BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES ON IBN SHIHAB AL-ZUHRI

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Journal of Semitic Studies XLI/1 Spring 1996

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTESON IBN SHIHAB AL-ZUHRI*M ICHAEL LECKER

THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM

Abu Bakr Muhammad b. Muslim b. 'Ubaydallah b. 'Abdallah b.Shihab b. 'Abdallah b. al-Harith b. Zuhrah b. Kilab,1 better known asIbn Shihab al-Zuhri (d. 124/742), was one of the founders of Islamictradition in the widest sense of the word.2 After a life rich in pio-neering scientific achievements, he died at his estate where he retiredin his later years. Details of al-Zuhri's biography are discussed in thefirst three sections of the present study, while the last three deal withgeographical aspects of his estate. The emphasis on the geographical* This paper was presented at the Sixth International Colloquium 'From Jahi-liyya to Islam' (Jerusalem, 5-10 September 1993). I wish to thank Prof. M.J. Kister,Dr. Amikam Elad and Mr. Avraham Hakim for their references. The map on p. 52was drawn by Mrs Tamar Softer at the Cartography Laboratory of the GeographyDepartment, the Hebrew University.1 Ibn Qudama al-MaqdisI, al-Tabylnfiansdbal-Qurashiyyin, ed. M.N. al-Dulayml(Beirut 1408/1988), 303; DhababI, Ntibald', V, 326.2 Cf. on him G.H.A. Juynboll, Muslim Tradition: Studies in Chronology, Prove-nance and Authorship of Early Hadlth (Cambridge 1983), l46f (al-Zuhri, 'perhapsof all hadlth transmitters occurs most frequently in isndds'). Juynboll argues (149)that 'many of those who had the nisba Zuhri ... may often have been addressed bythat name or may have asked to be called by it, in so doing creating confusion withthe one great transmitter who was alternatively called Zuhri or Ibn Shihab'. It seemsto me that such'a phenomenon (if it existed at all) could only have had a marginaleffect.Al-Zuhri's legal activity and its transmission have recently been studied - in mymind convincingly and with much common sense - by H. Motzki, 'Der Fiqh desZuhri: die Quellenproblematik', Der Islam 68 (1991), 1-44. Elsewhere Motzkiremarks that Ibn Jurayj always refers to him as Ibn Shihab, while others, such asMa'mar b. Rashid, refer to him by the nisba al-Zuhri. Motzki plausibly ascribesthis to regional preferences; see his Die Anfdnge der islamischen Jurisprudent lhreEntwicklung in Mekka bis zur Mine des 2.18. Jahrhunderts (Stuttgart 1991), 194f.With regard to the sobriquet Ibn Shihab, note that a poet called him, in a verse,Muhammad b. Shihab; Maqrlzl, Muqaffd, VII, 251. Why was Shihab used in thissobriquet, rather than an ancestor closer to al-Zuhri? Because compared with thename Muslim and the other names in al-Zuhri's pedigree, the name Shihab was

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BIOGRAPHICAL NOT ES ON IBN SHIHAB AL-Z UHRldata is methodologically important, as it stems from my convictionthat the history of Arabia should be studied with constant referenceto the abundant geographical information at our disposal.

1 . Al-Zuhri and the UmayyadsThe sources now available to us for al-Zuhri's biography 3 are farmore numerous than those which I. Goldziher had access to whenwriting, a century ago, about al-Zuhri's relationship with the Umay-yads.4 But although we are in a position to have more details aboutal-Zuhri, Goldziher's brilliant analysis of his links with the rulingfamily still holds. If anything, like good wine it improves with time. 5Yet as we shall see, there were attempts to replace Goldziher's realistic(and not at all unsympathetic) approach with a romantic and apolo-getic view of al-Zuhri's links with the Umayyads. The relationshipbetween the Umayyad rulers and the religious scholars of their timeis an important factor in the study of both Islamic history and theemergence of Islamic literature.

With regard to the much-quoted passage from al-Ya'qubl concern-ing 'Abd al-Malik's wish to replace the pilgrimage to Mecca, thenunder Ibn al-Zubayr's control, with pilgrimage to Jerusalem, Gold-ziher remarks that al-Zuhri 'was given the task of justifying this polit-ically motivated reform of religious life by making up 6 and spreadinga saying traced back to the Prophet, according to which there arethree mosques to which people may make pilgrimages: those inMecca, Medina and Jerusalem'.7 Basing himself on a passage from al-Khatlb al-Baghdadl, Goldziher then adds several paragraphs aboutal-Zuhri:

How the Umayyads made it their business to put into circulationhadlths which seemed to them desirable, and how people of the type ofthe pious al-Zuhri acquiesced in being their tools though they cer-tainly were not guided by selfish motives8 but merely by reasons of3 I am particularly indebted to Ibn 'Asakir's History of Damascus.4 Goldziher regretted having had no access to Ibn 'Asakir; Muslim Studies, ed.S.M. Stern, tr. C.R. Barber and S.M. Stern (London 1967-71), II, 46, n. 1. Themost detailed tarjama of al-Zuhri used b y Juynboll a decade ago (Muslim T radition,169) was the one found in al-FasawI's al-Ma'rifah wa-al-ta'rikh, I, 620-43.5 Muslim Studies, II, 43f.6 This is doubtful. Cf. A. Elad, Medieval Jerusalem and Islamic Worship (Leiden,1995), 156-7; below, nn. 36, 88.7 Muslim Studies, II, 44f. See now in great detail Elad, Medieval Jerusalem, 147-63.8 In a footnote Goldziher refers here to al-Zuhri's selflessness, quoting an utter-ance of 'Amr b. Dinar; see on it below, n. 63.

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BIOGRAPHICAL NOT E S ON IBN SHIHAB AL-Z UHRlstate expediency is to be seen from evidence preserved by al-Khatlbal-Baghdadl.9 Here we find an account... from 'Abd al-Razzaq (d. 211),a disciple of Ma'mar b. Rashid (d. 153), in the name of the latter;Ma'mar himself belonged to the group of the disciples of al-Zuhri.This account tells us that the Umayyad Ibrahim b. al-Walld ... came toal-Zuhri with a notebook he hadwritten [my italics; M.L.], and askedhis permission to spread the sayings contained in it as hadiths commu-nicated by al-Zuhri. The latter gave his permission easily: 'Who elsecould have told you the hadlthsV Thus die Umayyad was enabled tocirculate thecontents of his manuscript as texts taught himby al-Zuhri.This account fully confirms the willingness of al-Zuhri ... to promotethe interests of the dynasty by religious means. His piety probablycaused his conscience to be troubled occasionally but he could not for-ever resist the pressure of the governing circles. ... Al-Zuhri did notbelong to the circle of the irreconcilable but to those who thought amodus vivendi with the government was desirable. He did not avoidthe court but moved unhesitatingly in the ruler's entourage, and weeven see him, during a pilgrimage of al-Hajjaj, among the followersof this bogey of the pious. He was employed by Hisham as tutor tothe prince and under Yazid II he even consented to accept the office ofjudge .... Al-Zuhri did not have to consider scruples about acceptingpublic office under the Umayyads since he had always shown himselfwilling to co-operate with the ruling powers.10

Goldziher's forceful analysis of al-Zuhrl's relations with the Umay-yads has been strongly attacked in recent years by some contempo-rary scholars." Before studying the details of this onslaught it wouldbe useful to remind ourselves that a student specializing in a particu-lar religion, any religion, sometimes arrives at conclusions which areincompatible with the beliefs held by the adherents of that religion.

9 Kifdyah, 266. We shall have to return to this evidence later.10 Muslim Studies, II, 46f. J. Horovitz, 'The Earliest Biographies of the Prophetand their Authors', II, Islamic Culture 2 (1928), 22-50, at 40, says more accuratelythat al-Zuhri educated Hisham's children (not just one of them).11 Cf. however, Kh. 'Athamina, 'The 'U lama' in the Opposition: the "Stick andCarrot" Policy in Early Islam', The Islamic Quarterly 36 (1992), 153-78, at 166,who, with reference to Goldziher, speaks of scholars who 'were used by the regimeas a vehicle of propaganda to counteract the voices of those who opposed theregime. They were an efFective means of propagating traditions which favoured theruler and defamed his adversaries. In other words, they practised wad' al-hadlth("forging of hadith") or were used to disseminate false traditions.''See also 168f.Also O. Livne-Kafri, 'On Jerusalem in Early Islam', Cathedra 51 (1989), 35-66 [inHebrew], at 52f, who correctly remarks that while a few pious persons foughtagainst the Umayyads and refused to accept government offices, many of them werewilling to serve them.

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BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES ON IBN SHIHAB AL-ZUHRISensitive issues will inevitably cause a rift between non-Islamic schol-arship and orthodox Islamic values. Whilst it is true that in manyfields of Islamic studies non-Muslim and Muslim scholars worktogether towards achieving the same scientific goals, a restatement ofthe fundamental difference in outlook is necessary, because whenthat is blurred, hypocrisy and lies emerge.12

In recent decades we have been witnessing a conscious attempt todetract from the importance of al-Zuhri's Umayyad connection andto present him as an independent scholar.13 But before we turn tothe revision of al-Zuhrl's relations with the Umayyads, let us look attwo points of detail on which Goldziher is said to have misunder-stood the Arabic text. It is no accident that both relate to al-Zuhrl'srelationship with the Umayyads.

