| Religion: | Islam |
| Occupation: | Islamic scholar, Muhaddith, Muslim Jurist, Historian |
| Era: | Islamic golden age |
| Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi | |
| Birth Date: | 24 Jumadi' al-Thani, 392 A.H/May 10, 1002 C.E |
| Birth Place: | Hanikiya, Abbasid Caliphate |
| Death Date: | 7 Zulhijja, 463 A.H/ September 5, 1071 C.E |
| Death Place: | Baghdad, Abbasid Caliphate |
| Region: | Iraq |
| Denomination: | Sunni |
| Jurisprudence: | Shafi'i[1] |
| Creed: | Ash'ari[2] [3] [4] [5] |
| Main Interests: | Hadith, Fiqh, History |
| Works: | History of Baghdad |
| Influences: | Al-Shafi'i Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari Abu Nu'aym al-Isfahani Abu Ishaq al-Isfarayini Abu al-Tayyib al-Tabari Al-Mawardi Al-Lalaka'i |
| Influenced: | Abu al-Walid al-Baji Ibn Makula Ibn Aqil Abu Ya'la ibn al-Farra' Ibn Asakir Ibn al-Sam'ani Ibn al-Dubaythi Ibn al-Najjar Al-Dhahabi |
Abū Bakr Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī ibn Thābit ibn Aḥmad ibn Māhdī al-Shāfiʿī, commonly known as al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī (Arabic: الخطيب البغدادي) or "the lecturer from Baghdad" (10 May 1002 – 5 September 1071; 392 AH-463 AH), was a Sunni Muslim scholar known for being one of the foremost leading hadith scholars and historians at his time.[6] He is widely considered an important authority in hadith, fiqh and history.[7]
Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi was born on 24 Jumadi' al-Thani, 392 A.H/May 10, 1002, in Hanikiya, a village south of Baghdad.
He was the son of a preacher and he began studying at an early age with his father and other shaykhs. Over time he studied other sciences but his primary interest was hadith. At the age of 20 his father died and he went to Basra to search for hadith. In 1024 he set out on a second journey to Nishapur and he collected more hadith in Rey, Amol and Isfahan. It is unclear how long he travelled but his own accounts have him back in Baghdad by 1028. He later travelled to Levant and performed his pilgrimage in Hejaz.[8]
Al-Khatib studied under the most prominent scholars of his time. He took hadith from Abu Nu'aym al-Isfahani (main teacher), Abu Bakr al-Barqani, Al-Lalaka'i, Al-Abdawi and Karima Bint Ahmad Bin Muhammad al-Marzawiyya. He took his fiqh from Abu Ishaq al-Isfarayini, Abu al-Tayyib al-Tabari, Al-Mawardi, and Shaykh Abu al-Hassan bin al-Mahamili.
Al-Dhahabi, said that contemporary teachers and preachers of tradition would usually submit what they had collected to Al-Baghdadi before they used them in their lectures or sermons. Al-Khatib was known for his brilliant preaching skills where he would be nicknamed the Preacher of Baghdad.[9]
He taught hadith in the most prestigious places such as the Great Mosque of al-Mansur in Baghdad and Umayyad Mosque in Damascus indicating his high status and scholarship.[10] Ibn Nasir narrated: "When al-Khatib read hadith in the mosque of Damascus, his voice could be heard from one end of the mosque to the other and he spoke in pure Arabic."
Al-Khattabi had many students with some becoming renowned scholars and among his famous students:
When a rebellion in 1059 led by the Turkish general Basasiri deposed Caliph Al-Qa'im (Abbasid caliph at Baghdad), and deprived Al-Baghdadi of his protection in Baghdad, he left for Damascus and there spent eight years as a lecturer at the Umayyad Mosque until a major controversy erupted.[11] Damascus was under the Fatimid rule and Al-Khatib criticized the Shia version of call to prayer by calling it an "innovation" which offended the Shi'i population. Yaqut relates that when news of the controversy reached the ruler of Damascus, he was furious and ordered that al-Khatib be killed. However the police chief, a Sunni, realizing that to follow the order would lead to a backlash against the Shi'i, warned al-Khatib to flee to the protection of Shari ibn Abi al-Hasan al-'Alawi.[12]
Al-Khatib spent about a year exiled in Sur, Lebanon before he returned to Baghdad, where he died in September 1071. He was buried next to Bishr al-Hafi.
