Ibn al-Athir erred in his al-Kamil (1) when he asserted that Abu Dawud, the compiler of the Sunan, died in this year; rather, his death occurred in 275 AH, as will be mentioned.

In this same year passed away Ibn Majah al-Qazwini (2), the author of the Sunan. He was Abu ʿAbd Allah Muhammad ibn Yazid ibn Majah al-Qazwini, a client of the tribe of Rabiʿah. His famed work, Sunan, attests to his learning, breadth of knowledge, wide reading, and adherence to the Prophetic sunnah in both fundamentals and subsidiary rulings. The collection comprises thirty-two books and one thousand five hundred chapters (3), and it contains four thousand hadiths, all of them sound except for a very small number.

Abu Zurʿah al-Razi is reported to have criticized a handful—perhaps slightly more than ten—of those narrations, some claiming that they are fabricated or greatly objectionable (4).

Ibn Majah also authored a substantial tafsir and a comprehensive history that covers the period from the Companions up to his own day.

Abu Yaʿla al-Khalil ibn ʿAbd Allah al-Khalili al-Qazwini said: “Abu ʿAbd Allah Muhammad ibn Yazid, known as Majah, a client of Rabiʿah, was a scholar in this discipline and the author of works on history and Sunan. He travelled to the two Iraqs (5), to Egypt, and to Greater Syria.” He then named several of Ibn Majah’s teachers, whom we have biographed in our book al-Takmil—praise and gratitude belong to Allah.

He continued: “Among the early senior scholars who transmitted from him were Ibn Sibawayh, Muhammad ibn ʿIsa al-Saffar, Ishaq ibn Muhammad, ʿAli ibn Ibrahim ibn Salamah al-Qattan, my grandfather Ahmad ibn Ibrahim, and Sulayman ibn Yazid.”

Another authority (6) said: “He died on a Monday and was buried on Tuesday, eight days before the end of Ramadan in the year 273 AH, at the age of sixty-four. His brother Abu Bakr led the funeral prayer, and he was laid to rest by his brother Abu ʿAbd Allah together with his son ʿAbd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn Yazid. May Allah have mercy on him.”