Name:	Muhammad ibn Muslim ibn Ubaydullah ibn Shihab al-Zuhri
Title:
Birth:
Death:	124 AH (741–742)
Ethnicity:	Arab
Region:	Damascus
Main interests:	Hadith

For the geographer from Al-Andalus see Mohammed Ibn Abu Bakr al-Zuhri

Muhammad ibn Muslim ibn Ubaydullah ibn Shihab al-Zuhri^[1] (Arabic: ابن شهاب الزهري‎) (died AH 124/741-2), usually called simply Ibn Shihab or al-Zuhri. He was, if not the founder of Islamic scholarship, then its earliest star.

Contents 1 Life 2 Relationship with the Umayyads 3 Scholarly Connections 3.1 Sunni view 3.2 Shi'a view 3.3 Non-Muslim view 4 Notes

[edit] Life

Ibn Sa'd ^[2] has an account purporting to be in al-Zuhri's own words describing how he left his home in Madinah, went to Damascus to seek his fortune and was recruited into the administration of the Caliph Abd al-Malik. The Caliph observed that his father had supported Ibn al-Zubayr against him in the recent civil war. But the Caliph'a policy toward the Zubayrites was reconciliation and his father's politics were not held against him.

No connected account of al-Zuhris life after that has come down to us. There is no evidence he ever again lived in Madinah. Abd al-Malik died in AH 86 {705 CE) and al-Zuhri continued to serve the Umayyid court the rest of his life. He died in AH 124 (741-2 CE).

In the initial conversation with Abd al-Malik the names of earlier Islamic scholars whom al-Zuhri had come in contact with in Madinah are mentioned: 'Abdullah ibn Tha'laba al-'Adawi (though he is disparaged), Sa'id ibn al_Musayyab, 'Urwa ibn al-Zubayr, 'Ubaydullah ibn 'Abdullah ibn 'Utba, Abu Bakr ibn 'Abdul-Rahman ibn al-Harith, Kharija ibn Zayd ibn Thabit and 'Abdul-Rahman ibn Yazid ibn Jariya. There are many stories about the strength of al-Zuhri's learning and all the scholar's in the west who were alive when he died quoted from him in their own works.^[2]

Some sources, but not Ibn Sa'd, say that he had a son named Ahmad ibn Abu Bakr al-Zuhri.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Relationship with the Umayyads

Some accuse al-Zuhri of having flattered the Umayyads. He taught the son of Caliph Hisham (died AH 125/743). but this does not mean that he supported the Umayyads uncritically. His relationship with the heir to the caliphate Walid (ruled for one year 125 after al-Zuhri's death) was so bad that Walid was only restrained from killing him by the Caliph's intervention. ^[2]

[edit] Scholarly Connections

It is pointless to try to list his teachers, colleagues and pupils.

There is an excellent modern discussion of al-Zuhri, his life, works and legacy in the eighth chaper of Azami's Studies in Early Hadith Literature ^[3]

[edit] Sunni view

Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri is regarded as one of the greatest Sunni authorities on Hadith. The leading critics of Hadith such as Ibn al-Madini, Ibn Hibban, Abu Hatim, Al-Dhahabi and Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani are all agreed upon his indisputable authority. He received ahadith from many Sahaba (Companions) and numerous scholars among the first and second generations after the Companions narrated from him.

In his famous letter to Malik ibn Anas, Laith ibn Sa`d writes:

Ibn Shihab would give many contradicting statements, when we would meet him. While if any one of us would ask him something in writing, he, in spite of being so learned, would give three contradictory answers to the same question. He would not even be aware of what he had said about the issue in the past. This is what prompted me to give up what you do not approve of [i.e. quoting a narrative on the authority of ibn Shihab] ^[4].

[edit] Shi'a view

Shi'a reject him as a hadith narrator, arguing that he hated Ali. Any discerning reader can look into the works of Al-Zuhri and decide for themselves whether this was the case or not. ^[5].

Al-Zuhri version of the history of Islam and hadith compilation is believed to favor the Umayyad rulers because his works were written under the direct order and funding of Abdul Malik.^[6]

[edit] Non-Muslim view

Harald Motzki regards al-Zuhri as reliable ^[7].

[edit] Notes