Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ - Shams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi - (19/256)

Siyar Aʿlām al-NubalāʾShams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi

He was born in 411 AH.

After he turned twenty he heard ḥadīth from Abū ʿAlī ibn Shādhān, Bushrā al-Fātanī, Ibn Dūmā al-Niʿālī, and his maternal grandfather Abū al-Ḥusayn al-Ṣābiʾ ⦗1⦘. He lived a very long life, enabling junior students to meet senior transmitters, though the amount he himself heard was not great.

Those who narrated from him include his grandson Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad, Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn ʿAqīl, Abū Ṭāhir al-Silafī, Abū al-ʿAlāʾ al-ʿAṭṭār, Dahbal ibn Kārah ⦗2⦘, ʿĪsā ibn Muḥammad al-Kalwādhānī, ʿAbd al-Munʿim ibn Kulayb, and many others.

al-Samʿānī said: “He was a learned, virtuous, elderly shaykh, distinguished in bearing ⦗3⦘. He was the last person to relate from Ibn Shādhān, and I possess his authorization.”

Ibn Nāṣir said: “He had a leaning toward Shiʿism, yet his auditions were sound. During the year before his death he lay on his back unconscious; whoever claims to have read to him in that state is mistaken and has lied about him, for from the beginning of 511 AH he no longer understood what was being read to him.

“I also heard him mention his birth year, and on another occasion I heard him say: ‘The year fifteen.’ When I asked him about that, he replied, ‘I only wished to ward off the evil eye; otherwise my birth was in 411 AH.’” ⦗4⦘

(1) Ibn al-Najjar, quoted by al-Safadi in al-Wafi, 3/104, states: “No one else on earth was left who narrated from those four shaykhs except him; he therefore linked the younger generation to the elders. Students travelled to him from all regions, he transmitted abundantly, and his auditions were sound.” (2) Tawdih al-Mushtabih, vol. 2, folio 8: He is Abu al-Hasan Dahbal (dal with fath, silent ha, open ba, followed by lam) ibn Ali ibn Mansur ibn Ibrahim ibn Abd Allah ibn Karah al-Baghdadi al-Harimi. He related hadith from Abu al-Qasim Ali ibn Bayan and others, and died in 569 AH/1174 CE. (3) The base manuscript reads al-hanat; the present edition follows the reading found in Tarikh al-Islam and Lisan al-Mizan. (4) “And five hundred” completes the date 569 AH. The author notes in al-Mizan that he became mentally confused two years before his death; hence only reports heard from him before that time are reliable.

وُلِدَ: سَنَةَ إِحْدَى عَشْرَةَ وَأَرْبَعِ مائَة. وَسَمِعَ بَعْدَ العِشْرِيْنَ مِنْ: أَبِي عَلِيٍّ بنِ شَاذَانَ، وَبُشرَى الفَاتَنِي، وَابْنِ دُومَا النِّعَالِيّ، وَجدِّه لأُمِّهِ أَبِي الحُسَيْنِ الصَّابِئ (١) ، وَعُمِّرَ دَهْراً طَوِيْلاً، وَأَلْحَقَ الصّغَارَ بِالكِبَار، وَلَمْ يَكُنْ سَمَاعُهُ كَثِيْراً. حَدَّثَ عَنْهُ: حَفِيْدُهُ مُحَمَّدُ بن أَحْمَدَ، وَمُحَمَّدُ بنُ جَعْفَرِ بنِ عَقِيْلٍ، وَأَبُو طَاهِرٍ السِّلَفِيُّ، وَأَبُو العَلاَءِ العَطَّار، وَدَهْبَلُ بنُ كَارَه (٢) ، وَعِيْسَى بن مُحَمَّدٍ الكَلْوَاذَانِي، وَعَبْدُ المُنْعِمِ بنُ كُلَيْبٍ، وَخَلْقٌ كَثِيْرٌ. قَالَ السَّمْعَانِيُّ: هُوَ شَيْخٌ عَالِمٌ، فَاضِل مُسِنٌّ، مِنْ ذَوِي الهَيئَاتِ (٣) ، وَكَانَ آخِرَ مَنْ رَوَى عَنِ ابْنِ شَاذَانَ، وَلِي مِنْهُ إِجَازَةٌ. قَالَ ابْنُ نَاصِرٍ: فِيْهِ تَشَيُّع، وَكَانَ سَمَاعُهُ صَحِيْحاً، بَقِيَ قَبْلَ مَوْته سَنَةً مُلْقَى عَلَى ظَهْرِهِ لاَ يَعْقِلُ، فَمَنْ قرَأَ عَلَيْهِ فِي تِلْكَ الحَالَة، فَقَدْ أَخْطَأَ وَكَذَبَ عَلَيْهِ، فَإِنَّهُ لَمْ يَكُنْ يَفهَمُ مَا يُقرَأُ عَلَيْهِ مِنْ أَوّل سَنَة إِحْدَى عَشْرَةَ. قَالَ ابْنُ نَاصر: وَسَمِعتُهُ يذكر مَوْلِدَه، ثُمَّ سَمِعتُهُ مرَّة يَقُوْلُ: سَنَةَ خَمْسَ عَشْرَةَ، فَكَلَّمته فِي ذَلِكَ، فَقَالَ: أَردتُ أَنْ أَدفع عَنِّي العينَ، وَإِلاَّ فَمَوْلِدي سَنَة إِحْدَى عَشْرَةَ (٤) .

(١) قال ابن النجار فيما نقله عنه الصفدي في " الوافي ": ٣ / ١٠٤: ولم يبق على وجه الأرض من يروي عن هؤلاء الأربعة غيره، فألحق الصغار بالكبار، وقصد الطلاب من الاقطار، وحدث كثيرا، وكان صحيح السماع. (٢) في " توضيح المشتبه ": ٢ / الورقة: ٨: هو أبو الحسن دهبل (بفتح أوله وسكون الهاء وفتح الموحدة تليها لام) بن علي بن منصور بن إبراهيم بن عبد الله بن كاره البغدادي الحريمي، حدث عن أبي القاسم علي بن بيان، وآخرين، توفي في سنة تسع وستين وخمس مئة. (٣) في الأصل: الهنات، والمثبت من " تاريخ الإسلام "، و" لسان الميزان ". (٤) وخمس مئة، قال المؤلف في " الميزان ": إنه اختلط قبل موته بعامين، فيعتبر تاريخ السامع منه.