Abd al-Rahman ibn Ahmad ibn Rajab (736-795 AH / 1335–1393 CE), commonly known as Ibn Rajab, (which was a nickname he inherited from his grandfather who was born in the month of Rajab), was a muhaddith,

scholar A scholar is a person who is a researcher or has expertise in an academic discipline. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researcher at a university. An academic usually holds an advanced degree or a termina ...

, and

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyzes and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal education in law (a law degree) and often a Lawyer, legal prac ...

. Notable for his commentary on the forty hadith of Imam Al-Nawawi, he was also the initial author of Fath al-Bari.

Biography

Imam Ibn Rajab was born in

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

in 1335 (736H). His grandfather was a scholar of

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

with a focus in

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 ...

. His father, also born in

, studied under a number of scholars. At the age of five Ibn Rajab's family moved to

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

, then traveled to

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

where he studied under al-Alla'i, then back to

and from there to

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 ...

. While in

his father arranged for him to study

as well. He then traveled to

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

before returning to

, where he taught students of his own. Some of the scholars he studied under were Ibn an-Naqeeb (d. 769H), as-Subki, al-Iraqi (d. 806H), and Muhammad Ibn Ismail al-Khabbaz. He also studied with Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah up to Ibn al-Qayyim's death. Ibn Rajab's commentary on the forty hadith of Nawawi (Jami' al-Ulum wa al-Hikam) is one of the largest and is generally considered the best commentary available. Near the end of his life, Ibn Rajab began composing a commentary on

Sahih Bukhari () is the first hadith collection of the Six Books of Sunni Islam. Compiled by Islamic scholar al-Bukhari () in the format, the work is valued by Sunni Muslims, alongside , as the most authentic after the Qur'an. Al-Bukhari organized the bo ...

, but only reached the chapter on the funeral prayers before he died. He had named his work ''Fath al-Bari'' and what he did write has been published by ''Dar Ibn al-Jawzi'' in seven volumes. This amounts to less than a sixth of

. Twenty years after Ibn Rajab's death,

Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī (; 18 February 1372 – 2 February 1449), or simply ibn Ḥajar, was a classic Islamic scholar "whose life work constitutes the final summation of the science of hadith." He authored some 150 works on hadith, history, ...

began his commentary on

and gave his own work the same title in honour of Ibn Rajab.

Death

Ibn Rajab died on a Monday night 4th of Ramadhan 795AH (1393), at the age of fifty-nine, in a garden area he had rented in

. His funeral prayer was performed the next day and he was buried in the Baab as-Sagheer graveyard.

Comments from other Muslim scholars

Ibn Qadi Shuhbah said of him in his biography: "He read and became proficient in the various fields of science. He engrossed himself with the issues of the (

Hanbali The Hanbali school or Hanbalism is one of the four major schools of Islamic jurisprudence, belonging to the Ahl al-Hadith tradition within Sunni Islam. It is named after and based on the teachings of the 9th-century scholar, jurist and tradit ...

) maddhab until he mastered it. He devoted himself to the occupation of knowledge of the texts, defects and meanings of the Hadith. And he withdrew himself in seclusion in order to write." Al-Hafidh ibn Hajr al-Asqalani said of him: "He was highly proficient in the scientific disciplines of Hadith in terms of the names of reporters, their biographies, their paths of narration and awareness of their meanings."Inbaa-ul-Ghamr Imaam ibn Muflih al-Hanbali said of him: "He was the Shaikh, the great scholar, the Hafidh, the one who abstained from the worldly life. He was the Shaikh of the

maddhab and he wrote many beneficial books."

Works

Tafsir and Qur'anic studies

* ''Tafsir Surah al-Ikhlaas'' * ''Tafsir Surah al-Faatihah'' * ''Tafsir Surah an-Nasr'' * ''I'raab al-Bismillah'' * ''Al-Istighnaa bil-Qur'an''

Hadith studies and explanations

* ''Sharh

al-Tirmidhi Muhammad ibn Isa al-Tirmidhi (; 824 – 9 October 892 CE / 209–279 AH), often referred to as Imām at-Termezī/Tirmidhī, was an Islamic scholar, and collector of hadith from Termez (early Khorasan and in present-day Uzbekistan). He w ...

'' * Fath al-Bari bi Sharh Sahih al-Bukhari (A commentary on

) * Jami' al-'Uloom wal-Hikam fi Sharh khamsina Hadithan min Jawami al-Kalim (published in English translation as ''The Compendium of Knowledge and Wisdom'' by Turath Publishing Ltd., London, July 2007) * Maa Dhi'bani Ja'iaan ursilaa fi Ghanam * Ikhtiyaar al-Awlaa fi Sharh Hadith Ikhtisaam al-Mala al-A'alaa * Noor al-Iqtibas fi Mishkaat Wasiyyat an-Nabi Libn Abbas ( Explanation of the advice of the Prophet to Ibn 'Abbas ) * Ghayat an-Nafa fi Sharh Hadith Tamthil al-Mu'min bi Khamat az-Zara * Kashf al-Kurbah fi Wasfi Hali Ahl al-Ghurbah ( Alleviating Grieviances in Describing the Condition of the Strangers )

Fiqh

* Al-Istikhraj fi Ahkam al-Kharaj * Al-Qawa'id al-Fiqhiyyah * Kitab Ahkam al-Khawatim wa ma yat'alaqu biha

Biographical and historical accounts

* Adh-Dhayl 'alaa Tabaqat al-Hanabilah * Mukhtasar Sirah Umar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz * Sirah 'Abd al-Malik ibn Umar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz

Other

* Lata'if al-Ma'arif fima li Mawasim al-Aam min al-Wadha'if * At-Takhweef min an-Naar wat-Ta'reef bi Hali Dar al-Bawar * Al-Farq bayna an-Nasihah wat-Ta'yir ( The difference between advising and condemning ) * Ahwal Ahl al-Quboor * Fadhl 'Ilm Al-Salaf 'alā'l-Khalaf ( The superiority of the knowledge of the predecessors over the knowledge of the successors )

References

External links

Biodata at MuslimScholars.info

Books by Ibn Rajab
*

From At-tawhid.net {{DEFAULTSORT:Rajab, Ibn 1335 births 1393 deaths People from Baghdad Hanbalis Sunni Muslim scholars of Islam Hadith scholars Atharis 14th-century Muslim scholars of Islam 14th-century jurists