First, F. Sezgin challenged Goldziher's interpretation of al-Zuhrl'sfamous statement about the writing down of hadith, akraha-nd 'alay-hi hd'uld'i al-umard', which according to Goldziher 'can only be under-stood on the assumption of al-Zuhrl's willingness to lend his name,which was in general esteemed by the Muslim community, to thegovernment's wishes'.14 Using unambiguous terms G. Schoeler recentlyreinstated Goldziher's interpretation of this phrase, correctly rejectingSezgin's translation.15 Further evidence supports the interpretation of

12 See also the section entitled Arabists versus Historians, in P. Cro ne, 'Serjeantand Meccan Trade', Arabica 39 (1992), 216-40, at 237f.13 This approach is not new; cf. Juynboll, The Authenticity of the TraditionLiterature: Discussions in Modern Egypt (Leiden 1969), 109.14 Muslim Studies II , 47; see E Sezgin, Geschichte des arabischen Schrifttums(= GAS; Leiden, 19 67 0. I. 2 81 . Juynboll (Authenticity, 112) assumes that 'Gold-ziher's interpretation is not tenable'. Juynboll (Muslim Tradition, 169, n. 32) arguesthat the version found in al-Ma'rifah wa-al-ta'rikh, I, 633 (kunnd Id nardl-kitdbshay'an, [fa-akra hat-nd 'alay-hi al-umard ', fa-ahbabn d an nuw dsiya bayn al-nds]),'seems to support Sezgin's interpretation'. Durl's translation (The Rise of HistoricalWriting among the Arabs, ed. and tr. L.I. Conrad (Princeton 1983), 119, is notdifferent from Goldziher's: 'We disliked writing (al-kitdb) until the authorities (al-umard') compelled us to do so; then I decided not to prevent any Muslim fromdoing likewise.' However, Duri qualifies this by adding, 'but this appears to echothe view of hadith scholars of later times'.

15 Schoeler, 'Miindliche Thora und Hadith: Oberlieferung, Schreibverbot, Redak-tion', Der Islam 66 (1989), 213-51, at 228f: 'Wir hatten eine Abneigung dagegen,das Wissen (sc. die Tradition) niederzuschreiben, bis diese Herrscher uns dazugezwungen haben. Nun sind wir der Meinung, dafi wir es (sc. das Niederschreibender Tradition) keinem Muslim mehr verwehren sollten.' M.J. Kister calls Sezgin'sinterpretation of the phrase 'far-fetched'; see Kister, '"La taqra'u al-qur'dna 'aidal-mushafiyyin tva-ld tahmilu al-'ilma 'an al-sahafiyyin ...": Some Notes on the Trans-mission of Hadith', paper presented at the Sixth Colloquium on 'From Jahiliyya toIslam", JSAI (forthcoming), where the phrase is thoroughly analysed.24

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BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES ON IBN SHIHAB AL-ZUHRIthis phrase as a reference to writing as opposed to memorizing. TwoUmayyad caliphs are mentioned in this context, 'Abd al-Malikb. Marwan (65-86/685-705) and Hisham b. 'Abd al-Malik (105-25/724-43). The traditionist al-Walld b. Muslim implies (althoughhe does not specifically mention the writing down of hadith) thatal-Zuhri had already succumbed to Umayyad pressure at the time ofcAbd al-Malik.16

The evidence concerning Hisham is far stronger. According toone version of the report just quoted, it was Hisham who forcedal-Zuhrl to abandon his former objection to the writing down ofhadith: al-Zuhrl then dictated it to Hisham's sons (whose mentorhe was). Following this, al-Zuhrl allowed ordinary Muslims to writedown his hadith.17 Th is and other similar records, relating to thewriting down of hadith should not be read as straightforwardhistorical records. Rather, they are apologetic statements made inconnection with the heated debate over the techniques of transmit-ting hadith. They seek to make value judgements about the practiceof writing down hadith by pointing out the alleged circumstancesin which the cherished ideal of memorizing was abandoned infavour of writing.

Further important proof is included in a report from Waqidl< Muhammad b. 'Abdallah b. Muslim, better known as Ibn Akhl16 Kharaja al-Zuhri m in al-Khadrd' min 'ind Abd al-Malik b . Ma rwan fa-jalasa'inda dhdka al-'amud [al-Walld was of course pointing to a specific column in themosque of Damascus] fa-qdla: yd ayyuhd al-nds, innd kunnd qad man a'nd-kumshay'an qad badhalnd-hu li-hd'uld'i [i.e., the permission to write down hadith] fa -ta'dlatu hand uhadditha-kum [viz. while you write down my hadith];' Dhahabi,Ta'rikh al-Isldm, 243f. On 'Abd al-Malik's purchasing of al-Khadra" from Khalidb. Yazld b. Mu'awiyah see M. 'Abd al-Qadir Khresat, 'al-Qatd'i' fi al-'asr al-umawf',Dirdsdt ('Am man ) 16,iii (198 9), 30-6 2, at 48 (where the reference given is incor-rect).17 Kana al-Zuhri la yatruku ahadan yaktubu bayna yaday -hi, fa-akraha-hu Hishamb. 'Abd al-Malik fa-amld 'aid bani-hi. Fa-lamm d kharaja min 'indi-hi dakhalaal-masjid fa-istanada ild 'amud min 'umudi-hi, thum ma nddd: yd talabata al-hadlth.Fa-lam md ijtama 'u ilay-hi qdla: innikuntu man a'tu-kum amran badbaltu-hu li-amlral-mu'minina dnifan, halumm a fa-uktubu, fa-kataba 'an-hu al-nds minyawma'idhin;TMD, Zuhri, 91. Kister, '"La taqra'u al-qur'dn 'aid al-mushafiyyin', suggests that'the hadiths which al-Zuhri was bidden to write down for the sons of the Caliphwere of an official character. They may have touched upon events which affectedpeople's opinions, such as those connected with the role of some QurashI enemiesof the Prophet who later embraced Islam and became virtuous believers.' Havingadded further categories of material, Kister concludes: 'These kinds of traditionsseem to be the reason why al-Zuhri was vexed and decided to change his manner oftransmission, permitting every Muslim to write down hadith.'

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BIOGRAPHICAL NOT ES ON IBN SHIHAB AL-Z UHRlal-Zuhri ('al-Zuhrl's nephew' [mentioned later in this study]). 18W aqidl once queried al-Zuhrl's nephew about the circumstances inwhich he had heard a certain hadith from his uncle. The nephewanswered:

I was with him when Hisham b. 'Abd al-Malik ordered him to writedown [or rather, to dictate] for him his hadith, and he seated beforehim secretaries {kuttdb) to whom al-Zuhri dictated while theyrecorded. I used to attend this. Sometimes I had to relieve myself andI would stand up. My uncle used to stop dictating until I returned tomy seat.19Paradoxically, the detail concerning the nephew's going to thelavatory is the most important component in this report: al-Zuhri'snephew seeks to establish tha t he was present throughou t the sessionsduring which his uncle dictated his hadith to Hisham b. cAbd al-Malik's secretaries or, in other words, that he was a trustworthytransmitter of his uncle's hadith. The reliability of the nephew'sclaims does not concern us here. However, al-Zuhri's dictation ofhis hadith to Hisham's secretaries is relevant for us and appears to be

authentic, since it forms the background to the account; it is some-thing taken for granted. This is yet another report on this subject,totally independent of the aforementioned one in which we weretold of how Hisham forced al-Zuhri to dictate hadith to his (Hish-am's) sons. It is important to emphasize that the secretaries {kuttdb)were of course government officials, as is made clear by the frequentreferences to sultan and wuldt in the context of al-Zuhrl's dictation(see below).Reportedly, the envoy who brought al-Zuhri Hisham b. eAbdal-Malik's request that he dictate {hadith) to him (i.e., to Hisham)was 'Uqayl b. Khalid al-Ayll. Al-Zuhri complied.20 'Uqayl, a mawldof the Umayyads, more precisely of the family {at) of 'Uthman b.cAffan, is known to have worked for the Um ayyad state. A l-Majishun18 For an entry on Ibn Akhl al-Zuhri see TMD, Mukht., XXII, 328f. Muham-mad's father, who was al-Zuhrl's elder brother, was a hadith transmitter; Tahdh.,V I, 29.19 Ibn Sa'd, Qism mutammim, 453 (kuntu ma'a-hu haythu amara-hu Hisham b.'Abd al-Malik an yaktuba la-hu haditha-hu wa-ajlasa la-hu kuttdban yumll 'alay-himal-Zuhri wa-yaktubuna . Fa-kuntu ahduru dhd lika fa-rubbamd 'aradat It al-hdjah fa-aqum u fi-hd fa-yumsiku 'amm l 'an al-imld' hand a'uda ild makdn-t). See the samereport in TMD, MS, XV, 559f; al-MizzJ, Tahdhib al-kamdl, XXV, 558 .20 Ibn Khalfun al-AndalusI, Asmd' shuyukh al-imdm Ma lik b. Anas, ed.M.Z.M. 'Azb (Cairo n.d.), 110: wa-yuqdlu inna-hu kdna rasula Hisham ild al-Zuhrifi an yum liya 'alay-hi, fa-amld 'alay-hi al-Zuhri.

