Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ - Shams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi - (13/117)

Siyar Aʿlām al-NubalāʾShams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi

57 – Abū Ibrāhīm al-Zuhrī, Aḥmad ibn Saʿd*

The Imām, the devoted servant of God, the reliable ḥadīth master: Abū Ibrāhīm Aḥmad ibn Saʿd, son of the Imām Ibrāhīm ibn Saʿd ibn Ibrāhīm, a descendant of the Messenger of Allah’s ﷺ Companion ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf al-Zuhrī al-ʿAwfī of Baghdad. He was the brother of ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Saʿd and ʿAbd Allāh ibn Saʿd.

Born: 198 AH.

He was unable to study with his father or with his uncle Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm.

Among those from whom he heard ḥadīth were ʿAffān, ʿAlī ibn al-Jaʿd, Yaḥyā ibn Bukayr, Yaḥyā ibn Sulaymān al-Juʿfī, ʿAlī ibn Baḥr al-Qaṭṭān, Muḥammad ibn Salām al-Jumaḥī, and several others.

Those who narrated from him include Ibn Ṣāʿid, Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Maḥāmelī, and Abū ʿAwāna, who cites him in several places of his Ṣaḥīḥ and on one occasion remarked, “He was one of the abdāl.” The last person to transmit from him was Ismāʿīl al-Ṣaffār.

Al-Khaṭīb said: “He was celebrated for knowledge and virtue, described as righteous and ascetic, belonging to a family whose every member was a scholar and ḥadīth transmitter.”⦗1⦘

ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Zuhrī reported: My father told me:

“My uncle Abū Ibrāhīm went to visit Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal. When Imām Aḥmad saw him, he jumped up, stood before him, and honored him. After he left, Aḥmad’s son ʿAbd Allāh said, ‘Father! You treat a mere young man like this and stand for him?’

He replied, ‘No—’

(*) Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, Tarikh Baghdad, vol. 4, pp. 181–183; Ibn Abi Ya‘la, Tabaqat al-Hanabila, vol. 1, pp. 46–47; Ibn al-Jawzi, al-Muntazam, vol. 5, pp. 88–89. Al-Zuhri (with the zay pronounced with a dumma and the ha’ left silent) is a family nisba that goes back to Zuhra b. Kilab b. Murra; see al-Lubab. (1) Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, Tarikh Baghdad, vol. 4, p. 181.

٥٧ - أَبُو إِبْرَاهِيْمَ الزُّهْرِيُّ أَحْمَدُ بنُ سَعْدٍ * الإِمَامُ، الرَّبَّانِيُّ، الثِّقَةُ، أَبُو إِبْرَاهِيْمَ أَحْمَدُ بنُ سَعْدِ ابنِ الإِمَامِ إِبْرَاهِيْمَ بنِ سَعْدِ بنِ إِبْرَاهِيْمَ ابْنِ صَاحِبِ رَسُوْلِ اللهِ ﷺ عَبْدِ الرَّحْمَنِ بنِ عَوْفٍ الزُّهْرِيُّ العَوْفِيُّ البَغْدَادِيُّ، أَخُو عُبَيْدِ اللهِ بنِ سَعْدٍ، وَعَبْدِ اللهِ بنِ سَعْدٍ. وُلِدَ: سَنَةَ ثَمَانٍ وَتِسْعِيْنَ وَمائَةٍ. وَلَمْ يَلْحَقْ أَخْذَ العِلْمِ عَنْ أَبِيْهِ، وَلاَ عَنْ عَمِّهِ يَعْقُوْبَ بنِ إِبْرَاهِيْمَ. سَمِعَ مِنْ: عَفَّانَ، وَعَلِيِّ بنِ الجَعْدِ، وَيَحْيَى بنِ بُكَيْرٍ، وَيَحْيَى بنِ سُلَيْمَانَ الجُعْفِيِّ، وَعَلِيِّ بنِ بَحْرٍ القَطَّانِ، وَمُحَمَّدِ بنِ سَلاَّمٍ الجُمَحِيِّ، وَعِدَّةٍ. رَوَى عَنْهُ: ابْنُ صَاعِدٍ، وَأَبُو عَبْدِ اللهِ المَحَامِلِيُّ، وَأَبُو عَوَانَةَ فِي (صَحِيْحِهِ) فِي موَاضِعَ، فَقَالَ فِي بَعْضِهَا: وَكَانَ مِنَ الأَبْدَالِ، وَآخِرُ مَنْ رَوَى عَنْهُ إِسْمَاعِيْلُ الصَّفَّارُ. قَالَ الخَطِيْبُ: كَانَ مَذْكُوْراً بِالعِلْمِ وَالفَضْلِ، مَوْصُوَفاً بِالصَّلاَحِ وَالزُّهْدِ، مِنْ أَهْلِ بَيْتٍ كُلُّهُمْ عُلَمَاءُ وَمُحَدِّثُونَ (١) . قَالَ عُبَيْدُ اللهِ بنُ عَبْدِ الرَّحْمَنِ الزُّهْرِيُّ: حَدَّثَنِي أَبِي، قَالَ: مَضَى عَمِّي أَبُو إِبْرَاهِيْمَ إِلَى أَحْمَدَ بنِ حَنْبَلٍ، فَلَمَّا رَآهُ وَثَبَ، وَقَامَ إِلَيْهِ، وَأَكْرَمَهُ، فَلَمَّا أَنْ مَضَى، قَالَ لَهُ ابْنُهُ عَبْدُ اللهِ: يَا أَبَهْ! شَابٌّ تَعْمَلُ بِهِ هَذَا، وَتَقُومُ إِلَيْهِ؟ قَالَ: لاَ

(*) تاريخ بغداد: ٤ / ١٨١ - ١٨٣، طبقات الحنابلة: ١ / ٤٦ - ٤٧، المنتظم: ٥ / ٨٨ - ٨٩. والزهري، بضم الزاي، وسكون الهاء: نسبة إلى زهرة بن كلاب بن مرة. (اللباب) . (١) تاريخ بغداد: ٤ / ١٨١.