- Abān ibn Samʿah al-Anṣārī al-Baṣrī * (S, Q, M)
One of the leading ḥadīth scholars.
It is said that he was the father of ʿUtbah, the well-known ascetic youth.
He narrated from his mother, who in turn narrated from ʿĀʾishah;
and from Ikrimah, Abū al-Wāziʿ Jābir ibn ʿAmr, and a number of others.
Those who reported from him include Yaḥyā al-Qaṭṭān, Abū ʿĀṣim al-Nabīl, Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdullāh al-Anṣārī, Sahl ibn Yūsuf, and others.
Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn and others regarded him as trustworthy.
Later in life, however, his memory became impaired.
Aḥmad said, “His ḥadīth are acceptable.”
Yaḥyā al-Qaṭṭān remarked, “He changed.”
Ibn Mahdī said, “I met him when his confusion was complete.”
Ibn ʿAdī observed, “The only issue noted against him is the confusion that befell him when he grew old; he was not deemed weak, for the bulk of what he transmits is sound.”
Ibn ʿAdī then cited a single ḥadīth for him, transmitted through Sahl ibn Yūsuf: Sahl said, “Abān ibn Samʿah narrated to us from Abū al-Wāziʿ, from Abū Barzah, that the Prophet ﷺ said to him: ‘iʿzil al-adhā ʿan ṭarīq al-muslimīn’ (Remove harmful things from the path of the Muslims). (1)”
Sahl alone relates this report,
and it is ḥasan (sound) yet gharīb (singular).
Muslim also recorded corroborating narrations in support of Abān.
He died in 153 AH.