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BIOGRAPHICAL NOT ES ON IBN SHIHAB AL-Z UHRl(= Ya'qub b. Abl Salamah) said, "Uqayl was a shurtl here {'inda-na)in Medina, and he died in Egypt in 141' (758-9).21

O ne of Hisham 's secretaries who w rote down al-Zuhri's hadlth canprobably be identified as Shu'ayb b. Abl Hamzahb. Dinar al-HimsI(d. 162/779), a mawld of the Banu Umayyah. He was a secretary ofHisham in al-Rusafah, where he received hadlth from al-Zuhrl. Healso accompanied al-Zuhrl on a pilgrimage to Mecca.22 Yahya b.M a in reported that Shu'ayb was one of the secretaries {kuttdb) whorecorded al-Zuhri's hadlth: 'Shu'ayb b. Abl Hamza wrote downal-Zuhri's hadlth when he dictated it for the rulers, being a secretary'(kataba 'an al-Zuhrl imld'an li-l-sultdn, kdna kdtiban).

23There areindications that Shu'ayb was (at some point) the secretary {katib) ofal-Zuhrl himself.24 This kdtib-office may have been connected to al-Zuhri's role as qddl (on which see below).

Shu'ayb , then, is a specific example of an official who w rote downal-Zuhri's hadlth in al-Rusafah, on Hisham b. 'Abd al-Malik's orders.In other words, the general statement about the secretaries who wereordered to write down al-Zuhri's hadlth matches the evidence aboutone of them. This confirms the involvement of the Umayyad state inrecording al-Zuhri's hadlth.25We know of yet another person who participated in 'al-Zuhri'sdictation (imld') for the rulers': Yunus b. Yazid (al-Ayll, a mawld of21 D h ah ab l , Nubald', V I , 302. This remark has more t o d o with 'Uqayl 's repu-

tat ion as a hadlth t ransmit ter than with a genuine interest in h is biography.22 TMD, MS, VII I , 7 6 . Shu 'ayb was t h e mawld o f Ziyad (viz. Ziyad b . Ablh i ) ;TMD, MS, VII I , 76 : - l . H e was t h e official in charge o f Hisham's nafaqdt (wa-kdnamin kuttdb Hisham b. Abd al-Malik 'aid nafaqdti-hi wa-kdna al-Zuhrl ma'a-hum bi-al-Rusdfah); TMD, MS, VIII , 8 0 : 2 5 ; A b u Zu r ' a , Ta'rikh, I, 4 3 3 ; I I , 7 1 5 .

23 TMD, MS, VII I , 7 8 : 1 3 . DhahabI explains (Nubald', VII, 188) that by sultan,Yahya means Hisham b . 'Abd al-Malik. Cf. th e slightly different wording o f Yahyain TMD, MS, VIII , 7 9 : 4 (shahida al-imld min al-Zuhrl li-al-sultdn); also 8 0 : 1 0(wa-kdna samd'u-hu min al-Zuhrl ma' al-wuldh imld min al-Zuhrl 'alay-him).See also A b u Hat im's remark (79:7) : hadara Shu'ayb b. Abl Hamzah al-Rusdfahhaythu amid al-Zuhrl, fa-samd'u-hu min al-Zuhrl imld. Another exper t remarks(79:18) : wa-kdna samd'u-hu min al-Zuhrl ma'a al-sultdn. 'Al l b . al-Madlnl (79:21)adds another aspect when h e refers to the form o f Shu 'ayb 's 'no tebooks ' : kutubShu'ayb b. Abl Hamzah tushbihu kutub al-dlwdn, which I b n 'Asakir interprets as anexpression o f disapproval (yurldu All b. al-Madlnl bi-dhdlika md hakd-hu Yahyd b.Ma'ln anna-hu sami'a-hu ma'a al-wuldh). For a positive appraisal o f Shu 'ayb ' stransmission from al-Zuhrl see Yahya b . Ma' l n , Ma'rifat al-rijdl, I, 120f.

24 Yahya b . M a ' l n , q u o t e d in Tahdh., I V , 3 5 1 , says: Shu'ayb min athbat al-nds ftal-Zuhrl, kdna kdtiban la-hu. Another expert, al-Khallll, quoted in Tahdh., IV, 352 ,says: kdna katib al-Zuhrl.25 Yahya b . M a ' l n is also quoted i n Su'dldt Ibn al-Junayd, 3 9 4 .27



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BIOGRAPHICAL NOT ES ON IBN SHIHAB AL-Z UHRlMu'awiyah b. Abl Sufyan). Yahya b. Ma'ln referred in this contextboth to him and to the abovementioned Shu'ayb. 26

It is not clear to what extent our hadith collections reflect the gov-ernm ent's significant role in the earliest stages of the writing down ofhadith but at any rate it is a major factor to be reckoned with whenstudying the emergence of early Islamic literature.The second point of detail on which Goldziher is said to havemisunderstood the Arabic text concerns his interpretation of thestory about the Umayyad prince who, in Goldziher's words, 'came toal-Zuhrl with a notebook he had written, and asked his permission

to spread the sayings contained in it as hadith, communicated byal-Zuhrl'. The exact wording is crucial for our discussion: 'Abd al-Razzaq < Ma'mar: ra'aytu rajulan min Barn Umayyah yuqdlu la-huIbrahim b. al-Walld jd'a ild al-Zuhrl bi-kitdb fa-'arada-hu 'alay-hithumma qdla: uhaddithu bi-hddhd 'an-ka yd Aba B akr? q dla: la-'amnfa-man yuhaddithu-kumuhu ghayri? In the source just quoted this isimmediately followed by a variant version in which the passage jd'aild al-Zuhrl bi-kitdb fa-'arada-hu 'alay-hi, is replaced by wa-'arada'alay-hi kitdban min 'ilmi-hi.27 This variant is important because ofits explicit statement, perhaps overlooked by Goldziher, that thenotebook included, or was supposed to have included, al-Zuhri'sown 'ilm.2S Ibn Sa'd, in a volume recently published,29 has a less pre-cise version: wa-'arada 'alay-hi kitdban min 'Urn, instead of ... min'ilmi-hi. The editor of this volume of Ibn Sa'd, Ziyad MuhammadMansur, challenges Goldziher's interpretation. He criticizes Gold-ziher for overlooking the reference to the technique of hadith trans-mission called 'ard which many, including al-Zuhri, considered tobe legitimate.30 According to Mansur, al-Zuhri's words fa-manyuhaddithu-kumuhu ghayri mean 'Who but me knows these hadlthsand can transmit them to you and give you permission to transmitthem further?' Mansur has in mind the ninety hadlths transmittedonly by al-Zuhrl and no one else (ay man ya'lamu bi-hddhihi al-ahd-dlth ghayri hattd yuhadditha-kum wa-yu jlza-kum bi-hd, idh thabataanna al-Zuhrl infarada bi-tis'lna hadlthan Idyarwi-hdghayru-hu). This,

26 Su'dldt Ibn al-Junayd, ?>! (Yunus b. Yazid shahida al-imld'a min al-Zuhri li-l-sultdn wa-Shu'ayb b. AblHamza shahida al-imld'a). O n Yunus see below, n . 1 0 5 / 0 5 .(The above-men t ioned 'Uqay l b . Khalid was also a mawld o f the Umayyads wholived i n Aylah . )

27 AI-Khat lb al -Baghdadi , Kifdyah, 2 6 6 .28 Goldziher certainly knew the term 'ard; see Muslim Studies, II, 205n.29 Qism mutammim, 172.30 Cf. Juynboll, Authenticity, 112.28

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BIOGRAPHICAL NOT ES ON IBN SHIHAB AL-Z UHRlMansur adds, is the meaning of the text, not what the Jew Goldziherclaimed {Id kamd z a'ama al-yahildi Goldziher), namely that Ibrahimwrote a sahifah, brought it to al-Zuhrl, and asked for his permission todisseminate the hadiths included in it as though he had heard themfrom him. Mansur concludes by saying that the text explicitly statesthat Ibrahim presented the hadiths to his teacher al-Zuhri using thetechnique known as 'ard {'arada 'aidshaykhi-hi 'ardan), which manyMuhaddithun consider to be on the same level as samd'.31While Mansur's criticism about the technical term 'ard may be jus-tified to some extent, on the whole he misinterprets the report whileGoldziher understands it correctly. It is true tha t the kitdb min 'ilmi-hi,which the prince 'presented' to al-Zuhrl ('arada)32 was supposed toinclude al-Zuhrl's own Him which he transmitted or dictated to theprince, who in his turn w rote it down in a notebook. In other words,the wording does not suggest that the hadiths in the notebook wereinvented by the prince. But this point of detail does not affect Gold-ziher's overall interpretation of the text. Th e crux of the matter is notal-Zuhrf s approval of the "Wr^'technique but his allegedly sloppy andirresponsible application of it. Mansur is wrong in assuming that thetext does not indicate reprehensible conduct on al-Zuhri's part in con-nection with the transmission of hadith. Al-Zuhri's alleged answer tothe prince, 'Who else could have told you the hadithY is adduced byal-Zuhri's student, M a'm ar b. Rashid, in order to convey to us that al-Zuhri had no intention of checking the contents of the kitdb presentedto him for inspection. (This is not the only criticism made by Ma'marabout al-Zuhri's practices in transmitting hadith. Ma'mar accusedal-Zuhrl of employing the same method as al-Hakam b. 'Utaybah:both used to ascribe the hadith of one informant to another.33)

31 Ibn Sa'd, Qism mutammim, 172n. Cf. E. Kohlberg, 'al-U sul al-Arba'umi'd,JSAI10 (1987), 128-66, at 139; reprinted in idem, Beliefand Law in Imam i Shfism(London 1991), no. VII.32 Goldziher rendered this 'a notebook he had written'; the German original hashere: 'mit einem fertigen Hefte kam'.33 TMD, Zuhri, 129 (kdna al-Zuhri fi ashdbi-hi mithl al-Haka m b. 'U taybah fiashdbi-hi, yanqulu haditha ba'di-him ild ba'd). A variant version (loc. cit.) has:kdna... yarwi 'an 'U rwah wa-Sdlim al-shay'a ka-dhdlika. The naql of which Waqidfwas accused is the same as the one ascribed to al-Zuhri; DhahabI, Nubala, IX, 463{kdna yanqulu al-haditha). Interestingly, as a specific example of Waqidi's practiceof naql, hadiths which he claimed to have been from al-Zuhrf are mentioned(rawd... ahdditha 'an al-Zuhri laysat min hadlthi-hi). It is perhaps no accident thatal-Hakam b. 'Utaybah al-'Ijll was a member of the Umayyad administration at thetime of Hisham b. 'Abd al-Maiik, more precisely he was qddi in Kufa during thegovernorship of Khalid al-Qasrl; Wakf, III, 22f.

