181 – al-Junayd ibn Muhammad, Abū al-Qāsim al-Qāyinī *
The Imām, exemplar, and ḥadīth scholar, Abū al-Qāsim al-Qāyinī (1), who settled in Herat and was the shaykh of the Sufis.
He received ḥadīth from: Abū Bakr Ibn Mājah; Sulaymān the ḥāfiẓ in Isfahan; Abū al-Faḍl (2) Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-ʿĀrif and others in Ṭabas. While in Herat he heard from Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī al-ʿUmayrī and Najīb ibn Maymūn, and in Marw from Abū al-Muẓaffar al-Samʿānī.
Abū Saʿd al-Samʿānī said: “I heard a number of books read from him. He was born in 466 AH and died on the fourteenth of Shawwāl, 547 AH (3).”
Ibn al-Najjār said: “He was a jurist, virtuous, a ḥadīth scholar, truthful, renowned for worship. He studied jurisprudence under Abū al-Muẓaffar, mastered the foundational sciences, and in Qāyin he heard from al-Ḥasan ibn Isḥāq al-Tūnī (4).”
Among those who transmitted from him were: Ibn Nāṣir and Ibn ʿAsākir (5).
= A version transmitted by several Companions is found in the Musnad of Ahmad 5/318 and 4/237, in Ibn Majah (no. 3385) and in al-Nasai 8/313–314. A second version with the Companion Abu Umamah al-Bahili is recorded by Ibn Majah (no. 3384) and by Abu Nuaym in Hilyat al-awliya 6/97. A third version, on the authority of Ibn Abbas, is preserved by al-Tabarani in al-Muʿjam al-kabir. Taken together, these chains establish the authenticity of the hadith.
(*) Chief biographical sources: al-Ansab 10/37 (entry: al-Qaini); al-Tahbir 1/167–171; Tabaqat Ibn al-Salah, fol. 44; al-Wafi bi-l-wafayat 11/203–204; Tabaqat al-Subki 7/54–56; Tabaqat al-Isnawi 1/365–366.
(1) The nisba Qaini refers to Qaʾin, a town near Tabas, between Nishapur and Isfahan.
(2) The manuscript incorrectly reads “Aba Jaʿfar.” The person meant is Imam Abu al-Fadl Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Tabasi, who died in 482 AH; his biography appeared in vol. 18, no. 309.
(3) See al-Tahbir 1/170–171.
(4) The nisba Tuni relates to Tun, a small settlement near Qaʾin.
(5) See Ibn ʿAsakir, Mashyakha, fol. 39/M.