Abu Muhammad Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib ibn Hazn al-Makhzumi (; 637–715) was one of the foremost authorities of jurisprudence (''

fiqh ''Fiqh'' (; ) is the term for Islamic jurisprudence.Fiqh
Encyclopædia Britannica ''Fiqh'' is of ...

'') among the '' taba'een'' (generation succeeding the companions of Muhammad who are referred to as the

sahaba The Companions of the Prophet () were the Muslim disciples and followers of the Islamic prophet Muhammad who saw or met him during his lifetime. The companions played a major role in Muslim battles, society, hadith narration, and governance ...

). He was based in

Medina Medina, officially al-Madinah al-Munawwarah (, ), also known as Taybah () and known in pre-Islamic times as Yathrib (), is the capital of Medina Province (Saudi Arabia), Medina Province in the Hejaz region of western Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, ...

Life and contribution to Islamic learning

Sa'id was born in 637, the son of al-Musayyib ibn Hazn of the

Banu Makhzum The Banu Makhzum () was one of the wealthy clans of the Quraysh (tribe), Quraysh. They are regarded as being among the three most powerful and influential clans in Mecca before the advent of Islam, the other two being the Banu Hashim (the tribe of ...

clan of the

Quraysh The Quraysh () are an Tribes of Arabia, Arab tribe who controlled Mecca before the rise of Islam. Their members were divided into ten main clans, most notably including the Banu Hashim, into which Islam's founding prophet Muhammad was born. By ...

tribe. He was born during the

caliphate A caliphate ( ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with Khalifa, the title of caliph (; , ), a person considered a political–religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of ...

Umar Umar ibn al-Khattab (; ), also spelled Omar, was the second Rashidun caliph, ruling from August 634 until his assassination in 644. He succeeded Abu Bakr () and is regarded as a senior companion and father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Mu ...

() and met most of the sahaba, including Umar's successors

Uthman Uthman ibn Affan (17 June 656) was the third caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate, ruling from 644 until his assassination in 656. Uthman, a second cousin, son-in-law, and notable companion of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, played a major role ...

() and Ali (). Sa'id was well known for his piety, righteousness and profound devotion to

Allah Allah ( ; , ) is an Arabic term for God, specifically the God in Abrahamic religions, God of Abraham. Outside of the Middle East, it is principally associated with God in Islam, Islam (in which it is also considered the proper name), althoug ...

; as for his stature among

Sunni Muslims Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Musli ...

, he is renowned as the most eminent of The Seven Fuqaha of Medina. He began, as did

Hasan al-Basri Abi Sa'id al-Hasan ibn Yasar al-Basri, often referred to as al-Hasan al-Basri, was an ancient Muslim preacher, ascetic, theologian, exegete, scholar, and judge. Born in Medina in 642,Mourad, Suleiman A., “al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī”, in: ''Encyc ...

Basra Basra () is a port city in Iraq, southern Iraq. It is the capital of the eponymous Basra Governorate, as well as the List of largest cities of Iraq, third largest city in Iraq overall, behind Baghdad and Mosul. Located near the Iran–Iraq bor ...

, to give opinions and deliver verdicts on legal matters when he was around twenty years of age. The Companions admired him greatly. On one occasion, Abdullah ibn Umar remarked, "If uhammadhad seen that young man, he would have been very pleased with him." Sa'id married the daughter of Abu Hurayrah in order to be closer to him and to learn better the

hadith Hadith is the Arabic word for a 'report' or an 'account f an event and refers to the Islamic oral tradition of anecdotes containing the purported words, actions, and the silent approvals of the Islamic prophet Muhammad or his immediate circle ...

s (traditions of the Islamic prophet

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

and his companions) that he narrated. The two had a daughter. Sa'id had her play not with dolls, but with drums; later she learnt to cook. During the Battle of al-Harra and the subsequent takeover of Medina by the

Syrian Syrians () are the majority inhabitants of Syria, indigenous to the Levant, most of whom have Arabic, especially its Levantine and Mesopotamian dialects, as a mother tongue. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend ...

troops of the

Umayyad The Umayyad Caliphate or Umayyad Empire (, ; ) was the second caliphate established after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty. Uthman ibn Affan, the third of the Rashidun caliphs, was also a membe ...

caliph

Yazid I Yazid ibn Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan (; 11 November 683), commonly known as Yazid I, was the second caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate, ruling from April 680 until his death in November 683. His appointment by his father Mu'awiya I () was the first ...

in 683, Sa'id was the one Medinese who prayed in the Prophet's mosque. After Yazid died, he refused to take the

oath of allegiance An oath of allegiance is an oath whereby a subject or citizen acknowledges a duty of allegiance and swears loyalty to a monarch or a country. In modern republics, oaths are sworn to the country in general, or to the country's constitution. For ...

to the

Mecca Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...