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BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES ON IBN SHIHAB AL-ZUHRITha t a flaw in al-Zuhri's practice as hadith transmitter is meant herecan be shown by another, similar, report. It records the criticism of the

great-great-grandson of cUmar b. al-Khattab, 'Ubaydallah b. cUmar(147/764), who, like Ma'mar b. Rashid, was al-Zuhri's student:34I have seen Ibn Shihab when one of his 'books' [kitdb min kutubi-hi,i.e., a written collection or notebook including hadtths transmittedfrom al-Zuhri] was brought to him. And he was asked [by his studentwho brought him the 'book']: 'O Abu Bakr, this is your book and yourhadith, shall we transmit it on your authority?' He said: 'Yes.' He didnot read it out and it was not read out to him.35

The same criticism was levelled at al-Zuhri in connection with theUmayyad prince. J. Horovitz interprets 'Ubaydallah's words correctlywhen he says that al-Zuhri 'was blamed for having allowed a volumecontaining Hadith reported by him, which was submitted to himfor approval, to be passed on to posterity, without first lookingthrough it'. Horovitz continues, plausibly linking this to the afor-mentioned story of the Umayyad prince: 'According to one version itwas Ibrahim ibn Al-Walid to whom he gave such a permission.'Horovitz adds that 'it was possible in that way to adduce in the nameof Al-Zuhri reports which he himself never knew'.36

Two other versions of the above-mentioned report about 'Ubay-dallah provide further elucidation :e[Jbaydallah testifies that it was hehimself, not an anonymous person, who brought a 'book' to al-Zuhriand received immediate permission to transmit it. In one version al-Zuhri (briefly) looked at the 'book' {dafa'tu ild bni Shihab kitdbannazarafi-hi a-qdla: rwi-hi 'annt). The other version emphasizes thatal-Zuhri did not even look at the book: it was given to him folded.

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34 GAS, 1, 8 9 .35 I b n Sa 'd , Qism mutammim, 1 7 3 . I n D u r i , Rise, 120 , quo t ing Dhahab l , Tard-jim rijdl, 6 9 , t h e t rans la t ion is wrong: "Ubayd Al lah i b n 'Omar repor ted , " I usedto see al-Zuhri give [someone] a book which h e neither recited [to the students] n o rhad recited t o h i m [ b y t h e s t u d e n t s ] . " ' I n 'Ubaydallah's report, al-Zuhri receives an o t e b o o k (yu'td al-kitdbah, i.e., for inspect ion) a n d does n o t give i t . In D u r i , Rise,n. 296, instead of: al-Khat ib a l -Baghdadl , Ta'rikh Baghdad, I , 266, read: a l -Khat iba l -Baghdad i , Kifdyah, 266. C f. J u y n b o l l , Muslim Tradition, 1 5 5 , n . 5 7 ( w h o , Ibel ieve , provides the wrong context) .

36 Horovitz, 'Earliest Biographies ' , I I , 48. Horovitz 's concluding sentence revealsan important area o f disagreement between h i m a n d Goldziher: "That h e inventedH a d i t h in order t o promote the interests o f the Umayyads is , however, unacceptable. '37 TMD, Zuhri, 151 (ataytu al-Zuhri bi-kitdb mudrajfa-qultu: arurihddhd 'an-ka?qdla: na'am). See also al-Ma'rifah wa-al-ta'rikh, II, 823 (where the same TJbaydal-lah b. 'Umar says: ashhadu 'aid Ibn Shihab anna-hu kd na yu'td bi-al-kitdb min

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BIOGRAPHICAL NOT ES ON IBN SHIHAB AL-Z UHRlAs we have seen, it was Ma'mar b. Rashid who criticized al-Zuhrlfor his conduct with the Umayyad prince, Ibrahim b. al-Walld. It

is important to note that according to Ma'mar's testimony, theknowledge (or hadith) which he himself received from al-Zuhri wastransmitted to him impeccably, namely he read it out to al-Zuhrl,who in turn authorized him to transmit it on his (al-Zuhrl's) author-ity (viz. he considered the student's reading to the teacher to be on apar with the teacher's reading to the student). 38So much for the allegations made concerning Goldziher's commandof Arabic with regard to al-Zuhri's association with the Umayyads.Far subtler is the revision of the evidence with the aim of bluntingits message. This is done by focusing on some marginal pieces ofevidence at the expense of the central ones. As we shall soon findout, al-Zuhri's contemporaries (and later medieval Muslim scholarsas well) were more critical of his relations with the Umayyads thansome of our contemporaries.39M.M. Azami writes about al-Zuhrl, quite oblivious to the aversionof the pious to entering government service, so intelligently analysedby Goldziher a century ago:40

The gravest charge against him is his co-operation with the ruling family.There were many great scholars who co-operated with the governmentand held offices. ... Therefore, it cannot be a charge against someonethat he accepted an office in the government, provided that his conductwas right.41The Indian scholar N.A. Faruqi writes about al-Zuhrl: 'He was

closely associated with the Umayyad court. But ... in matters ofkutubi-hi fa-yatasaffahu-hu wa-yanz uru fi-hi thumma yaqulu: hddhd hadithi a'rifu-hu khudh-hu minnt); Yahya b . Ma' l n , Ma'rifat al-rijdl, I I , 14 9 ( 'Ubaydal lah: kuntuard al-Zuhriyu'td bi-al-dafiar md qara'a-hu wa-ld 'urida 'alay-hi, fa-yuqdlu la-hu:narwi hddhd 'an-ka? fa-yaqiilu: na'am).

38 Al-Ma'rifah wa-al-ta'rikh, I I , 82 7 {qara'tu al-'ilm 'aid al-Zuhrifa-lammdfaraghtumin-hu qultu: uhaddithu bi-hddhd 'an-ka? qdla: wa-man haddatha-ka bi-hddhdghayrii).39 See also Kister, ' T h e Sirah Literature' , in A.F.L. Beeston et al. (eds.), TheCambridge History of Arabic Literature: Arabic Literature to the End of the U mayyadPeriod (Cambr idge 1983 ; = CHALUP), 3 5 2 - 6 7 , a t 3 6 5 : ' T h e favours bestowed o na l -Zuhr l b y t h e Umayyads a n d t h e close relations between h i m a n d t h e rulersaroused t h e suspicions o f i ndependen t hadith scholars as to hi s integrity.'40 Muslim Studies, II , 47f . Fo r r ich documentat ion , accompanied by a balancedanalysis, o f the t w o types o f religious scholars, namely those w h o were willing t oco-operate with t h e rulers a n d take u p government offices, a n d those who opposedit , see 'A thamina, ' T h e ' U l a m a ' i n the Opposi t ion ' .

41 M.M. Azami , Studies in Early H ad i t h Literature (Indianapolis 1978), 288.31

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BIOGRAPHICAL NOT ES ON IBN SHIHAB AL-Z UHRIhistorical and religious significance, he observed accuracy and impar-tiality and did not yield to timely political pressures.'42e

Abd al-eAzIz al-Duri, who has written extensively on al-Zuhrl,makes a remarkable effort at establishing al-Zuhri's independence ofthe Umayyad court. He says that 'there is an account reported fromal-Zuhrl which indicates that he was critical of 'Abd al-Malik duringthe period of the struggle with Ibn al-Zubayr'.43 The same line ofthought was adopted, probably independently, by Azami (who doesnot list Durl in his bibliography): 'Undoubtedly he was attached tothe Caliph's court from the time of 'Abd al-Malik to Hisham's. It isalso true tha t he had been heavily in de bt several times, tha t was paidoff by Caliphs, yet his relation with the Caliphs was not alwayssmooth.' Azami also argues that 'it would be unfair to history, todeduce from al-Zuhri's relation with the Umayyad dynasty, that hewas a tool in their hands, and that they exploited his name, fame andknowledge to circulate false traditions in their favour'.44

Returning to D url, we notice an attem pt to distance al-Zuhri fromthe court:Though he did make occasional and intermittent visits to die Umay-yad court, al-Zuhri's studies probably kept him in Medina most of thetime. Later he moved to Adama, in southern Palestine near the boundaryof the Hijaz, and from there made trips to the Hijaz and to Damascus(the Umayyad court) 'for academic purposes' {li-'ilmi-hi).^

However, a traditionist from al-Rusafah reports that al-Zuhri stayedin al-Rusafah throughout the caliphate of Hisham b. 'Abd al-Malik42 N.A. Faruqi , Early Muslim Historiography (Delhi 197 9), 237 , n . 1.4 3 D u r l , Rise, 118; Dur l , ' a l -Zuhr f , BSOAS 1 9 (1957), 1 -12, a t 11 , cit ing Bala-

d h u r l , Ansdb, X I , 163, read probably: 167. T h e d a t i n g o f the ut terance a t t r ibutedto a l -Zuhr ! t o t h e struggle with I b n a l -Zubayr does n o t b e l o n g t o t h e text b u t t oDun ' s in te rp re ta t ion ; in fact, t h e wording seems t o suggest that i t was made afterthe t ime o f 'Abd al-Malik. Cf. TMD, Mukht., XV, 224. According t o D u r i (Rise,117n), Goldziher ' s remarks concerning a l -Zuhri ' s re la t ions with t h e Umayyads ' a r enot very critical' ; see also Durl, ' a l -Zuhr f , l O n (they are 'hardly crit ical ' ) .

