193 – Ibn Abī al-Shawārib, al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Malik al-Umawī

The Chief Justice, Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥasan, son of the ḥadith-scholar Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Abī al-Shawārib al-Umawī, was one of the lauded scholars renowned for their generosity. He held the office of judge under the caliph al-Muʿtamid and had earlier deputized for the judiciary of Sāmarrāʾ in 240 AH. His liberality became proverbial. He hailed from a household of authority, emirate, and learning, for their forefather ʿAttāb ibn Usayd had been appointed governor of Mecca by the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.

Ṣāliḥ ibn Darrāj the secretary said: “Al-Muʿtazz used to say, ‘I have never seen anyone superior to al-Ḥasan ibn Abī al-Shawārib, nor anyone more loyal. Never did he relate something to me and then lie, nor did I ever entrust him with a secret—or anything else—and find him unfaithful.’”

Muḥammad ibn Jarīr (1) said: “He died in Mecca, after completing the pilgrimage, in Dhu al-Ḥijjah of 261 AH.”

I say: He lived fifty-four years.

He transmitted ḥadith from such authorities as Sulaymān ibn Ḥarb and Abū al-Walīd, yet none of his narrations have reached us.

As for his brother, the Chief Justice Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad (2), he remained alive until sometime in the eighties of the third century AH.