67 – al-Nasaʾi, Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Aḥmad ibn Shuʿayb ibn ʿAlī*
The imam, the ḥāfiẓ, the firmly reliable authority, Shaykh al-Islām, and hadith critic: Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Aḥmad ibn Shuʿayb ibn ʿAlī ibn Sinān ibn Baḥr, the Khurāsānī, al-Nasaʾi, compiler of the Sunan.
He was born in Nasāʾ in the year 215 AH. While still young he set out in pursuit of knowledge, and in 230 AH he travelled to Qutaybah, staying with him in Baghlān (1) for a full year and transmitting extensively from him.
He also heard hadith from: Isḥāq ibn Rāhawayh; Hishām ibn ʿAmmār; Muḥammad ibn al-Naḍr ibn Musāwir; Suwayd ibn Naṣr; ʿĪsā ibn Ḥammād Zughbah; Aḥmad ibn ʿAbdah al-Ḍabbī; Abū’l-Ṭāhir ibn al-Sarḥ; Aḥmad ibn Manīʿ; Isḥāq ibn Shāhīn; Bishr ibn Muʿādh al-ʿAqadī; Bishr ibn Hilāl al-Ṣawwāf; and Tamīm ibn al-Muntaṣir, as well as al-Ḥārith ibn
(*) Tabaqat al-Abadi, p. 51; al-Ansab, fol. 559a; al-Muntazam, 6/131-132; al-Kamil fi al-Tarikh, 8/96; Wafayat al-Aʿyan, 1/77-78; Tahdhib al-Kamal, 1/23-25; Mukhtasar Tabaqat ʿUlamaʾ al-Hadith (Ibn ʿAbd al-Hadi), fol. 121/1; Tadhhib al-Tahdhib, 1/1/12; Tadhkirat al-Huffaz, 2/698-701; al-ʿIbar, 2/123-124; Duwal al-Islam, 1/184; al-Wafi bi-l-Wafayat, 6/416-417; Mirʾat al-Jinan, 2/240-241; Tabaqat al-Shafiʿiyya (al-Subki), 3/14-16; Tabaqat al-Isnawi, 2/480-481; al-Bidaya wa-l-Nihaya, 11/123-124; al-ʿIqd al-Thamin, 3/45-46; Tabaqat al-Qurraʾ (al-Jazari), 1/61; Tahdhib al-Tahdhib, 1/36-37; al-Nujum al-Zahira, 3/188; Tabaqat al-Huffaz, p. 303; Husn al-Muhadara, 1/349-350; Khulasa Tadhhib al-Tahdhib, p. 7; Miftah al-Saʿada, 2/11-12; Shadharat al-Dhahab, 2/239-241; al-Risala al-Mustatrafah, pp. 11-12.
(1) Baghlan is pronounced with an open b, a quiescent gh, and ends with n. Al-Samʿani states in al-Ansab that it is a town near Balkh, apparently part of Tukharistan, with an Upper and a Lower quarter; both are said to be among the most delightful regions on earth. The renowned muhaddith of East and West, Qutayba b. Saʿid b. Jamil al-Baghlani, is named after this locality. See also Yaqut, Muʿjam al-Buldan, 1/468.