44 A zam i , Studies in Early H a d l t h Literature, 288f.45 Durl, Rise, 118f. Cf. Durl, 'al-Zuhrl', 11 (where li-'ilmi-hi is rendered 'as ascholar'). Durl suggests that it is more likely diat al-Zuhri settled in Damascus atthe time of Yazld II and Hisham (but there is evidence that he had settled therealready at the time of'Abd al-Malik; see Section 2 below). The meaning of li-'ilmi-hi is obscure to me. The wording of the passage in question is: wafada al-Zuhri 'aid'Abd l-Malik wa-istawtana al-Shdm wa-kdna yataraddadu ild al-Hijdz wa-yahujjuwa-yafiqu [read: wa-yafidu] 'aid Bant Umayyah li-'ilmi-hi; Dhahabl, Tardjim rijdl, 70.Concerning Adama, note that it was only when al-Zuhri grew old that he retired tohis estate there; see below, n. 160.

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BIOGRAPHICAL NOT ES ON IBN SHIHAB AL-Z UHRl{khildfata Hishdm kulla-ha), namely for nineteen years and eight m onths.46D im does mention, that al-Z uhri officiated as qddi for Yazld b. 'Abdal-Malik and was the tutor of Hisham b. 'Abd al-Malik's children,47but,he then quotes in detail a dispute between al-Zuhri and Hisham:

... from a fierce argument which transpired between him and Hisham,we can see that al-Zuhri had not fallen under the influence of theUmayyads. Hisham asked him who was meant in the Qur'anic verse,'whichever of them takes upon himself the greater part of it'48 and al-Zuhri replied, 'It was 'Abd Allah ibn Ubayy'. 'You lie', Hisham cried,'It was 'All!'. Al-Zuhri replied, 'I lie?! May you have no father! ByGod, even if a herald were to cry out from heaven that God had per-- mitted lying, still I would not lie'. Such was al-Zuhri the scholar.49

This revision of al-Zuhrl's links with the Umayyads lacks a senseof proportion. Even if we accept as historical al-Zuhri's critical com-ment concerning 'Abd al-Malik and his reported dispute withHisham, they do not establish him as an independent intellectual.Al-Zuhri himself appears to have taken pride in his long relationshipwith the Umayyads, or at least this is what we read in an allegedlyautobiographical tradition going back to him.50

46 Al-Ma'rifah wa-al-ta'rikh, I, 63 6. O n this Rusafi, Hajjaj b. Abl Manl', see Tahdh., II,207f; I b n Sa'd, VII, 474. Another Rusafi testifies that h e stayed with al-Zuhri in a l -Rusafah for ten years; Yaqut, the end of s.v. Rusafat al-Sham; Abu Zur'ah, Ta'rikh, I, 4 3 2 ;cf. Tahdh., s.v. Muhammad b. al-Walld, DC, 502f. When Malik b. Anas criticized him forleaving Medina after having exhausted i ts knowledge (talabta al-'ilm hattd idhd kuntawi'd'an min aw'iyati-hi tarakta al-Madlnah wa-kharajta 'an-hd), al-Zuhri answered:innamdkuntu anzilu al-Madinah wa-al-nds idh dhdka nds; al-Ma'rifah wa-al-ta'rikh, I, 6 2 1 .

47S e e also N . Abbot t , 'Col lect ion a n d Transmission o f Hadith', in CHALUP,2 8 9 - 9 8 , a t 2 9 4 . I n 12 3/ 74 1, short ly before his dea th, al-Zu hri made the p i lgrimage

wi th H i sham's s o n Yazld; I b n S a ' d , Qism mutammim, 165. This confirms t h ereport that going t o t h e pilgrimage with Hisham's chi ldren was part o f al -Zuhr i ' srole as thei r mentor a n d t ha t h e d i d n o t depart from them unti l h is dea th ; D h a -habl , Ta'rikh al-Isldm, 2 3 3 (wa-hajja Hishdm b. 'Abd al-Malik sanata sitt wa-mi'awa-ma'a-hu al-Zuhri, hasara-hu ma'a wuldi-hi yufaqqihu-hum wa-yu'aU imu-humwa-yahujju ma'a-hum fa-lam yufdriq-hum hattd mdta).

48 Qur'an 24:11. ' .49 D u r l , Rise, 118, 119. See Horovitz, 'Earl iest Biographies ' , I I , 40f : 'The in ter -course between t h e Khalifah an d his learned court- theol ogian , as Al-Z uhri has be encalled, d i d n o t always r u n s o smoothly . ' I t w a s Goldz iher w h o cal led al-Zuhri'court- theologian' , and Horovitz meant this as a mild criticism. Cf. Kister, 'The SirahLiterature' , 3 6 4 ( t h e context o f the story i s ' th e at tempts made b y t h e U m ay y ad sand their governors t o denigrate 'All i n t h e Sirah .. . Al-Zuhri courageously refusesto transfer t h e guil t o f s lander ing of 'A ' ishah from 'Abdullah b . Ubayy to 'All).

50 DhahabI, Nubala', V, 331 (...wa-tuwu ffiya 'Abd al-M alik fa-lazimtu bna-hual-Walid, thumm a Sulaymdn, thumm a 'U mar b. 'Abd al-'Aziz , thumm a Y azid ...thumma lazimtu Hishdm b. 'Abd al-Malik ...).33


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BIOGRAPHICAL NOT ES ON IBN SHIHAB AL-Z UHRIAl-Zuhri's con temporaries and later medieval Muslim scholars hadanother perception altogether of al-Zu hri's links with the Umayyads.

For example, Makhul said, 'What a [great] man he could have been,had he not ruined himself by associating with the kings.'51 Yahya b.M a t n (233/847) said of al-Zuhri kdna sultdniyyan?1 Because of this,Yahya preferred the transmission of another scholar to al-Zuhri's.The famous Mu'tazilite, 'Amr b. 'Ubayd (d. 144/761),53 once repri-manded a man whom he had seen in al-Zuhri's company, asking,'What business do you have with the napkin of the rulers?'54 Theabovementioned Yahya b. Ma'ln would not allow a comparisonbetween al-Zuhri and al-A'mash. The former considered the 'ardand ijdza techniques to be lawful and served in the administration ofthe Umayyads (wa-kdna ya'malu li-Banl U mayyah), whereas the lat-ter (who was obviously opposed to these techniques) was poor andpatient and avoided the rulers.55

The ascetic Abu Hazim Salamah b. Dinar is reported to have admon-ished an Umayyad governor in the presence of al-Zuhrl and otherscholars, saying, 'The best of rulers (umard') is one who loves the schol-ars {'ulamd'), and the worst of scholars is one who loves the rulers:'

56

51 Dhahabl, Nubald', V, 339 (ayyu rajul huwa lawld annahu afsada nafia-hu bi-suhbatal-muluk). This passage was quoted by Horovitz, El', s.v. al-Zuhrl; Horovitz,'Earliest Biographies', II, 45.52 Su'dldt Ibn al-Junayd, 3 5 5 .53 GAS, I, 5 9 7 ; El2, s.v. (W.M. Watt) .54 TMD, Zuhri, 162 (mi laka wa-li-mindil al-umard').55 Al-Hakim al-Naysaburi, Ma'rifat 'ulum al-hadith, ed. M. Husayn (Hydera-bad; reprint Medina 1397/1977), 54. See also Sufyan b. 'Uyayna's comment con-cerning the reliability of Ibn Jurayj's transmission from al-Zuhrl: kdna bn Jumyjyaji'u ild al-Zuhrl wa -ma'a-hu kitdb fa-yaqulu: arwi hddhd 'an-ka?; Ibn Abl 1-D u n y i , al-Ishrdffi mandzil al-ashrdf, ed. N. 'A. Khalaf (Riyadh 1411/1990), 198.Al-Zuhri's answer, needless to say, was positive.56 Dhahabl, Nubald', VI, 101; TMD, Mukht., X, 67. Having been informed bySalamah about the difference between the 'ulamd' of yore and the contemporary

'ulamd', the caliph Sulayman b. 'Abd al-Malik allegedly promised to reduce hiscontacts with al-Zuhri, who was present at the meeting, to the minimum; TMD,Mukht., X, 68f (wa-la-azhadanna fi al-Zuhri min ba'd al-yawm). See also Kister,'The Sirah Literature', 365 (Salamah wrote to al-Zuhrl that the oppressive rulers'have turned him into the axle of the wheel of their falsehood and into a bridge fortheir deceit and error'); 'The 'Ulama' in the Opposition', 159quotes another passagefrom the same letter; see also 163. The statement that Salamah officiated as qddl inMedina (see GAS, I, 634) is based on a corrupt text: instead of: kdnayaqdifi masjidal-Madinah (Tahdh., IV, 144), and wa-kdn a yaqdl bayn al-fajr wa-al-'asr fi masjidal-Madlnah {TMD, Tahdh., VI, 219), read: wa-kdn a yaqussu ba'd al-fajr wa-ba 'dal-asrfi masjid al-Mad inah; Ibn Sa'd, Qism mutammim, 332; Dhahabl, Nubald', VI,101; TMD, Mukht., X, 66.

