233 – Ibn al-Simsar, Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Dimashqī
Abū al-ʿAbbās Muḥammad ibn Mūsā ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Dimashqī, known as Ibn al-Simsar, was an imam, a ḥāfiẓ, and a truthful authority—the leading traditionist of Damascus.
He studied under Muḥammad ibn Khuraym, Abū al-Ḥasan ibn Jawṣā, Abū al-Jahm ibn Ṭalāb, the judge Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Maḥāmilī, Ibn Makhlad, Ibn al-Dahdāh al-Dimashqī, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Sarī al-Ḥimṣī (the ḥāfiẓ), and many others.
Among those who transmitted from him were his brother Abū al-Ḥasan Muḥammad, Muḥammad ibn ʿAwf al-Muzanī, Tammām al-Rāzī, Makkī ibn al-Ghamr, and others.
ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Kattānī said, “He was trustworthy, distinguished, and a master memorizer; he wrote down qinṭārs—vast quantities—of ḥadīth.”
Al-Maydānī recorded that he died in Ramaḍān of the year 363 AH.
= Salih, from his father, from Abu Hurayra, reports that the Prophet said: “Whoever performs ghusl (ritual bathing), then comes to the Friday prayer, offers whatever voluntary prayers he can, remains silent until the khatib (preacher) finishes his khutba (sermon), and then prays with him, will have his sins forgiven from that Friday to the next, plus three additional days.”
Other narrations on the same topic: from Abu Ayyub in Ahmad, 5/420, graded authentic by Ibn Khuzayma (no. 1775); from Salman in al-Bukhari, 2/308–309; and from Aws ibn Aws in Abd al-Razzaq (no. 5570), Ahmad, 4/8, al-Tirmidhi (no. 496), Abu Dawud (no. 345), al-Nasa’i, 3/95, and Ibn Maja (no. 1087). The isnad (chain) is sound, and Ibn Khuzayma also declared it authentic (no. 1758).
(*) Tadhkirat al-huffaz, 3/984; al-Ibar, 2/331; al-Nujum al-zahira, 4/106; Tabaqat al-huffaz, p. 390; Shadharat al-dhahab, 3/47.