# Al-Zunburi
**Al-Zunburi** (الزنبري), fully Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn Mas'ud ibn 'Amr ibn Idris ibn 'Ikrima al-Zunbari al-Misri, was an Egyptian hadith transmitter of the fourth century AH who died in Ramadan 333 AH. Al-Dhahabi places him in the nineteenth tabaqa (generation) of his *Siyar A'lam al-Nubala'*, and the structured narrator database at Sunnah.com counts him in the thirteenth generation of transmitters, resident in Egypt and described as a Shafi'i.[1](https://ftp.shamela.ws/book/10906/9604) • [2](https://beta.sunnah.com/narrator/45747) • [3](https://www.ibnalarabi.com/tarajim/tarjamat.php?id=17012)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Name | Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn Mas'ud ibn 'Amr ibn Idris ibn 'Ikrima, al-Zunbari al-Misri[1](https://ftp.shamela.ws/book/10906/9604) • [3](https://www.ibnalarabi.com/tarajim/tarjamat.php?id=17012) |
| Death | Ramadan 333 AH; birth date and place not recorded[1](https://ftp.shamela.ws/book/10906/9604) • [3](https://www.ibnalarabi.com/tarajim/tarjamat.php?id=17012) |
| Residence | Egypt; sources call him simply "Misri"[1](https://ftp.shamela.ws/book/10906/9604) • [2](https://beta.sunnah.com/narrator/45747) |
| Teachers | Bahr ibn Nasr al-Khawlani, al-Rabi' (identified variously, see below), Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Tarsusi's circle, Bakkar ibn Qutayba, and others[1](https://ftp.shamela.ws/book/10906/9604) • [2](https://beta.sunnah.com/narrator/45747) |
| Students | Ibn al-Muqri', Ibn Yunus, Umar ibn Shahin, Abu al-Qasim al-Tabarani, Abu Dhar al-Tamimi, and Lakhmi students[1](https://ftp.shamela.ws/book/10906/9604) • [2](https://beta.sunnah.com/narrator/45747) • [3](https://www.ibnalarabi.com/tarajim/tarjamat.php?id=17012) |
| Grading | Al-Dhahabi: "lahu rihla wa fahm"; database grade: "saduq hasan al-hadith"; Muslim ibn al-Qasim al-Andalusi: "la ba'sa bihi"[1](https://ftp.shamela.ws/book/10906/9604) • [2](https://beta.sunnah.com/narrator/45747) |
| Works | None recorded in the retrieved biographical notices[1](https://ftp.shamela.ws/book/10906/9604) • [3](https://www.ibnalarabi.com/tarajim/tarjamat.php?id=17012) |
## Name, nisba, and origins
The nisba is vocalized **al-Zunbari**, with fatha on the za, then nun, then a ba carrying a dot beneath it. [Ibn Makula](https://www.edgepedia.org/ibn-makula) and [Ibn al-Sam'ani](https://www.edgepedia.org/ibn-al-samani) explain it as a nisba to a grandfather (nisba ila al-jadd), that is, a family name inherited from an ancestor rather than a trade or place.[3](https://www.ibnalarabi.com/tarajim/tarjamat.php?id=17012) Ibn Makula noted that no other narrator of the name al-Zunbari carried the nun in that spelling besides him, and al-Dhahabi's notice also recalls an earlier namesake family line, Sa'id ibn Dawud ibn Abi Zanbar al-Zunbari, a companion of Malik.[1](https://ftp.shamela.ws/book/10906/9604)
A later namesake invites confusion: al-Dhahabi's *Siyar* also carries an entry for Muhammad ibn 'Umar ibn Khalaf ibn Zunbur al-Baghdadi al-Warraq, a Baghdad traditionist called "baqiyyat al-ashyakh", who is a different person entirely.[4](https://shamela.ws/book/10906/10403) Al-Subki's *Tabaqat al-Shafi'iyya* likewise distinguishes our subject from the earlier Muhammad ibn Bashir al-Zunbari of the second generation, noting that Muhammad ibn Bashir belonged to a different generation, the latter's death year was never established.[3](https://www.ibnalarabi.com/tarajim/tarjamat.php?id=17012)
## Teachers and students
Al-Dhahabi records that he narrated from [Bahr ibn Nasr al-Khawlani](https://www.edgepedia.org/bahr-ibn-nasr-al-khawlani), al-Rabi' ibn Abd al-Hakam, and a group of others.[1](https://ftp.shamela.ws/book/10906/9604) The identity of "al-Rabi'" is the main point of disagreement among the sources: Ibn Makula's *al-Ikmal* and [Yaqut al-Hamawi](https://www.edgepedia.org/yaqut-al-hamawi)'s *Mu'jam al-Buldan*, as cited in the Sunnah.com entry, say he narrated from al-Rabi' ibn Sulayman al-Muradi and Muhammad ibn Abd Allah ibn Abd al-Hakam, while al-Subki's *Tabaqat* records, via Ibn Makula and Ibn al-Sam'ani, that he heard from al-Rabi' ibn Sulayman and Muhammad ibn Abd Allah ibn Abd al-Hakam, and al-Dhahabi's own notice reads al-Rabi' ibn Abd al-Hakam. The discrepancy is unresolved in the sources themselves.[1](https://ftp.shamela.ws/book/10906/9604) • [2](https://beta.sunnah.com/narrator/45747) • [3](https://www.ibnalarabi.com/tarajim/tarjamat.php?id=17012) The Sunnah.com database adds further teachers, including Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Khaza'i, Muhammad ibn Abd Allah al-Balisi, Bakkar ibn Qutayba, and Muhammad ibn Abd al-Hakam, and places him among the students of Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn Muslim al-Tarsusi.[2](https://beta.sunnah.com/narrator/45747)