-based, anti-Umayyad caliph

Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam (; May 624October/November 692) was the leader of a caliphate based in Mecca that rivaled the Umayyads from 683 until his death. The son of al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam and Asma bint Abi Bakr, and grandson of ...

. After the Umayyad Abd al-Malik had reconquered the Caliphate, including Medina, he requested Sa'id marry his daughter (born of his marriage to Abu Hurayra's daughter) to Abd al-Malik's son and future caliph

Hisham Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan (; 6 February 743) was the tenth Umayyad caliph, ruling from 724 until his death in 743. Early life Hisham was born in Damascus, the administrative capital of the Umayyad Caliphate, in AH 72 (691–692 CE). Hi ...

. Sa'id refused and, in the face of increasing pressures and threats, he offered her to Ibn Abi Wada', who stayed in the

madrasa Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , ), sometimes Romanization of Arabic, romanized as madrasah or madrassa, is the Arabic word for any Educational institution, type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whet ...

. In 705, Abd al-Malik commanded his governors to enforce the oath of allegiance to his son

al-Walid I Al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan (; – 23 February 715), commonly known as al-Walid I (), was the sixth Umayyad caliph, ruling from October 705 until his death in 715. He was the eldest son of his predecessor, Caliph Abd al-Malik (). As ...

as his successor. Sa'id refused.

Hisham ibn Isma'il al-Makhzumi Hisham ibn Isma'il al-Makhzumi () was an 8th-century official of the Umayyad Caliphate, and the maternal grandfather of Caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik. He served as the governor of Medina from 701 to 706. Family Hisham was a member of the Banu Ma ...

, the governor of Medina, gaoled him and had him beaten daily until the stick was broken, but he did not yield. When his friends, such as Masruq ibn al-Ajda' and Tawus, advised him to consent to al-Walid's caliphate to spare himself further torture, he answered: "People follow us in acting. If we consent, how will we be able to explain this to them?" Hisham's successor

Umar II Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz ibn Marwan (; February 720) was the eighth Umayyad caliph, ruling from 717 until his death in 720. He is credited to have instituted significant reforms to the Umayyad central government, by making it much more efficient and ...

(a maternal grandson of Umar), who governed Medina in 706–712, on the other hand consulted Sa'id in all of his executive decisions.

Hadith

Those who received Islamic rulings and Traditions from Sa'id include Umar II, Qatadah, al-Zuhri and Yahya ibn Sa'id al-Ansari, among others. Sa'id was from Ahle Hadith School of thought

Qur'an The Quran, also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation directly from God ('' Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which consist of individual verses ('). Besides ...

. He did not treat the hadith as a science with ''

isnad In the Islamic study of hadith, an isnād (chain of transmitters, or literally "supporting"; ) refers to a list of people who passed on a tradition, from the original authority to whom the tradition is attributed to, to the present person reciting ...

s'' (chains of transmission) in the way of those after him (especially al-Zuhri). As a result, many of his rulings have been equipped with spurious ''isnads'' and converted into hadiths. It is similar with ''

tafsir Tafsir ( ; ) refers to an exegesis, or commentary, of the Quran. An author of a ''tafsir'' is a ' (; plural: ). A Quranic ''tafsir'' attempts to provide elucidation, explanation, interpretation, context or commentary for clear understanding ...

'' (Qur'anic interpretation): Sa'id argued his points from the Qur'an, but refused to expound on verses for their own context or meaning. To the extent a "tafsir of Ibn al-Musayyib" ever existed it was compiled by his students based on his rulings. The leading jurisprudents

Malik ibn Anas Malik ibn Anas (; –795) also known as Imam Malik was an Arab Islamic scholar and traditionalist who is the eponym of the Maliki school, one of the four schools of Islamic jurisprudence in Sunni Islam.Schacht, J., "Mālik b. Anas", in: ''E ...

and

al-Shafi'i Al-Shafi'i (; ;767–820 CE) was a Muslim scholar, jurist, muhaddith, traditionist, theologian, ascetic, and eponym of the Shafi'i school of Sunni Islamic jurisprudence. He is known to be the first to write a book upon the principles ...

took as unquestionably authentic the ''hadiths'' that Sa'id narrated from Umar or Muhammad as authentic, without mentioning from whom he received them.For instance: , 135 (quoting Malik, Sa'id from Muhammad); 261, 263 (Sa'id < Umar). In their view, Sa'id was of the same rank as the sahaba in knowledge and narration of ''hadiths''.

References

External links

Biodata at MuslimScholars.info
{{DEFAULTSORT:Said Ibn Al-Musayyib Sa'id 637 births 715 deaths 7th-century Muslim scholars of Islam 7th-century jurists 7th-century Arab people 8th-century Arab people 8th-century jurists Banu Makhzum Hadith scholars Tabi‘un hadith narrators

Life and contribution to Islamic learning

Hadith

See also

References

External links