Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ - Shams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi - (17/323)

Siyar Aʿlām al-NubalāʾShams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi

Among those who transmitted from him were Hibat Allah al-Lālkāʾī, Abū Muḥammad al-Khallāl, Abū al-Qāsim al-Azhari, Abū Bakr al-Khaṭīb, Rizq Allah al-Tamīmī, and others.

They praised his memory and understanding, yet differed over his reliability. Al-Azhari declared him weak, and Ibn Abī al-Fawāris faulted his transmission from al-Maṭīrī.

Al-Khaṭīb said, “He was a prolific hadith scholar, a knowledgeable memorizer. For a time he dictated from memory in the Manṣūr Mosque after Abū Ṭāhir al-Mukhlis (1).”

He was also well versed in the Mālikī school (2).

Al-Barqānī remarked, “He would reel off hadith from memory, yet people criticized him. It was said that he copied individual fascicles, then sprinkled them with dust so that they might appear old (3).”

Al-Azhari said, “His books were lost by drowning, so he began rewriting them (4).”

Some leading scholars spoke well of him. He used to review hadith with al-Dāraqutnī and could recite his books from memory (5).

Al-Khaṭīb (6) reported that he died in Ramaḍān of the year 407 AH, at the age of eighty-four.

= Biography of this Muhammad ibn Jaʿfar. (1) Taʾrikh Baghdad, 5/124; it continues there: “He then stopped going out and remained in his house.” (2) See Taʾrikh Baghdad, 5/125. (3) Taʾrikh Baghdad, 5/125; Mizan al-iʿtidal, 1/154. (4) Taʾrikh Baghdad, 5/125. Al-Azhari states verbatim: “I saw all his books freshly copied; he used to say that his original parchment volumes had drowned, so he replaced them with new copies.” Ibn al-Jawzi comments: “This proves nothing, for it is entirely possible that he collated the fresh copies with exemplars that had been read to him. The man would dictate from memory, so he may well have retained what was lost.” Al-Muntazam, 7/284. (5) See Taʾrikh Baghdad, 5/125; Mizan al-iʿtidal, 1/154. (6) In Taʾrikh Baghdad, 5/125.

حَدَّثَ عَنْهُ: هِبَةُ اللهِ اللاَلْكَائِيُّ، وَأَبُو مُحَمَّدٍ الخَلاَّل، وَأَبُو القَاسِمِ الأَزْهَرِيّ، وَأَبُو بَكْرٍ الخَطِيْبُ، وَرزقُ الله التَّمِيْمِيُّ، وَآخَرُوْنَ. أَثنَوا عَلَى حِفْظِهِ وَفَهْمِهِ، وَاخْتَلَفُوا فِي عَدَالَتِهِ، ضَعَّفَهُ الأَزْهَرِيُّ، وَطَعَنَ ابْنُ أَبِي الفَوَارِس فِي روَايته عَنِ المَطِيْرِي. وَقَالَ الخَطِيْبُ: كَانَ مُحَدِّثاً مُكْثِراً، حَافِظاً عَارِفاً، مَكَثَ مُدَّةً يُمْلِي مِنْ حِفْظِهِ بِجَامع المَنْصُوْر بَعْد أَبِي طَاهِرٍ المُخَلِّص (١) . وَكَانَ عَارِفاً بِمَذْهَبِ مَالِك (٢) . وَقَالَ البَرْقَانِيُّ: كَانَ يَسْرُدُ الحَدِيْثَ مِنْ حِفْظِهِ، وَتكَلَّمُوا فِيْهِ، فَقِيْلَ: إِنَّهُ كَانَ يَكْتُبُ الأَجزَاءَ، وَيُتَرِّبُهَا، لِيُظَنَّ أَنَّهَا عُتُق (٣) . وَقَالَ الأَزْهَرِيُّ: غَرِقَتْ كُتُبه، فَكَانَ يُجَدِّدُهَا (٤) . وَأَثْنَى عَلَيْهِ بَعْضُ الأَئِمَّة، وَكَانَ يُذَاكِر الدَّارَقُطْنِيّ، وَيَسْرُدُ مِنْ حِفْظِهِ كُتُبَه (٥) . قَالَ الخَطِيْبُ (٦) :تُوُفِّيَ فِي رَمَضَانَ سَنَةَ سَبْعٍ وَأَرْبَعِ مائَةٍ، وَلَهُ أَرْبَعٌ وَثَمَانُوْنَ سَنَةً.

= ترجمة محمد بن جعفر هذا. (١) " تاريخ بغداد " ٥ / ١٢٤ وتتمته فيه: ثم انقطع عن الخروج، ولزم بيته. (٢) انظر " تاريخ بغداد " ٥ / ١٢٥. (٣) " تاريخ بغداد " ٥ / ١٢٥، و" ميزان الاعتدال " ١ / ١٥٤. (٤) " تاريخ بغداد " ٥ / ١٢٥ ونص كلام الازهري: رأيت كتبه كلها طرية، وكان يذكر أن أصوله العتق غرقت، فاستدرك نسخها. قال ابن الجوزي: وهذا ليس بشيء، لأنه من الجائز أن يكون قد قابل بالطرية نسخا قرئت عليه، وقد كان الرجل يملي من حفظه، فيجوز أن يكون حافظا لما ذهب. " المنتظم " ٧ / ٢٨٤. (٥) انظر " تاريخ بغداد " ٥ / ١٢٥، و" ميزان الاعتدال " ١ / ١٥٤. (٦) في " تاريخ بغداد " ٥ / ١٢٥.