224 – Ibn ʿAbdah, Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdah ibn Ḥarb al-ʿAbbādānī *

Chief Judge (qāḍī al-quḍāt), Abū ʿUbayd Allāh Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdah ibn Ḥarb al-ʿAbbādānī, the Basran.

He narrated hadith from ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī, Hudbah ibn Khālid, ʿAbd al-Aʿlā ibn Ḥammād, Kāmil ibn Ṭalḥah, and a number of others.

Those who transmitted from him include ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Jaʿfar al-Khiraqī, ʿAlī ibn Luʾluʾ al-Warrāq, Abū Ḥafṣ ibn al-Zayyāt, ʿAlī ibn ʿUmar al-Ḥarbī, and others.

He is weak in transmission.

Al-Ḥasan ibn Zūlāq said, “After Bakkār ibn Qutaybah, Egypt remained without a judge for three years. Then Khumārawayh—the ruler of Egypt—appointed Abū ʿUbayd Allāh Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdah over the grievances court (mazālim) in Egypt, and he judged between the people until the end of 277 AH; thereafter Khumārawayh entrusted him with the general judiciary.

“Muḥammad ibn al-Rabīʿ informed us, saying: ‘When Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdah assumed office he produced his writ from the Caliph al-Muʿtamid. He was domineering, autocratic, yet generous and bounteous.

“‘It was said that he owned one hundred slaves, both eunuchs and able-bodied men. He followed the teaching of Abū Ḥanīfah and was well-versed in hadith. He engaged Abū Jaʿfar al-Ṭaḥāwī as his secretary, appointed him as his deputy, and enriched him. Witnesses feared and stood in awe of Abū ʿUbayd Allāh.

“‘He built a mansion on which, it is said, he spent one hundred thousand dinars, not counting the price of the land, and he would say, “Blessed is the one who fulfils a need of mine.”

“‘Khumārawayh held him in great esteem, honoring him with a monthly stipend of three thousand dinars.’”