‘Abd al-‘Aziz ibn Ahmad al-Kattani claimed Al-Khatib belonged to the school of Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari. The historian Al-Dhahabi agreed and stated the position of Al-Khatib regarding on the Divine Attributes, that they are to be passed on exactly as they came, without interpretation." Al-Dhahabi goes on to narrate al-Khatib’s methodology of rejecting nullification (ta'til) and anthropomorphism (tashbih) of the divine Attributes:
Abu Bakr al-Khatib said:"As for what pertains to the divine Attributes, whatever is narrated in the books of sound reports (Sahih Hadiths) concerning them, the position (belief) of the Salaf consists in their affirmation and letting them pass according to their external wordings while negating from them modality (kayfiyya) and likeness to things created (tashbîh). A certain people have contradicted the Attributes and nullified what Allah (God) had affirmed (Himself); while another people have declared them real (literal) then went beyond this to some kind of likening to creation and ascription of modality. The true objective is none other than to tread a middle path between the two matters. The Religion of Allah (Islam) lies between the extremist and the laxist. The principle to be followed in this matter is that the discourse on the Attributes is a branch of the discourse on the Essence. The path to follow in the former is the same extreme caution as in the latter. When it is understood that the affirmation of the Lord of the Worlds [in His Essence] is only an affirmation of existence and not of modality, it will be similarly understood that the affirmation of His Attributes is only an affirmation of their existence, not an affirmation of definition (tahdîd) nor an ascription of modality. So when we say: Allah has a Hand, hearing, and sight, they are none other than Attributes Allah has affirmed for Himself. We should not say that the meaning of ‘hand’ is power (al-qudra) nor that the meaning of ‘hearing’ and ‘sight’ is knowledge (‘ilm), nor should we say that they are organs (lâ naqûlu innahâ jawârih)! Nor should we liken them to hands, hearings, and sights that are organs and implements of acts. We should say: All that is obligatory is [1] to affirm them because they are stated according to divine prescription (tawqîf), and [2] to negate from them any likeness to created things according to His saying (There is nothing whatsoever like unto Him) (42:11) (and there is none like Him) (112:4)."
As a result of Al-Khatib's unwavering adherence to Ash'arism, his defence of Kalam, and his outspoken, harsh criticism of the Hanbalis, tensions between them escalated in Baghdad.[13] [14] As a result of his persecution, he was compelled to relocate to Damascus from his hometown.[15] Ibn al-Jawzi charged him for bigotry and fanaticism due to his severe criticism against the Hanbalis.
Biographers Sibt ibn al-Jawzi, Ibn Kathīr, and Ibn Taghribirdi wrote that the original was a work by as-Suri which al-Baghdādī had extended. Yāqūt al-Ḥamawī attributed the authorship to as-Surī's sister and accused al-Baghdādī of plagiarism, whereas Ibn Kathīr made no accusation of plagiarism, but attributed the original to as-Suri's wife.
He was accused of being Hanbali then switched to becoming Shafi'i according to Ibn Al-Jawzi, however, early and contemporary historians unanimously agreed that he began his career as a Shafi‘i and was never a Hanbali in his life.
The Hanbali hadith master, Ibn Aqil said: "Al-Khatib wrote abundantly on the science of hadith and became the undisputed hadith authority in his time." Al-Mu’taman al-Saji said "that the people of Baghdad never saw anyone such as al-Khatib after Al-Daraqutni." Abu ‘Ali al-Baradani said: "It is probable al-Khatib never met his equal." Abu Ishaq al-Isfarayini said: "Al-Khatib is the Daraqutni of our time."
Ibn Makula said:
"He was one of the foremost scholars whom we witnessed in his science, precision, memorization, and accuracy in the hadith of the Messenger of Allah. He was an expert in its minute defects, its chains of transmission, its narrators and transmitters, the sound and the rare, the unique and the denounced, the defective and the discarded. The people of Baghdad never had someone comparable to Abu al-Hasan ‘Ali ibn ‘Umar al-Daraqutni after the latter, except al-Khatib."
Al-Dhahabi said:
"The most peerless imam, erudite scholar and mufti, meticulous hadith master, scholar of his time in hadith, prolific author, and seal of the hadith masters."
Ibn Hajar declared his works influential in the field of the Science of hadith and Hadith terminology saying, "Scarce is the discipline from the disciplines of the science of ḥadīth on which he has not written a book." He then quoted Abu Bakr ibn Nuqtah, a Hanbali scholar, as saying, “Every objective person knows that the scholars of ḥadīth s coming after al-Khaṭīb are indebted to his works.”[16] Over 80 titles have been attributed to al-Baghdādī.
Selected list of works.
. Brown . Jonathan A.C.. Jonathan A.C. Brown . The Canonization of al-Bukhārī and Muslim: The Formation and Function of the Sunnī Ḥadīth Canon (Islamic History and Civilization). Brill. 2013. 978-9004158399. 187.
. Meri . Josef W . Josef W. Meri. Medieval Islamic Civilization An Encyclopedia · Volume 1. Routledge. 200 . 9780415966900. 437.
. Schimmel . Annemarie. Annemarie Schimmel . Gabriel's Wing A Study Into the Religious Ideas of Sir Muhammad Iqbal . Brill. 1963 . 225.
. Makdisi. George. George Makdisi. Rise of Colleges. Edinburgh University Press. 5 August 2019. 9781474470643. 174.