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BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES O N IBN SHIHAB AL-ZUHRJWe clearly have two stereotyped figures here: on the one hand, therich scholar who associates with the rulers without any scruples, andon the other, the ascetic or zdhid. Islamic literature is fond of suchcontrasts, but the literary stereotypes do not lack a factual basis. EvenMalik b. Anas is reported to have admonished al-Zuhrl for using hisknowledge in order to achieve worldly gains.57

Of course, the criticism directed at al-Zuhrl did not prevent Malikor the other critics from transmitting his hadith: al-Zuhri's imprinton the nascent Islamic literature was so formidable, that he couldnot be ignored. Another traditionist spoke of al-Zuhrl admiringly,without, however, omitting to mention his association with thegovernment.58 Inevitably, this approach finally prevailed: al-Zuhrl'senormous collection of hadith was indispensable.59 Th e same dilemmacan be witnessed in the case of Waqidl, whose large collection ofmaterial had to be used in spite of the doubts expressed about hisindiscriminate techniques.60

57 TMD, Zuhri, 1 5 4 : am d balagha-ka anna rasul Alldhi (s) qtila: man talabashay'an min hddhd al-'ilm alladhiyurddu bi-hi wajh Allah [ the w or dsyatlubu bi-hihere are superfluous] shay'an min gharad al-dunyd [read: min 'arad al-dunyd, ' t h efrail goods o f the present world'] dakhala al-ndrd1. A fuller version o f this anecdote(Juynboll , Muslim Tradition, 1 6 9 0 includes t h e background t o this critical c o m -ment : 'Mal ik b . Anas... once visited al-Zuhri with a couple o f other people t o heartradit ions with h i m . AJ-Zuhri appeared hesitant unti l a eunuch sent by theUmayyads came t o h im and likewise asked h im about tradit ions. Then al-Zuhrlopened u p . ' Juynboll remarks correctly that th e report 'points to the controversialissue about al-Zuhrl having, o r no t having, been under Umayyad pressure regardingthe promulgation o f hadiths, an d that this w as taken as a blemish on his character.

58 TMD, Zuhri, 161 {law kuntu kdtiban al-hadith 'an ahad kuntu kdtiba-hu 'anal-Zuhri, min [sic] rajul ahyd 'U rn tilka al-bald, min rajul yashabu al-sultdn).59 'Athamina, ' T h e ' U l a m a ' in the Opposit ion' , 166, writes: 'The excommunica-tion o f collaborators centred mainly upon t h e academic field; muhaddithun bannedthe tradit ions o f this group a n d refrained from attending their study circles. Amongthe most prominent o f those banned was Ibn Shihab a l -Zuhri , w h o was so severelybanned that his study group disintegrated completely. ' B u t 'Athamina reads to omuch into his evidence, which consists o f M a ' m a r b . Rashid's test imony that whenhe came to al -Zuhri in al-Rusafah, nobody used to ask the lat ter about t h e hadith,so h e would bestow (his knowledge) on h im ( i .e . abundant ly) {fa-lam yakun ahadyas'alu-hu 'an al-hadith, fa-kdnayulqi 'alay-ya); Abu Nu'aym, Hilyat al-awliyd' (Cairon.d.; reprint Beirut 1387/1967), III, 363. Ma'mar's statement should not be takenat face value (cf. the testimony of a traditionist quoted in Abu Zur'ah, Ta'rikh, I,4 3 2 : kuntu aqra'u bi-al-Rusdfah 'aid Ibn Shihab etc.). Ma'mar merely states that aslong as he stayed in al-Rusafah, h e h a d a l -Zuhr i all for himself.

60 T h i s is clearly reflected in D h a h a b I , Nubald', I X , 4 5 4 f {wa-jama'a fa-aw'dwa-khalata al-ghathth bi-al-samin wa-al-kharazah bi-al-durr al-thamin fa-ittarahiirhu['they cast h i m away'] li-dhdlika, wa-ma'a hddhd fa-Id yustaghnd 'an-hufi al-maghdz iwa-ayydm al-sahdbah wa-akhbdri-him). See also DhahabI , Nubald', IX, 46 9 {wa-qad

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BIOGRAPHICAL NOT ES ON IBN SHIHAB AL-Z UHRlAl-Zuhri's problematic link with the court also colours remarksmade about him by two prominent hadith scholars, 'Amr b. Dinar

and al-Awza'l. 'Amr b. Dinar said, 'I have not seen a man moreskilled in tracing up [or ascribing, or attributing] a tradition to itsauthor than al-Zuhri, and I have never seen anyone who had lessrespect for the dirham than him. The dirhams were in his eyes noth-ing more than dung.'61 Goldziher adduces the second part of 'Amr'sutterance as evidence of al-Zuhrl's selflessness.62 But while thisconclusion may well have been correct,63 it is the first part of theutterance which provides its context. 'Amr is aware of the fact thatal-Zuhri could be accused of receiving bribes from the Umayyads inreturn for forging hadith. He therefore states that this was impos-sible. A.man with such little respect for money simply could nottaqarrara anna al-Wdqidiyya da'if yuhtdju ilay-hi ft al-ghaz awdt wa-dl-ta'rikh...ammd ft al-fard'id ['concerning the things made obligatory on a person by God',viz. the religious law] fa-Idyanbaghl an yudhkara). It should be noted that Waqidi,exactly like al-Zuhri one century earlier, was in financial hardship when he came tothe capital Baghdad {qadima Baghdad ft dayn lahiqa-hu) and, again like al-Zuhri,Waqidi officiated as qddi (under al-Ma'mun); Dhahabi, Nubald', IX, 457. NoteWaqidl's autobiographical report, comparable to al-Zuhri's autobiographicalreport, about his arrival in Baghdad and his first meeting with the wazir Yahya b.Khalid al-Barmakl; Dhahabi, Nubald', IX, 459 .

At some stage, probably late in his life, al-Zuhri abandoned hadith altogether,possibly motivated by the criticism directed at him. TMD, Zuhri, 156, records a storyof al-Hasan b. 'Umara, who was the qddi of Baghdad at the time of al-Mansur, inwhich this detail appears as a matter of common knowledge: ataytu al-Zuhri ba'daan taraka al-hadith etc. On al-Hasan see Tahdh., II, 304f.61 TMD, Zuhri, 96 (ma ra'aytu ahadan anassa li-l-hadith min al-Zuhri, wa-mdra'aytu ahadan al-dirham ahwanu 'alay-hi min-hu, in kdnat al-dardhim 'inda-hu iliabi-manzilat al-ba'r). As is usually the case with Ibn 'Asakir's Ta'rikh Dimashq, wefind several other versions of this saying. See also E.W. Lane, Arabic-English Lexicon(London 1863-93), s.w. nassa, anassu: nassa al-hadith means 'he traced up, orascribed, or attributed, the tradition to the author thereof, resting it on his author-ity, by mentioning him, or mentioning, uninterruptedly, in ascending order, thepersons by whom it had been handed down, up to the author'. Cf. TMD, Zuhri,98 ( 'Amr b. Dinar: ...fa-lam ara ahadan asnada li-l-hadith min al-Zuhri).

62 Muslim Studies, I I , 4 6 n , quot ing a l -T i rmidh l , Sahih (Bulaq 1292/1875) , I ,104. Cf. Horovitz, 'Earliest Biographies ' , I I , 4 0 (where t h e n a m e o f ' A m r b . D i n a ris garbled).63 S e e t h e version o f th is ut terance in MaqrizI , Muqaffd, VI I , 2 4 5 : ma ra'aytuanassa li-l-hadith min Ibn Shihdb wa-ld ra 'aytu ajwada min-hu, md kdnat al-dandnirwa-al-darahim "inda-hu Hid bi-manzilat al-ba'r. But cf. TMD, Zuhri, 9 7 : md ra'aytushaykhan anassa li-l-hadith al-jayyid min hddhd al-shaykh. Also I b n Hanba l ' s u t t e r -ance , quoted i n I b n Rajab a l -Hanbal l , Shark 'ilal al-Tirmidhi, ed . S. al-Samarra ' I(reprint Beirut 1405/1985), 118: al-Zuhri ahsanu hadithan wa-ajwadu al-ndsiisnddan.

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BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES ON 1BN SHIHAB AL-ZUHRlhave been bribed. In other words, there was no motive, thereforethere was no crime.

As for AwzaX in his appraisal of al-Zuhri he strikes a respectablecompromise: 'Al-Zuhri never endeavoured to conciliate a rulerwhom he visited [or 'he never acted with dishonesty towards him'] ,and of die tabi'un who lived to the caliphate of Hisham none wasa greater expert on fiqh.'64 In other words, al-Zuhri was indeed afrequent visitor at court, but he did not hesitate in expressing hisopinion even if it was unpopular, and did not lose his integrity.AwzaTs statement is not implausible: after decades of close asso-ciation with the Umayyad court, al-Zuhri may well have enjoyedfreedom of speech. In any case, AwzaTs sober approach to al-Zuhri,motivated by both respect for his scholarly achievement and theindispensability of his work, is far more plausible than the att em pt to'distance' al-Zuhri from the Umayyads.65

The worst accusation which the pious could make against al-Zuhriconcerned his service in the state administration. Al-Zuhrl's workas qddi for Yazid b. "Abd al-Malik was mentioned by Goldziher.66 Horo-vitz pointed out that al-Zuhri served as qddl under 'Umar II as well.

