Amr ibn Dinar

Amr ibn Dinar (, ) was a seventh-century Muslim jurist and hadith transmitter from the ''tabi'un'' who served as the mufti of Mecca.

Biography

Amr ibn Dinar's exact date of birth is unknown, but Islamic biographical dictionaries estimate it to be around . He was a '' mawla'' of either Banu Maddhij or the Banu Jumah. In his early years, he attended the study circles of Ibn Abbas' students, possibly in Mecca and Ta'if. He later studied under Ata ibn Abi Rabah and Tawus ibn Kaysan and was regarded positively, the latter encouraging his son to study under him.

He gained renown as a scholar by the beginning of the eighth century and was offered the position of ''mufti'' of Mecca by the Umayyads after the death of Ata. Although he initially refused, he accepted after being offered the post a second time following the death of Ata's successor, Qays ibn Sa'd. Amr's most prominent student was Sufyan ibn ʽUyaynah, through whom much of his biographical information is transmitted.

Biographical works suggest he possessed an odd personality: he seemingly arbitrarily refused to answer questioners, required his students to carry him in and out of mosques and expressed his displeasure by weeping and pretending to be blind. He was opposed to his students recording his opinions on the grounds that they were subject to change. He also disapproved of them writing down hadith narrated through him, although several, including Ibn Uyaynah, transmitted hadith from him in written form regardless.

Amr died around {{Circa, {{AH, 126 and was succeeded as ''mufti'' by his peer Ibn Abi Najih.

References

7th-century Muslim scholars of Islam
Tabi‘un
Tabi‘un hadith narrators
666 births
744 deaths