For the geographer from Al-Andalus

Al-Andalus

Al-Andalus was the Arabic name given to a nation and territorial region also commonly referred to as Moorish Iberia. The name describes parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania governed by Muslims , at various times in the period between 711 and 1492, although the territorial boundaries...

 see Mohammed Ibn Abu Bakr al-Zuhri

Al-Zuhri

For the hadith scholar Al-Zuhri see Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri.Mohammed Ibn Abu Bakr al-Zuhri of Granada was a geographer. He was the writer of a notable work, Kitab al-Jaghrafiyya . Al-Zuhri was able to use the writings of the geographers of the reign of Caliph Al-Ma'mun of Baghdad For the hadith...

Muhammad ibn Muslim ibn Ubaydullah ibn Shihab al-Zuhri (died AH 124/741-2), usually called simply Ibn Shihab or al-Zuhri. He was a central figure among the early collectors of sīra

Sira

The sīrat rasūl allāh or al-sīra al-nabawiyya or just al-sīra, is the Arabic term used for the various traditional Muslim biographies of Muhammad from which, in addition to the Qur'an and Hadith, most historical information about his life and the early period of Islam is derived.-Etymology:In the...

.

Life

Ibn Sa'd has an account purporting to be in al-Zuhri's own words describing how he left his home in Madinah, went to Damascus

Damascus

Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...

 to seek his fortune and was recruited into the administration of the Caliph Abd al-Malik. The Caliph observed that his father had supported Ibn al-Zubayr against him in the recent civil war. But the Caliph'a policy toward the Zubayrites was reconciliation and his father's politics were not held against him.

No connected account of al-Zuhris life after that has come down to us. There is no evidence he ever again lived in Madinah. Abd al-Malik died in AH 86 (705 CE) and al-Zuhri continued to serve the Umayyid court the rest of his life. He died in AH 124 (741–2 CE).

In the initial conversation with Abd al-Malik the names of earlier Islamic scholars whom al-Zuhri had come in contact with in Madinah are mentioned: 'Abdullah ibn Tha'laba al-'Adawi (though he is disparaged), Said ibn al-Musayyib

Said Ibn Al-Musayyib

Said Ibn Al-Musayyib lived in Medina was among the foremost authorities in hadith, jurisprudence and Quranic interpretation among the Taba'een ....

, Urwah ibn Zubayr, 'Ubaydullah ibn 'Abdullah ibn 'Utba, Abu Bakr ibn 'Abdul-Rahman ibn al-Harith, Kharija ibn Zayd ibn Thabit and 'Abdul-Rahman ibn Yazid ibn Jariya. There are many stories about the strength of al-Zuhri's learning and all the scholar's in the west who were alive when he died quoted from him in their own works.

Some sources, but not Ibn Sa'd, say that he had a son named Ahmad ibn Abu Bakr al-Zuhri

Ahmad ibn Abu Bakr al-Zuhri

For the geographer from Al-Andalus see Mohammed Ibn Abu Bakr al-ZuhriAbu Mus`ab Ahmad ibn Abi Bakr al-Zuhri was a well known 3rd century AH Muslim scholar, the son of Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri ....

.

Relationship with the Umayyads

Some accuse al-Zuhri of having flattered the Umayyads. He taught the son of Caliph Hisham (died AH 125/743). but this does not mean that he supported the Umayyads uncritically. His relationship with the heir to the caliphate Walid (ruled for one year 125 after al-Zuhri's death) was so bad that Walid was only restrained from killing him by the Caliph's intervention.

Sunni view

Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri is regarded as one of the greatest Sunni authorities on Hadith. The leading critics of Hadith such as Ibn al-Madini

Ali ibn al-Madini

Abū al-Ḥasan ʻAlī ibn ʻAbdillāh ibn Jaʻfar al-Madīnī was a ninth century Sunni Islamic scholar who was influential in the science of hadith.-Biography:...

, Ibn Hibban, Abu Hatim, Al-Dhahabi

Al-Dhahabi

Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn `Uthman ibn Qaymaz ibn `Abd Allah, Shams al-Din Abu `Abd Allah al-Turkmani al-Diyarbakri al-Fariqi al-Dimashqi al-Dhahabi al-Shafi`i , known as Al-Dhahabi , a Shafi'i Muhaddith and historian of Islam.-Biography:...

 and Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani

Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani

Al-Haafidh Shihabuddin Abu'l-Fadl Ahmad ibn Ali ibn Muhammad, better known as Ibn Hajar due to the fame of his forefathers, al-Asqalani due to his family origin , was a medieval Shafiite Sunni scholar of Islam who represents the entire realm of the Sunni world in the field of Hadith...

 are all agreed upon his indisputable authority. He received ahadith from many Sahaba

Sahaba

In Islam, the ' were the companions, disciples, scribes and family of the Islamic prophet...

(Companions) and numerous scholars among the first and second generations after the Companions narrated from him.

In his famous letter to Malik ibn Anas

Malik ibn Anas

Mālik ibn Anas ibn Mālik ibn Abī 'Āmir al-Asbahī is known as "Imam Malik," the "Sheikh of Islam", the "Proof of the Community," and "Imam of the Abode of Emigration." He was one of the most highly respected scholars of fiqh in Sunni Islam...

, Laith ibn Sa`d writes:

Ibn Shihab would give many contradicting statements, when we would meet him. While if any one of us would ask him something in writing, he, in spite of being so learned, would give three contradictory answers to the same question. He would not even be aware of what he had said about the issue in the past. This is what prompted me to give up what you do not approve of [i.e. quoting a narrative on the authority of ibn Shihab].

Further reading

• There is an excellent modern discussion of al-Zuhri, his life, works and legacy in the eighth chaper of Azami's Studies in Early Hadith Literature: Mohmammad Mustafa Azmi "Studies in Early Hadith Literature: with a Critical Edition of Some Early texts" 1st edition 1968, 3rd edition 1992 used, American Trust Publications, ISBN 0892591250.