There are no historical documents that the biographers have cited that provide specifics on his birthdate, upbringing, or pursuit of knowledge. They did, however, all acknowledge his enormous efforts to study and become an expert in jurisprudence, Hadith, interpretation, belief, language, origins, and other subjects.[5][4]
The biographers did manage to record the teachers he studied under. However, it is noted he studied a large number of ulama and among he most prominent: Abu Umar al-Talamanki, Ibn Afif, Ibn al-Faradi, Abu al-Qasim al-Wahrani, Abu Abd al-Warith, and Abu Bakr al-Razi.[5]
Ibn Battal was a highly sought after Hadith expert and people from all over al-Andalus would flock to him. He served as a judge in the fort of Luarca. He was a teacher who produced numerous students. Among his most popular students: Muhammad bin Yahya bin Muhammad al-Zahtaa al-Taimi al-Andalusi, Al-Saqqat al-Funki, Abu Dawood, Abu al-Abbas, and Abdurrahman ibn Bishr.[5]
Wednesday night, while being prayed for during the noon prayer in Valencia, Ibn Battal passed away (449 A.H. - 1057 A.D). Rather Ibn Bashkuwal claimed to have seen in Abu al-Hasan al-Maqri's handwriting that he passed away on Wednesday night, that his funeral prayer was said at noon in 449 A.H., and that al-Andalus was greatly affected by his passing.[5]
Reception
Syrian Islamic scholar al-Dhahabi (d. 1348) said he was one of the senior Malikis (of his time) and Qadi Iyad (d. 1149) said he was a noble, exalted, and morphologist man.[5]
Ibn Bashkuwal states: “He was one of the seekers of knowledge, understanding, good handwriting, and well-tuned. He meticulously cares about the Hadith perfecting what was restricted from it and explained Sahih al-Bukhari in several volumes, and people narrated it from him. He used to imitate speech in the manner of Al-Ash'ari, and he died in the year four hundred and forty-nine.”[6]
Works
Ibn Battal authored many books on Hadith and jurisprudence. His most popular work is his celebrated commentary on Sahih al-Bukhari ranging 11 volumes entitled Sharh Ibn Battal. It is widely acclaimed in the Sunni community and considered one of the earliest commentaries of Sahih al-Bukhari.[7][8]
