228 – Abū Usāma al-Harawī Muḥammad b. Aḥmad b. Muḥammad *
The imam, ḥadīth scholar, and Qur’an reciter: Abū Usāma Muḥammad b. Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. al-Qāsim al-Harawī, Shaykh of the Ḥaram.
He studied Qur’an recitation under al-Samarī (1) and Abū al-Ṭayyib b. Ghalbūn (2).
He transmitted ḥadīth from: Abū al-Ṭāhir al-Dhuhlī; Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-Naqqāsh, the ḥadīth scholar of Tinnīs; Abū ʿAlī b. Abī al-Ramrām; al-Faḍl b. Jaʿfar, the mu’adhdhin; Muḥammad b. Waṣīf al-Ghazzī; and Aḥmad b. ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿAbd al-Muʾmin al-Makkī.
Among those who narrated from him were his son ʿAbd al-Salām, Abū ʿAlī al-Ahwāzī, Abū Bakr al-Bayhaqī, Abū al-Ghanāʾim b. al-Farrāʾ, and Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-Muṭarriz.
He taught ḥadīth in Mecca and Damascus, and Ṭalḥah b. ʿUbayd Allāh al-Jīruftī (3) also heard from him.
Abū ʿAmr al-Dānī said: “I saw him giving Qur’an lessons in Mecca, and at times he would dictate ḥadīth from memory, but he mixed up the chains of transmission and altered the texts.” (4)
(*) Al-Dhahabi, Mizan al-iʿtidal, vol. 3, p. 464; Ibn Hajar, Lisan al-mizan, vol. 5, p. 55; al-Fasi, al-ʿAqd al-thamin, vol. 1, p. 382; Ibn al-Jazari, Ghayat al-nihaya, vol. 2, pp. 86–87.
(1) This is ʿAbd Allah ibn al-Husayn ibn Hasnun, Abu Ahmad al-Samari al-Baghdadi, a Qurʾan reciter regarded as the chief authority in Egypt; he died in 386 AH/996 CE. His biography appeared in volume 16.
(2) This is ʿAbd al-Munʿim ibn Ghalbun ibn al-Mubarak, Abu al-Tayyib al-Halabi, an accomplished Qurʾan reader and author of the book al-Irshad fi al-qiraʾat; he died in 389 AH/999 CE. The author treats him in Maʿrifat al-qurraʾ al-kibar, vol. 1, pp. 285–286, and Ibn al-Jazari in Ghayat al-nihaya, vol. 1, p. 470.
(3) The nisba “Jirufti” refers to Jiruft; al-Samʿani vocalises the middle consonant with ḍamma, while Yaqut reads it with fatḥa. Jiruft is a town in Kirman.
(4) See also: Mizan al-iʿtidal, vol. 3, p. 464; Lisan al-mizan, vol. 5, p. 55; al-ʿAqd al-thamin, vol. 1, p. 382; Ghayat al-nihaya, vol. 2, p. 87.