22 – Ibn al-Bājī, Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Malik al-Lakhamī*

The erudite authority, exemplar, and Chief Judge, Abū Marwān Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Malik ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Aḥmad, grandson of the Andalusian ḥadīth scholar Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn Sharīʿah al-Lakhamī—originally from Bāja, later of Seville, and Mālikī in jurisprudence.

He came from a distinguished, well-known house. For a time he held the Friday pulpit of Seville; afterwards al-ʿĀdil appointed him judge there, and at the beginning of al-Maʾmūn’s reign the office of Chief Judge was added to his responsibilities, though he did not remain long in that post.

He was just in his rulings, excelled in Qur’an recitation, was quick in relating ḥadīth, and well-versed in the evaluation of transmitters.

He narrated from his father, who had transmitted from his grandfather. He mastered the Qur’an in the seven canonical readings and the reading of Yaʿqūb (1) under Abū ʿAmr ibn ʿAẓīmah. He heard Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī from Abū Bakr ibn al-Jadd, read several works to him, and also received transmission from Abū ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mujāhid.

He reached Damascus by way of the port of Acre and there taught the Muwaṭṭaʾ. He then performed the pilgrimage and died shortly afterwards in Egypt (2) in 635 AH. Multitudes followed his funeral, sought blessing through him, and built a domed shrine over his grave in a single day.