Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ - Shams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi - (18/399)

Siyar Aʿlām al-NubalāʾShams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi

—Yūsuf al-Aṣbahānī; Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī; ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad ibn Bālūyah; Abū Bakr al-Ḥīrī; and many others besides.

Those who transmitted from him include: Wajīh al-Shaḥḥāmī, Abū Naṣr al-Ghāzī, Abū al-Asʿad ibn al-Qushayrī, and a number of others.

His reports reach us only by written authorization (ijāzah).

Abū Bakr al-Khaṭīb likewise narrated from him in his History, saying: “Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā informed us; Ibn Bālūyah narrated to us; Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Qaṭṭān narrated to us; Qaṭan (1) …” He then mentioned a hadith which came to me with a high chain in Ibn Bālūyah’s gathering.

Al-Khaṭīb (2) said: “I wrote ḥadiths from him.” He added that the shaykh had heard from his father, from Ibn Maḥmish, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Bālūyah, and from al-Sulamī. “After some years he returned to me and related from al-Ḥākim, though he had not previously done so.”

I (the author) say: This proves nothing.

[Khaṭīb] also said: “We found no foundational material of his; he would narrate only subsidiary reports.”

Abū Saʿd al-Samʿānī remarked: “Al-Khaṭīb was undecided about him.”

ʿAbd al-Ghafir al-Fārisī said: “Among all the shaykhs we met, he was one of the most refined and had attended the greatest number of auditions.”

He reported from roughly fifty of Abū al-Aṣamm’s pupils, and even more from his own father,

(1) Tarikh Baghdad, 3/435. Complete wording: Hafs b. Abd Allah related to us, saying: Ibrahim b. Tahman narrated to me, from Musa b. Uqba, from Nafi, from Ibn Umar who reported that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “The upper hand is better than the lower hand.” Ibn Umar added: “The upper hand is the one that gives, while the lower hand is the one that asks.” The hadith also appears in the Muwatta, 2/998 (section on charity); through the same chain in al-Bukhari, 3/235 (Book of Zakah, chapter: ‘No charity except from surplus wealth’); and in Muslim, no. 1033 (Book of Zakah, chapter: ‘The upper hand is better than the lower hand’), all on the authority of Nafi, from Ibn Umar. (2) Tarikh Baghdad, 3/435.

يُوْسُف الأَصْبَهَانِيّ، وَأَبَا عَبْدِ الرَّحْمَنِ السُّلَمِيَّ، وَعبدَ الرَّحْمَن بن مُحَمَّدِ بنِ بَالويه، وَأَبَا بَكْرٍ الحِيْرِيّ، وَخَلْقاً كَثِيْراً. حَدَّثَ عَنْهُ: وَجيهٌ الشَّحَّامِيّ، وَأَبُو نَصْرٍ الغَازِي، وَأَبُو الأَسَعْد بن القُشَيْرِيّ، وَخَلْقٌ سِوَاهُم. يَقع لَنَا حَدِيْثُه بِإِجَازَة. وَقَدْ حَدَّثَ عَنْهُ: أَبُو بَكْرٍ الخَطِيْبُ فِي (تَارِيْخِهِ) فَقَالَ: أَخْبَرَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بنُ يَحْيَى، حَدَّثَنَا ابْنُ بَالويه، حَدَّثَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بنُ الحُسَيْنِ القَطَّان، حَدَّثَنَا قَطَن (١) ... ، فَذَكَرَ حَدِيْثاً وَقَعَ لِي عَالِياً فِي مَجْلِس ابْن بَالويه. قَالَ الخَطِيْبُ (٢) :كَتَبْتُ عَنْهُ. وَذَكَرَ أَنَّهُ سَمِعَ: أَبَاهُ، وَابْنُ مَحْمِش، وَعبدَ الرَّحْمَن بن بَالَوَيْه، وَالسُّلَمِيّ، ثُمَّ عَادَ إِلَيَّ بَعْد سِنِيْنَ، فَحَدَّث عَنِ الحَاكِم، وَلَمْ يَكُنْ حَدَّثَ عَنْهُ فِيمَا تَقدم. قُلْتُ: هَذَا لاَ يَدلُّ عَلَى شَيْءٍ. قَالَ: وَلَمْ نَر لَهُ أَصلاً، إِنَّمَا كَانَ يَرْوِي مِنْ فروع. وَقَالَ أَبُو سَعْدٍ السَّمْعَانِيُّ: كَانَ الخَطِيْبُ مُتَوَقِّفاً فِيْهِ. وَقَالَ عبدُ الغَافِرِ الفَارِسِيُّ: هُوَ مِنْ أَظرفِ المَشَايِخ الَّذِيْنَ لقينَاهُم، وَأَكْثَرِهم سَمَاعاً. رَوَى عَنْ نَحْو خَمْسِيْنَ مِنْ أَصْحَابِ الأَصَمّ، وَأَكْثَر عَنْ أَبِيْهِ،

(١) " تاريخ بغداد " ٣ / ٤٣٥، وتمامه: حدثنا حفص بن عبد الله، قال: حدثني إبراهيم بن طهمان، عن موسى بن عقبة، عن نافع، عن ابن عمر، قال: قال رسول الله ﷺ: " اليد العليا خير من اليد السفلى قال: واليد العليا المنفقة واليد السفلى السائلة " وهو في " الموطأ " ٢ / ٩٩٨ في الصدقة، ومن طريقه البخاري ٣ / ٢٣٥ في الزكاة: باب لا صدقة إلا عن ظهر غنى، ومسلم (١٠٣٣) في الزكاة: باب بيان أن اليد العليا خير من اليد السفلى عن نافع، عن ابن عمر. (٢) " تاريخ بغداد " ٣ / ٤٣٥.