Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ - Shams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi - (18/142)

Siyar Aʿlām al-NubalāʾShams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi

and its worshippers and leading figures; an enormous crowd escorted his bier.
He died in Baghdad in the year 465 AH.

With regard to what he claimed about the Quran being “occurring” (ḥādith): if by it he meant that the Quran was created, then he is a Muʿtazilite, Jahmite. But if he meant that its occurrence refers to its being sent down to the community on the tongue of their Prophet ﷺ, while affirming that it is the speech of Allah and not created, there is no objection to his wording. Among the proofs for this is the Almighty’s saying: “No fresh reminder comes to them from their Lord but that they listen to it while they play” (al-Anbiyaʾ 21:2), that is, newly revealed to them.

77 – al-Bastamī, Abū Sahl Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn
The shaykh and notable of the Shāfiʿīs, Abū Sahl Muḥammad, son of Imām Jamāl al-Islām al-Muwaffaq Hibat-Allāh, son of the distinguished scholar and author Abū ʿUmar Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Bastamī—later of Nīshāpūr—was the ornament of the people of hadith.

After his father, the leadership of the Shāfiʿī school fell to him. He was the chief teacher: intelligent, dignified, and sparing in speech. He died young at the age of thirty-three.

He studied under al-Naṣrawī and Abū Ḥassān al-Muzakkī.

His house served as a gathering-place for scholars; jurists flocked around him out of respect for his father, and he enjoyed broad acceptance. Al-Qushayrī (1) lent him strong support, yet he attracted adversaries and enviers, and they misrepresented him

(*) Muntaqah al-Siyāq, p. 19; al-Subki, Tabaqāt al-Shāfiʿiyyah al-Kubrā, 4/208–210 and 3/390–393; al-Asnawī, Tabaqāt, 1/226. Concerning the nisbah al-Bustāmī: with a fatḥah on the initial b (Bustāmī), as in the base manuscript and in Ibn al-Samʿānī’s al-Ansāb, it refers to the town of Bustām in the region of Qūmis. When the b is pronounced with a kasrah (Bistāmī), it denotes descent from an ancestor named Bustām; this is the form recorded in al-Ansāb and al-Mushtabah, and Ibn al-Athīr affirms that the vowel-kasrah is correct in all cases, whether the reference is to the town or to the forefather. See al-Lubāb, 1/152–153. (1) The person meant is Abū al-Qāsim al-Qushayrī, whose biography will appear under no. 109.

وَعُبَّادِهم وَأَعيَانهِم، شَيَّعَ جِنَازَته خلقٌ عَظِيْم. تُوُفِّيَ: سَنَةَ خَمْسٍ وَسِتِّيْنَ وَأَرْبَعِ مائَة بِبَغْدَادَ. فَأَمَّا مَا زَعمه مِنْ حَدَثِ القُرْآن، فَإِن عَنَى بِهِ خَلْقَ القُرْآن، فَهُوَ مُعْتَزِلِيٌّ جَهْمِيٌّ، وَإِن عَنَى بِحُدُوثِهِ إِنزَاله إِلَى الأُمَّة عَلَى لِسَانِ نَبيِّهَا ﷺ وَاعْتَرَفَ بِأَنَّهُ كَلاَمُ الله لَيْسَ بِمَخْلُوْق، فَلاَبَأْس بِقَوْله، وَمِنْهُ قَوْله تَعَالَى: ﴿مَا يَأْتيهم مِنْ ذِكْرٍ مِنْ رَبّهم مُحْدَثٍ إِلاَّ اسْتمعُوْهُ وَهُمْ يَلعبُوْنَ﴾ [الأَنْبِيَاء:٢] . أَي مُحْدث الإِنزَال إِلَيْهِم. ٧٧ - البسْطَامِيُّ أَبُو سَهْلٍ مُحَمَّدُ بنُ مُحَمَّدِ بنِ الحُسَيْنِ * شَيْخُ الشَّافِعِيَّةِ وَمُحتشِمُهُم، أَبُو سَهْلٍ مُحَمَّدُ ابْنُ الإِمَامِ جَمَالِ الإِسْلاَمِ المُوَفْقِ هِبَةِ اللهِ ابْنِ العَلاَّمَةِ المُصَنِّفِ أَبِي عُمَرَ مُحَمَّدِ بنِ الحُسَيْنِ البِسْطَامِيُّ، ثُمَّ النَّيْسَابُوْرِيُّ، زَينُ أَهْلِ الحَدِيْثِ. انْتَهَت إِلَيْهِ زعَامَةُ الشَّافِعِيَّة بَعْد أَبِيْهِ، وَكَانَ مدرساً رَئِيْساً، ذكيّاً، وَقُوْراً، قَلِيْلَ الكَلاَم، مَاتَ شَابّاً عَنْ ثَلاَثٍ وَثَلاَثِيْنَ سَنَةً. سَمِعَ مِنَ: النَّصْرويِي، وَأَبِي حَسَّانٍ المُزَكِّي. وَكَانَتْ دَارُه مجمعَ العُلَمَاء، وَاحتفَّ بِهِ الفُقَهَاء رعَايَةً لأُبُوَّته، وَظهر لَهُ القبولُ، وَشدّ مِنْهُ القُشَيْرِيّ (١) ، وَظهر لَهُ خصومٌ وَحُسَّاد، وحرَّفُوا عَنْهُ

(*) منتخب السياق: ١٩، طبقات السبكي ٤ / ٢٠٨ - ٢١٠ و٣ / ٣٩٠ - ٣٩٣، طبقات الاسنوي ١ / ٢٢٦، والبسطامي: بفتح الباء كما في الأصل و" الأنساب " نسبة إلى بسطام: بلدة بقومس. وأما البسطامي، بكسر الباء فهي نسبة إلى الجد بسطام كما في " الأنساب " و" المشتبة " وجزم ابن الأثير بأن الصواب الكسر مطلقا سواء أكان نسبة إلى البلد أم إلى الجد. انظر " اللباب " ١ / ١٥٢ - ١٥٣. (١) هو أبو القاسم القشيري، وسترد ترجمته برقم (١٠٩) .