37 – Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Bakkār al-Busrī (T, S, Q)
Abū al-Walīd al-Busrī—one of the descendants of Busr ibn Abī Arṭāt—the Qurashī from Damascus, of the ʿĀmirī branch, later a resident of Baghdad; some of his paternal cousins lived there as well.
He narrated from ʿIrāk ibn Khālid, al-Walīd ibn Muslim, Marwān ibn Muʿāwiyah, and ʿAbd al-Razzāq.
Those who transmitted from him include al-Tirmidhī, al-Nasāʾī, Ibn Mājah, Abū Yaʿlā, Ḥājib ibn Arkīn, Abū Ḥāmid al-Ḥaḍramī, and many others.
Abū Ḥātim said, “Truthful.”⦗1⦘
Al-Nasāʾī said, “Upright.”⦗2⦘
Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Sukkarī disparaged him, calling him a mere storyteller⦗3⦘, claiming that he arranged taḥlīl marriages (marrying a thrice-divorced woman so she becomes lawful again for her first husband), and casting doubt on his having met al-Walīd. Al-Khaṭīb paid no attention to al-Sukkarī’s criticism.⦗4⦘
He died in Ramaḍān of the year 248 AH.
(*) Ibn Abi Hatim, al-Jarh wa al-Taʿdil, vol. 2, p. 59; al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, Tarikh Baghdad, vol. 4, pp. 241, 243; al-Samʿani, al-Ansab, vol. 2, pp. 212–213; al-Mizzi, Tahdhib al-Kamal, vol. 1, p. 383; al-Dhahabi, Tadhhib al-Tahdhib, vol. 1, p. 18/1; al-Dhahabi, Mizaan al-Iʿtidaal, vol. 1, p. 115; Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib al-Tahdhib, vol. 1, pp. 52–53; Khulasat Tadhhib al-Kamal, pp. 8–9.
(1) Al-Jarh wa al-Taʿdil, 2:59, where it is said: “I saw him relating hadith, but I did not write from him.”
(2) Tahdhib al-Tahdhib, 1:53. Ibn Hajar notes that Ibn Hibban listed him among the thiqat (reliable transmitters), and that Mughlatai transmitted Muslima ibn Qasim’s declaration of his reliability.
(3) Tarikh Baghdad, 4:242, which reports: “…I knew him to be something of a public storyteller; were he to testify before me while I was judge about two mere dates, I would not accept his testimony. Therefore, fear Allah and beware of listening to liars.”
(4) See Tarikh Baghdad, 4:242.