Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Abd Allah ibn al-Mubarak (Arabic: عَبْد اللَّه ٱبْن الْمُبَارَك, romanized: ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak; c. 726–797) was an 8th-century traditionalist[4]Sunni Muslim scholar and Hanafi jurist.[5] Known by the title Amir al-Mu'minin fi al-Hadith, he is considered a pious Muslim known for his memory and zeal for knowledge who was a muhaddith and was remembered for his asceticism.[6][7]
Biography
His father, named Mubarak, was of Indian[8] or Turkic descent from Khurasan and became a Mawla or "client" of an Arab trader from the tribe of Banī Hanẓala in the city of Hamadhān. His mother was said to have been from Khwārizm.[9] Mubarak later married Hind, a trader's daughter.[9] Ibn al-Mubarak was born during the reign of Umayyad caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik.
It is said that ʿAbdullāh left his hometown of Merv, and while living in Hamadhān, went on to visit and speak often in Baghdad.[6]Ahmad ibn Hanbal commented that there was no one more eager to travel to seek knowledge than Abdullah ibn Mubarak. His teachers included Sufyān al-Thawrī and Abū Hanīfa.[10] He wrote Kitāb al-Jihād, a collection of hadīth and sayings of the early Muslims on war, and Kitāb al-Zuhd wa al-Rāqa’iq, a book on asceticism. He was also known for defending Islamic borders (see ribat) on the frontiers of Tarsus and al-Massisah. He died in 797 at Hīt, near the Euphrates, during the reign of Harun al-Rashid.[10][11]
Works
Described as a prolific writer,[12] his works, most are now lost, include:
Kitab al-Arba'een – كتاب اﻷرﺑﻌﻴﻦ
Kitab al-Jihad – كتاب الجهاد
Kitab al-Isti'dhan – كتاب الإستئذان
Kitab al-Birr & al-Silah – كتاب البر والصلة (Book on the virtues of piety, etiquettes and keeping ties)
Kitab al-Tarikh – كتاب اﻟﺘﺎرﻳﺦ (Book on History)
Kitab al-Daqa'iq fi al-Raqa'iq – كتاب الدﻗﺎﺋﻖ في اﻟﺮﻗﺎﺋﻖ (Book on the heart-softeners)
Kitab Riqa' al-Fatawa – كتاب رقاع اﻟﻔﺘﺎوى (Book on Islamic verdicts)
Kitab al-Zuhd & al-Raqa'iq – كتاب اﻟﺰهﺪ واﻟﺮﻗﺎﻖ
Kitab al-Sunan fil-Fiqh – آﺘبﺎ اﻟﺴﻨﻦ ﻓﻲ اﻟﻔﻘﻪ
Kitab al-Musnad – كتاب المسند
Kitab Tafsir al-Qur'an – كتاب تفسير القرآن
References
^Robert Gleave; István Kristó-Nagy, eds. (2015). Violence in Islamic Thought from the Qur'an to the Mongols. Edinburgh University Press. p. 50. ISBN9780748694242. Hanafi literature, of course, celebrates Ibn al-Mubārak's admiration for, and dependence on, Abū Hanīfa – for example, our earliest extant biographical dictionary of Abū Hanīfa and the Hanafi school includes Ibn al-Mubārak among nine members of the generation of Abū Hanīfa's immediate disciples.
^Melchert, Christopher (1997). "Chapter 1: The Traditionalists of Iraq". The Formation of the Sunni Schools of Law, 9th-10th Centuries C.E. Koninklijke Brill, Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill Publishers. pp. 5–6. ISBN90-04-10952-8.
^Melchert, Christopher (1997). "Chapter 1: The Traditionalists of Iraq". The Formation of the Sunni Schools of Law, 9th-10th Centuries C.E. Koninklijke Brill, Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill Publishers. pp. 5–6. ISBN90-04-10952-8.
^Melchert, Christopher (1997). "Chapter 1: The Traditionalists of Iraq". The Formation of the Sunni Schools of Law, 9th-10th Centuries C.E. Koninklijke Brill, Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill Publishers. pp. 5–6. ISBN90-04-10952-8.
^ abAbu Nu'aym. Ḥilyat al-Awliyā’. p. v. 11 p. 389.
^ abAbu Nu'aym. Ḥilyat al-Awliyā’. p. v. 11 p. 390.
^ abRobson, J. Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Brill. p. Ibn al- Mubārak.
^SALEM, FERYAL E. (2013). ‘ABD ALLĀH B. AL-MUBĀRAK BETWEEN ḤADĪTH, JIHĀD, AND ZUHD: AN EXPRESSION OF EARLY SUNNI IDENTITY IN THE FORMATIVE PERIOD. University of Chicago: Dissertation.
^Alexander Knysh, Islamic Mysticism: A Short History, Brill (2015), p. 21