67

M TMD, Zuhri, 1 6 1 : mdadhana Ibn Shihdb qattu li-malik dakhala 'alay-hi wa-Id adrakat khildfat Hisham abadan min al-tdbi'in afqaha min-hu; van: md ddhanaIbn Shihdb malikan min al-muluk qattu idhd dakhala 'alay-hi; Maqr lz l , Muqaffd,VII, 243. Incidentally, 'Abd al-Malik is said t o have referred t o M u ' a w i y a as al-khalifa al-muddhin; Khalifa, Ta'rikh, I , 3 4 9 .65 Cf. N. Abbott, Studies in Arabic Literary Papyri, I: Historical Texts (Chicago1957), 1 6 , w h o refers t o ' A b d al-Malik's 'patronage o f t h e t radi t ionis t -his tor ians'Urwah ibn al-Zubayr and al-Zuhri ' . Also Abbott , Studies in Arabic Literary Papyri, II:Qur'anic Commentary and Tradition (Chicago 1967), 2 2 , w h e re s h e speaks o f al-Zuhri 's 'more than forty years o f service under Umayyad patronage ' ; 2 3 : a l -Z u h r iwas 'well established' in Sulayman b . ' A b d al-Malik ' s court ; 3 3 : ' a l -Zuhri ' s n e wpatrons, first Yazid II ( 1 0 1 - 5 / 7 2 0 - 2 4 ) a n d t h e n H i s h a m (1 0 5 -2 5 /7 2 4 -4 2 ) , ma d especia l demands o n h i s t ime a n d knowledge ' . However , Abbot t emphas izes in afootnote : 'The has ty assumption b y Sprenger a n d Muir, followed b y G u i l l a u me ...and others , that Umayyad pressure forced al-Zuhri t o large-scale forgery o f hadiths h o u l d b e defini te ly a n d f ina l ly abandoned ' ; Abbot t , Studies in Arabic LiteraryPapyri, I I , 33 , n . "8 .

66 W e also know that Yazid summoned al-Zuhri together with a scholar o f t h eAnsar, 'Abdallah b . Mughlth al-Zafari; I b n Makula , al-Ikmdl, VII , e d . N . al- 'Abbas(Cairo n.d.), 278:12: 'Abdalldh ... kdna 'dliman, hamala-hu Yazid b. 'Abd al-Malik ilay-hima'a al-Zuhri fa-lamyazal muqlman 'inda-hu bi-al-Shdm. Also TMD, Mukht., XIV,7 9 : 'Abdalldh ... istaqdama-hu Yazid b. 'Abdal-Malik fa-kdna 'inda-hu ma'a al-Zuhri.67 Horotivz, 'Earliest Biographies ' , I I , 3 8 : ' U n d e r c U m a r I I (9 9 -1 0 1 /7 1 7 -2 0 )Al-Zuhri decided legal ques t ions ' , quot ing I b n ' A b d a l -H a k a m, Futuh Misr wa-akhbdru-hd, e d . C h . Torrey (New Haven 1922), 104 (a case w a s brought before' U m a r I I , wa-Ibn Shihdb qddi-hiyawma'idhiri). Horovitz 's somewhat vague phrasing

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BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE S ON IBN SHIHAB AL-ZUHRlWe can now add a third term in office attested to in a passage which(if it is not garbled) shows that he was already cAbd al-Malik's qddi.68

We have further evidence concerning al-Zuhrl's work in stateadm inistration . W e know that he was a tax collector, an office whichmust have been far worse than that of judge in the eyes of thepious. In an evaluation of al-Zuhrl as a transmitter of hadith it wascommented wa-kdna ya'malu li-Bam U mayya. This is no doubtmeant to point out a flaw in his record.69 Exactly what kind of 'amalis meant we find out elsewhere: 'Al-Zuhrl went out to collect taxes',kharaja a l-Zuhnfi si'dyah. The term si'ayah is glossed as the levyingof the sadaqah tax.70 In the report just quoted, al-Zuhri's role as taxcollector forms the background to the main theme, namely his unin-tentional shedding of a man's blood (fa-asdba rajulan bi-shay') whilecarrying out his official duty. Another report on the same incident (inwhich there is no mention of the si'dyah) explicitly refers to bloodwitto be paid to the relatives of the deceased.71 Sufyan b. 'Uyaynah speltout the circumstances in which al-Zuh rl caused the m an's death: 'Hewas made a tax collector, then he flogged a man and the man died.'72

The report that al-Zuhrl was a tax collector is confirmed byanother, going back to al-Zuhrl himself:I have never written down anything [i.e., of the hadith transmitted tome]. Having been put in charge of the levying of taxes (wa-la-qadwalitu al-sadaqah), I came to Salim b. 'Abdallah [i.e. Salim b. 'Abdallahb. 'Umar b. al-Khattab]. He took out for me the kitdb al-sadaqah [i.e.,

may indicate that h e felt that t h e single piece o f evidence h e h a d t o support a l -Zuhrl ' sjudgesh ip under 'Umar II w a s insufficient. B u t t h e only I b n Shihab ment ioned inTahdh., X I I , 2 9 9 , i s o u r I b n Shihab a n d t h e report seems t o b e sound. Incidentally,the plaintiff could n o t have been 'Umar's elder brother al-Asbagh (Futuh Misr,104 :12) w h o died in 86/705, th i r teen years before 'Umar ascended t h e t h ro n e ;TMD, MS, I I I , 6 3 ; read instead: Banu 1-Asbagh (as in Futuh Misr, 104 :15) .68 TMD, Zuhri, 1 0 9 ; TMD, MS, X V , 1 0 2 7 ( . .. wa-kdna qddiyan bayna yaday'Abd al-Malik).69 TMD, Tahdh., V I , 5 4 .70 Al-si'dyah huwa al-musaddiq (sic; read probably [sahib] al-si'dyah huwa al-musaddiq); A b u Z u r ' a h , Ta'rikh, I, 5 3 6 . This should perhaps b e l inked to the fo l -lowing report about a l -Zuhrl (al-Ma'rifah wa-al-ta'rikh, I , 6 3 2 ) : kdnayashtarl tamral-sadaqah thumma yad'u ilay-hi al-a'rdb fa-yaqsimu-hu bayna-hum.71 I b n S a ' d , V , 2 1 4 (asdba al-Zuhri daman khata'an fa-kharaja wa-taraka ahla-hu wa-daraba fustdtan etc.); Horovitz, 'Earliest Biographies ' , I I , 3 4 .72 I b n Sayyid al-Nas, al-Nafh al-shadhi fi sharh Jdmi' al-Tirmidhi, ed . A . M . ' A b dal-Karlm (Riyadh 1409/1988), 5 4 4 : tawalld al-si'dyah fa-'azzara rajulan fa-mdta. F o rthe source used b y I b n Sayyid al-Nas see GAS, I , 6 2 3 , n o . 2 . T h e edi tor of al-Nafh al-shadbireproaches I b n Sayyid al-Nas (o n p . 5 4 I n ) for adducing this report. I n general,h i s comments are an interesting portrayal o f some contemporary Islamic att i tudes.

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BIOGRAPHICAL NOT ES ON IBN SHIHAB AL-Z UHRla document about the levying of the sadaqah tax], read it out to meand I memorized it. Then I went to [Abu Bakr b. Muhammad b.]'Amr b. Hazm. He read out to me die kitdb al-'uqill [viz. a documenton bloodwit] and I memorized it.73

Al-Zuhri's appointment as a tax collector is the backdrop to thisautobiographical report, while its central concern is his boasting thathe could commit to his memory a complete, and complex, docu-me nt read ou t to him once. The context of this account suggests thatthe two documents, on the sadaqah and the 'uqul respectively, wererelevant to the duties of a tax collector. The preservation of thesedocuments in the Umayyad period is of paramount importance. Thekitdb al-sadaqah in question related to the taxing of livestock, namelycamels and sheep.74 The kitdb al-'uqul is probably the documentknown in Islamicist jargon as the 'Ahd al-U mmah or 'The Constitu-tion of Medina'.75 When was al-Zuhri a tax collector? Salim b.'Abdallah's death in 106/724 is our terminus ante quern. (Abu Bakrb. Muhammad died more than ten years later.)

At some point al-Zuhri was the chief of the shurtah for one ofthe Umayyad caliphs. An autobiographical report by the traditionistKharijah b. Mus'ab (d. 168/784) nicely demonstrates the traditionists'dilemma about al-Zuhri, and includes this rare piece of informationabout the latter:

73 I b n 'Abd al-Barr, al-Tamhld, V I, 108f ; cf. M a q r M , Muqaffd, VII , 244 . O n' A m r b . Hazm see Lecker, "Amr b. Hazm al-Ansarl and Qur 'an 2 , 2 5 6 : " N o com-puls ion is there i n religion"', Oriens (forthcoming). See also Kister, '"La taqra'u l-qur'dna 'aid l-mushafiyyin" = I b n H a z m , al-Ihkdm fi usul al-ahkdm, ed. M A . 'A b dal- 'Aziz (Cairo 1398/1978), I , 2 8 9 - 3 0 0 . O n t h e preservat ion o f documents f romthe t ime o f t h e Prophet , cf. Lecker, ' O n t h e Preservat ion o f t h e Letters o f t h eP r o p h e t Mu h am m ad ' , in L . I . Conrad (ed .) , History and Historiography in EarlyIslamic Times: Studies and Perspectives ( for thcoming) .

