Abū ʿAbdallāh Muḥammad b. Maḥmūd b. al-Ḥasan b. Hibatallāh b. Maḥāsin al-Baghdādī, Muḥibb al-Dīn Ibn al-Najjār (
Arabic: محب الدين ابن النجار), commonly known as Ibn al-Najjār, was a
BaghdadiSunni scholar of the late
Abbasid era.[2] He is regarded as the leading
muhaddith of his age and the leading authority on
biographical history as well.[3][4] He was a pupil of
Ibn al-Dubaythi.[5]
Biography
Early life
Born into a modest family, he was son of the leader carpenter of the Dar al-Khilafah located in the Abbasid Palace of
Baghdad. His father died when he was eight and his older brother Ali began raising him instead. Ali was a textile seller who had knowledge in calculation of inheritance, anecdotes, and history. Ibn al-Najjār studied the Hadith and the Qu'ran with scholars of Baghdad.[2]
Travel and Return
When he was twenty-eight, he travelled to the
Hejaz (
Mecca &
Medina), the
Levant,
Egypt,
Khurasan,
Herat, and
Nishapur, studying with sheikhs. Ibn al-Najjar had over 3000 teachers with 400 of his teachers being women.[6][7] He was heard in every city he stayed in, and established himself as the worlds most famous memorizer.[8]
Then he returned to Baghdad and studied history. He left for
Isfahan for about a year (620 AH/1223 CE), then made the
Hajj (pilgrimage) to
Mecca, then moved to Egypt, then returned to
Baghdad.[7]
Teaching
When the
Al-Mustansiriya School was opened in Baghdad in the year (630 AH/1233 AD), Ibn al-Najjar was appointed as a teacher of the science of hadith in it, and he was known for his humility, piety, and good delivery.[7]
Death
He died on the fifth of Sha’ban in the year at the age of sixty-five years. He did not leave an heir, and his legacy was twenty dinars and the clothes of his body, and he bequeathed that they be given in alms, and he was buried in the tombs of the martyrs at Bab Harb in Baghdad.[7]
Works
History
A [Useful] Extract from the continuation of the Ta'rikh Baghdad (al-Mustafad min Dhayl Ta'rikh Baghdad), is his
magnum opus coming in 30 volumes which is an appendix to the "
History of Baghdad" by
Al-Khatib Al-Baghdadi.[9]
Nuzha al-Wari fi Akhbar Umm al-Qura, a history compilation of
Mecca.
Al-Durrah al-Thaminah fi Akhbar al-Madinah, a history compilation of
Medina.