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A renowned Yemeni hadith scholar; author of al-Musannaf, the great hadith collection arranged according to the chapters of jurisprudence. His full name is Abu Bakr Abd al-Razzaq ibn Hammam ibn Nafi' al-San'ani al-Himyari. In the sources he is referred to by titles such as al-hafiz al-kabir, allama, shaykh al-Islam and muhaddith al-waqt.
He was born in San'a in 126 (743-44). He received his first education within his family. At about eighteen he met Ibn Jurayj, who had come to Yemen, and took hadith from him.
At about twenty he set out on journeys to centres of learning such as the Hijaz, Syria and Iraq; on these journeys he studied hadith with Ma'mar ibn Rashid, Sufyan al-Thawri, Sufyan ibn Uyayna, Malik ibn Anas and the other great scholars of his time. He stayed about eight years with Ma'mar ibn Rashid, the teacher from whom he benefited most, and wrote down some ten thousand hadiths from him; Ma'mar in turn praised him, acknowledging his important place in the science of hadith. He took his knowledge of jurisprudence from al-Awza'i, Sufyan al-Thawri and Abu Hanifa.
It is recorded that he knew by heart seventeen thousand hadiths, all of which he said he had received by presentation and hearing (ard and sama'), and that he took care to transmit his hadiths from written sources.
Towards the end of his life he lost his sight. According to Ahmad ibn Hanbal, after this some hadiths that had not previously been in his book began to be transmitted from him; scholars such as Ahmad ibn Hanbal, al-Nasa'i and Ibn al-Salah al-Shahrazuri point out that caution is needed regarding reports heard from him after he lost his sight. He died in 211 (826-27).
His Circle of Influence — Among the hadith scholars who transmitted from him are major figures such as Yahya ibn Ma'in, Ali ibn al-Madini, Ishaq ibn Rahwayh, Zuhayr ibn Harb and Ahmad ibn Hanbal, who stayed with him for about a year and took many of his hadiths. His teachers Sufyan ibn Uyayna and Mu'tamir ibn Sulayman also each transmitted one hadith from him. Imam al-Bukhari included 110 of his hadiths in his work, and Muslim 409.
His Works — He is recorded to have written many works; those that have come down to us are the following. ① al-Musannaf fi al-hadith: a great hadith collection arranged according to the chapters of jurisprudence, ending with the Kitab al-Jami' attributed to Ma'mar ibn Rashid. Containing, besides marfu' hadiths, mawquf and maqtu' reports as well, the work holds 21.033 hadiths, some of which have been severely criticised. It was edited by Habib al-Rahman al-A'zami and printed in Beirut in eleven volumes in 1971-1975. ② al-Tafsir: it also contains the Tafsir of Qatada through his teacher Ma'mar ibn Rashid; one copy is in the Dar al-Kutub al-Misriyya in Cairo, another in the library of the Faculty of Language and History-Geography. ③ Kitab al-Salat: its only known copy is in the Zahiriyya Library. ④ al-Amali fi athar al-sahaba: there is a copy each in the Zahiriyya and Cairo libraries. ⑤ al-Sahifa: it contains the hadiths he transmitted through the chain Ma'mar ibn Rashid – al-Zuhri – Sa'id ibn al-Musayyab – Abu Hurayra; its only known copy is in the Süleymaniye Library. Another sahifa of his, through Ma'mar – al-Zuhri – Salim ibn Abd Allah – Abd Allah ibn Umar, is in the same place; the contents of both are to be found in Ahmad ibn Hanbal's al-Musnad.
Differing Scholarly Views
The source entry was written within the Sunni tradition of hadith criticism (al-jarh wa al-ta'dil); on the following points the atlas records the judgements of the hadith scholars side by side, under their names, and takes no side. The assessments of the entry's author are marked separately as "the source".
Judgements on his reliability — Abbas ibn Abd al-Azim al-Anbari accused him of lying; the source says that, as al-Dhahabi also notes, this view was not adopted by the hadith scholars.
The claim of Shi'i leanings — Because of his love for Ali and his transmission of hadiths on the virtues of the Prophet's family, some accused him of Shi'ism. Among the grounds cited for this accusation is a report, transmitted by al-Dhahabi in Mizan al-i'tidal, that he spoke harshly in his circle when Mu'awiya was mentioned. Ahmad ibn Hanbal, who stayed about a year with his teacher and took many of his hadiths, says he never heard anything from him that would confirm the view that he was a Shi'i. Yahya ibn Ma'in, asked whether his hadiths should be abandoned on the grounds that he was a Shi'i, replied that even if he apostatised his hadiths could not be abandoned, pointing to his eminent place in hadith. Al-Dhahabi says that accusing him of Shi'ism is not correct, since he did not go to extremes in this, but was only angry with those who fought Ali out of his love for him, and states that his hadiths cannot be abandoned. The source, for its part, notes that it is clear from his own statements that, while he counted opposing Ali a fault, he regarded Abu Bakr and Umar as superior to Ali in merit, basing this on Ali's own acknowledgement of that superiority. The atlas records these judgements as their authors'; it passes no judgement on the label itself.
Location of the grave — The source entry gives the year of his death (211/826-27); it mentions neither the place of his death nor his grave. The location of the atlas record in San'a has not been confirmed by this source.
Sources
- TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (DİA) · vol. 1, pp. 298-299, entry “ABDÜRREZZÂK es-SAN‘ÂNΔ
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