date=2021-09-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210930174444/https://books.google.com/books?id=_wjYAAAAMAAJ&q=imam+muslim+arab+tribe|url-status=live}}</ref>

<ref name="siddiqui">{{cite web |author=Abdul Hamid Siddiqui |author-link=Abdul Hamid Siddiqui |title=Imam Muslim |url=http://www.sunnah.org/history/Scholars/Imam_muslim.htm |access-date=2012-10-29 |archive-date=2012-10-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121031172426/http://www.sunnah.org/history/Scholars/Imam_muslim.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

</references>

=== Sources ===

* {{Cite book |last=Brown |first=Jonathan |url=https://brill.com/display/title/12924 |title=The Canonization of al-Bukhārī and Muslim |chapter=The Canonization of al-Bukhārī and Muslim: The Formation and Function of the Sunnī Ḥadīth Canon |date=2007 |publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-474-2034-7 }}

==External links== {{wikisource|ar|مؤلف:مسلم بن الحجاج|Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj }} * [http://www.muslimscholars.info/manage.php?submit=scholar&ID=30003 Biodata at MuslimScholars.info] * [https://sunnah.com/muslim/about Biography at Sunnah.com] *[http://www.haqislam.org/imam-muslim/ Short Bio of Imam Muslim] *[http://www.dar-us-salam.com/authors/imam_muslim.htm Biography of Imam Muslim] *[http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/fundamentals/hadithsunnah/muslim/ English translation of Sahih Muslim] *[http://www.happy-books.co.uk/muhammad-ibn-abdullah-lineage-and-family-tree/family-tree-diagram-of-lineage-and-relatives-of-prophets-and-companions-in-muslim-history.php?id=547 Interactive Family tree of Imam Muslim by Happy Books] #[http://www.happy-books.co.uk/muhammad-ibn-abdullah-lineage-and-family-tree/students-sheikhs-and-teachers-of-famous-muslim-imams-and-scholars-in-muslim-history.php?id=548 Interactive diagram of teachers and students of Imam Muslim by Happy Books]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muslim Ibn Al-Hajjaj}} Category:9th-century births Category:875 deaths Category:9th-century Iranian writers Category:Iranian scholars Category:Persian Sunni Muslim scholars of Islam Category:9th-century Muslim scholars of Islam Category:Hadith compilers Category:Hadith scholars Category:Muhaddiths from Nishapur Category:9th-century jurists Category:Biographical evaluation scholars Category:9th-century Arab people Category:Banu 'Amir Category:Iranian people of Arab descent