105 – al-Zahrawī, ʿUmar ibn ʿUbayd Allah ibn Yūsuf ibn Ḥāmid *

The imām, scholar, ḥāfiẓ, master of precision, and—together with Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr—the leading muḥaddith of al-Andalus: Abū Ḥafṣ ʿUmar ibn ʿUbayd Allah ibn Yūsuf ibn Ḥāmid al-Dhuhlī (1), the Córdoban, known as al-Zahrawī.

The city of al-Zahrāʾ lies a few hours’ journey from Córdoba; it was founded by the Umayyad ruler al-Nāṣir (2).

He was born in 361 AH.

He transmitted hadith from Abū Muḥammad ibn Asad, ʿAbd al-Wārith ibn Sufyān, the judge Abū al-Muṭarrif ibn Fuṭays, Abū ʿAbd Allah ibn Abī Zamanīn, Salamah ibn Saʿīd, Abū al-Muṭarrif al-Qanāziʿī, ʿAbd al-Salām ibn Samḥ, Abū al-Qāsim ibn ʿUṣfūr, Abū al-Walīd ibn al-Farḍī, and others of the same rank among the scholars of Córdoba, al-Zahrāʾ, and Seville.

Abū al-Ḥasan al-Qābisī and a group of scholars wrote to him, granting him license.

He was devoted to the transmission, collection, and audition of hadith (3).

Among those who reported from him were Abū ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAttāb; his son ʿAbd al-Raḥmān; his other son Abū al-Qāsim; Abū Marwān al-Ṭubnī (4); and Abū ʿUmar ibn Mahdī, the Qur’an-reciter, who said: “He was …"