Note: The name “Abd al-Wahib” appears thus in Kashf al-Astar, as well as within his biographical notice in Tarikh Baghdad and in the biographical notice of Abd Rabbih in Tahdhib al-Hafiz al-Mizzi (16/486), and this is the correct reading.
In Thiqat Ibn Hibban, al-Haythami’s arrangement of it, the beginning of his biographical notice in Tarikh Baghdad, and Mukhtasar al-Zawa’id, it appears as “Abd al-Wahhab.” This is a scribal error. Evidence for this is that al-Khatib had previously given biographical notices to a number of men, among whom were three named Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab. He then devoted a separate chapter to “Unusual Names Formed with Abd [servant of God],” under which the first person he mentioned was this Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahib. Had the correct reading been the one appearing immediately beneath it, namely “ibn Abd al-Wahhab,” he would not have listed him here, but rather with the three referred to there. This is conclusive proof that it was corrupted by either the printer or the copyist. It is further confirmed by the fact that it appears correctly within the biographical notice itself, as stated above: “ibn Abd al-Wahib.” Although I know of no basis for considering al-Wahib to be one of Allah’s Names except by derivation, that is a separate matter, and its problem is not hidden from the people of knowledge.
I then came across another hadith from this Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahib, so I hastened to include it because of its rarity and to confirm the correct form of his name mentioned above. See no. 3040. *
- “Whenever Allah bestows a blessing upon a people, they awake ungrateful for it.”
Al-Tabarani narrated it in Musnad al-Shamiyyin (2/157/1102): Ahmad ibn Abd al-Wahhab ibn Najdah narrated to us; Abu al-Yaman narrated to us; Isma‘il ibn Ayyash narrated to us. [Alternative chain:]