Abu Ma'shar Najih al-Sindi | |
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Personal | |
Died | c787. AD, 8th century Abbasid Caliphate |
Religion | Islam |
Era | Islamic Golden Age |
Region | Abbasid Caliphate |
Occupation | Scholar of Islam |
Abu Ma'shar Najih al-Sindi al-Madani (full name: Abū Maʿshar Najīḥ (or Nujayḥ) [1] ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Sindī al-Madanī, Arabic: أبو معشر نجيح بن عبد الرحمن السندي المدني), d. 787, was a Muslim historian and hadith scholar. [2] A contemporary of Ibn Ishaq, he wrote the Kitāb al-Maghāzī, fragments of which are preserved in the works of al-Waqidi and Ibn Sa'd. [2] Al-Tabari quoted him for Biblical information and chronological statements about the Islamic prophet Muhammad and later Muslim conquests. [2] [3] As a hadith transmitter, Muslim experts in biographical evaluation (ʿIlm al-rijāl) generally considered him unreliable. [4]
Of Sindhi ancestry, Abu Ma'shar was a freed slave from Yemen who lived in Medina. [2] In 160 AH / 776 CE, he left Medina and settled in Baghdad, where he was close to members of the Abbasid court until his death in 170 AH / 787 CE. [2]