74 Cf. Ibn Zanjawayh, Kitdb al-Amwdl, ed. Sh. Dh. Fayyad (Riyadh 1406/1986),II , 8 0 3 : ... 'an Ibn Shihdb fi al-sadaqdt, qdla: hddhihi nuskhat kitdb rasul Allah (s) fial-sadaqah, wa-hiya 'inda dl 'Umar b. al-Khattdb, qdla Ibn Shihdb: aqra'a-ni-hdSalim b. 'Abdalldh fa-wa'aytu-hd 'old wajhi-hd wa-hddhd kitdb tafilri-hd: Id yukhadhu'aidshay' min al-ibilal-sadaqah hattd tablugha etc.; see also 807 (camels and sheep),853f (sheep).

75 A hadlth o f 'All has that t h e Prophet wrote fo r each batn o r t r ibal group its'uqul, glossed as provisions concerning the duties o f the 'dqilah, o r the group o f rela-t ions o n t h e father's side responsible for t he paymen t o f bloodwi t . The amounts o fm o n e y t o b e paid as compensa t ion i n t h e case o f specific injuries were prescribed;Lisdn al-'arab (Bei ru t 1968) , s.v. b.t.n., 5 4 : wa-fi hadlth All 'alay-hi al-saldm:kataba 'aid kull batn 'uqula-hu ...ay kataba 'alay-him md taghramu-hu al-'dqilahmin al-diydt fa-bayyana md 'aid kull qawn min-hd.

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BIOGRAPHICAL NOT ES ON IBN SHIHAB AL-Z UHRlI came to al-Zuhri when he was the chief of the shurtah for one of the[caliphs of the] Banu Marwan. I saw him riding [i.e., in a state proces-sion], holding a harbah [javelin] in his hand, and before him [in theprocession] were the people [i.e., the members of the shurtah forceunder his command], holding kdfirkubdt [cudgels, or whips]. I said [tomyself]: 'May God render this scholar ugly' (qabbaha Alldhu dhd min'dlirri). I left without hearing [hadith] from him. Then [i.e., years later]I regretted [it], I came to Yunus [i.e., Yunus b . Yazld al-Ayll] and heardfrom him the hadith of al-Zuhri {fa-satni'tu min-hu 'an al-Zuhrt).76

In this report Kharijah's regret at not having transmitted from thedespised chief of the shurtah forms the main theme.Finally, in the context of al-Zuhrl's role in the shurtah referenceshould be made here to the statement made by one of Bukhari'steachers, Muhammad b. Ishkab al-Baghdadl (d. 261/874),7 7 thatal-Zuhri was a jundi. Al-Dhahabl, who quotes this statement, addsthat he had the rank of amir: kdna fi rutbati amir. Elsewhere, al-Dhahabl gives this description of al-Zuhri: kdna ... muhtashimanjalilan bi-ziyy al-ajndd lahu surah kabirah fi dawlati Bam U mayya,'H e had many dependents and servants, was a man of em inence, wasdressed in the outfit of the ajndd, and enjoyed high rank in the stateof the Banu Um ayyah.'78 Al-Dhahabl remarks that the fact that al-Zuhri dyed his hair, wore the outfit of the jund and served(khadama) Hisham b. EAbd al-Malik drew criticism from people oflittle understanding.79

Another despised symbol of association with the worldly rulerswas the existence of a doorkeeper (bawwdh, or ddhin). Sufyan b.'Uyaynah once heard al-Zuhri complain to Muhammad b. Ishaq thathe had not seen him for some time. 'This ddhin of yours prevented

76 TMD, MS, V, 407; TMD, Mukht., VII, 324;.TMD, Tahdh., V, 29. Concerningthe kdfirkubdt see al-Jahiz, al-Baydn wa-al-tabyin, ed. 'A. al-S. Harun (Cairo 1395/1975), I,.142; al-Jahiz, Rasd'il, ed. 'A. al-S. Harun (Cairo 1384/1964), I, 20.'Athamina, 'The 'Ulama' in the Opposition', 166 (where I first found this pas-sage) infers from this that al-Zuhri was 'banned'; cf. above, n. 59. On processions(under the 'Abbasids and the Fatimids) cf. EP , s.v. Mawkib, section I (P. Sanders).77 Tahdh., IX, 121f .78 DhahabI, Nubald', V, 341, 337. Cf. the accusation directed at the traditionistShahr b. Hawshab al-Shami (d. ca. 111/729), a mawld who was at some point incharge of the treasury {bayt al-mdt), that he wore the outfit of a jundi ( ... mintazayylhi bi-ziyy al-jund); Tahdh., IV, 372. Shahr was of the people of Damascus,or, according to some, of the people of Hims; TMD, Mukht., XI, 5.79 A l - D h ah ab l , al-Ruwdt al-thiqdt al-mutakallam fi-him bi-md Id yujibu radda-hum, e d . M . I . al -Mawsi l l (Bei ru t , 1412/1992) , 2 6 : wa-kadbd takallama man Idyajhamu fi al-Zuhri U -kawni-hi khadaba bi-al-sawdd wa-labisa ziyy al-jund wa-kha-dama Hisham b. 'Abd al-Malik.

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BIOGRAPHICAL NOT ES ON IBN SHIHAB AL-Z UHRlme from entering,' replied Ibn Ishaq. So al-Zuhrl told his baurwdb tolet him in whenever he came.80

One or more of al-Zuhri's offices may be linked with his stay inEgypt at the time of eAbd al-Malik. From an autobiographical reportof al-Zuhrl we learn that 'Abd al-Malik sent him to his brother, 'Abdal-'Aziz, then governor of Egypt.81 This had to take place beforeeAbd al-'AzIz's death in 86/705.8 2Al-Zuhrl was reportedly in financial hardship and debt when, as ayoung m an in his twenties or early thirties, he arrived in Damascus.83Later in his life different people are supposed to have reminded himof those difficult times. Malik b. Anas reportedly spoke of a mawldof the open-handed al-Zuhrl who reminded his master of his formermonetary problems advising him, after he had become rich, to keephis money for himself.84 In addition, Raja' b. Haywah is said to havetold al-Zuhrl to stop spending so lavishly. 'I am not sure,' Raja' said,'that "these people" will not withhold from you what they have' (Iddmanu a nyahbisa hd'uld'i al-qawm md bi-aydi-him 'an-ka).K In otherwords, Raja' feared that the Umayyads would stop remuneratingal-Zuhrl. Typically, 'these people' is a euphemistic designation of theUmayyads, and no explicit mention is made of money.

2. Al-Zuhri's First Meeting with 'Abd al-Malikand 'the Hadith of the Three Mosques'The precise date of al-Zuhri's meeting with 'Abd al-Malik is importan tin connection with his role in promoting the Islamic sanctity of

80 Ib n Shahln, Ta'rikh asmd' al-thiqdt mimman nuqila 'an-hum al-'ilm, ed. 'A. al-M.A. QaTajI (Beirut 1406/1986), 280f. See also Abu Zur 'ah, Ta'rikh, I , 5 3 7 .81 Maqrlzl , Muqaffd, VII , 2 4 7 .82 AJ-Kindl , Kitdb wuldt Misr (Bei ru t 1407/1987) , 49 . The s tatement (Muqaffd,VII, 247) that before h e was sent to Egypt, al-Zuhrl h a d been at tached t o Sa'ld b .al -Musayyab for eight years, until Sa'ld died (hand tuwuffiya) must be an errorbecause Sa'ld died in 9 4 / 7 1 3 ; GAS, I , 2 7 6 .83 TMD, Zuhri, 12 ( IbnAbl Dhi 'b : kdna bn Shihdb qad ddqat hdlu-hu wa-rahiqa-hu dayri). See Horovitz, 'Earliest Biographies', II, 37: 'Like so many beforehim, he had gone to Damascus in the hope to free himself from harsh financial cir-cumstances.' Admittedly, the details on al-Zuhri's troubles serve a literary aim, too:they seek to create a sharp contrast between his state before his crucial meeting withthe caliph and after it. In the Islamic literature there are many similar stories aboutthe humble beginnings of the rich and famous.

84 D h a h a b l , Nubald', V , 3 3 8 (kdna bn Shihdb min askhd al-nds, fa-lammd asdbatilka al-amwdU qdla la-hu mawlan la-hu wa-huwa ya'izu-hu: qad ra'ayta md marra'alay-ka min al-dlq, fa-'nzur kayfa takunu, amsik 'alay-ka mdlaka).

85 Ibn Kathlr, Biddyah, IX, 343:-2.41

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BIOGRAPHICAL NOT ES ON IBN SHIHAB AL-Z UHRIJerusalem. Al-Zuhri is the key figure in al-Ya'qubl's famous reportabout cAbd al-Malik's wish to provide the Muslims of Sham with asubstitute for the Ka'bah: when the people complained to "Abd al-Malik about his prohibiting the pilgrimage to Mecca, al-Ya'qublsays, the caliph replied: hddhd bn Shihdb al-Zuhri yuhaddithu-kumanna rasillAlldhi qdla: Id tushaddu al-rihdl Hid ild thaldthati m asdjid:al-masjid al-hardm wa-masjidi wa-masjid bayt al-maqdis'. 'He re is IbnShihab al-Zu hri who transmits to you the Prophet's saying: "Th esaddles of the camels shall only be fastened for a journey to threemosques, namely the Ka'bah, my own mosque [i.e., in Medina] andthe mo

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES ON IBN SHIHAB AL-ZUHRI

Documents

shihab alzuhri

shihab maqrlzl

nisba zuhri

alzuhris legal activity

known asibn shihab

muslim tradition

thename muslim

zuhris pedigree