His students form a recognizable Egyptian and western circle. Al-Dhahabi lists Ibn al-Muqri', [Ibn Yunus](https://www.edgepedia.org/ibn-yunus), and Umar ibn Shahin among those who narrated from him.[1](https://ftp.shamela.ws/book/10906/9604) Yaqut adds Abu Dhar 'Ammar ibn Muhammad al-Tamimi and Abu al-Qasim al-Tabarani.[2](https://beta.sunnah.com/narrator/45747) Al-Subki's *Tabaqat* names Abu Bakr Ibn al-Muqri', Abu Hafs ibn Shahin, Abu Sa'id ibn Yunus, and Abu al-Qasim al-Tabarani, and the entry also records two Lakhmi students, Muhammad ibn Umar ibn Hazm al-Lakhmi and Ahmad ibn Abd al-Rahim ibn Kinana al-Lakhmi al-Qurtubi.[3](https://www.ibnalarabi.com/tarajim/tarjamat.php?id=17012) A biography of him appears in al-Mansuri's *Irshad al-Qasi wa'l-Dani ila Tarajum Shuyukh al-Hafiz Abi al-Qasim al-Tabarani*, a work devoted to the sheikhs of al-Tabarani.[3](https://www.ibnalarabi.com/tarajim/tarjamat.php?id=17012)
## Grading by the critics
Al-Dhahabi's verdict is brief and favorable: "lahu rihla wa fahm" (he undertook travel for hadith and had understanding), and, citing Ibn Makula's *al-Ikmal* 4/242, that he "was an accomplished litterateur, of good knowledge of hadith" (adib fadil hasan al-ma'rifa bi-l-hadith).[1](https://ftp.shamela.ws/book/10906/9604) The Sunnah.com narrator database aggregates his grade as "saduq hasan al-hadith" (truthful, of good hadith).[2](https://beta.sunnah.com/narrator/45747) The Andalusi traditionist Musamma (Muslim) ibn al-Qasim al-Andalusi graded him "la ba'sa bihi" (there is no harm in him).[2](https://beta.sunnah.com/narrator/45747)
## What the record shows and where it thins
The consistent core across al-Dhahabi, the database aggregations, and al-Subki is small but stable: the name and lineage, residence in Egypt, death in Ramadan 333 AH, and al-Tabarani among his students. Around that core the record thins. No source gives a birth date or birthplace; the ibnalarabi.com entry states both as unknown.[3](https://www.ibnalarabi.com/tarajim/tarjamat.php?id=17012) No works are listed in any of the notices, so nothing is known to survive.[1](https://ftp.shamela.ws/book/10906/9604) • [3](https://www.ibnalarabi.com/tarajim/tarjamat.php?id=17012)
Two textual problems recur. The first is the al-Rabi' disagreement described above. The second is a death-year variant: one line in the ibnalarabi.com text reads "thlath wa-thamanin wa-thalathimi'a" (383 AH), which stands against the 333 AH given by al-Dhahabi, the Sunnah.com database, and the entry's own summary field; the 383 reading appears to be a textual corruption of 333.[1](https://ftp.shamela.ws/book/10906/9604) • [2](https://beta.sunnah.com/narrator/45747) • [3](https://www.ibnalarabi.com/tarajim/tarjamat.php?id=17012) The Sunnah.com structured lists also place al-Tabarani and Umar ibn Shahin among his teachers as well as his students, an apparent database inconsistency against al-Dhahabi's clear listing of both as his students.[1](https://ftp.shamela.ws/book/10906/9604) • [2](https://beta.sunnah.com/narrator/45747)
## References
1. [Al-Dhahabi, Siyar A'lam al-Nubala', vol. 15: al-Zunbari Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn Mas'ud ibn 'Amr (al-Risala edition, Shamela)](https://ftp.shamela.ws/book/10906/9604)
2. [Ahmad ibn Mas'ud al-Zunbri, Narrators database, Sunnah.com](https://beta.sunnah.com/narrator/45747)
3. [Tarajim al-Shuyukh wa'l-Ulama: Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn Mas'ud ibn 'Amr al-Zunbari al-Misri (incl. al-Subki's Tabaqat and al-Mizzi's Tahdhib al-Kamal), ibnalarabi.com](https://www.ibnalarabi.com/tarajim/tarjamat.php?id=17012)
4. [Al-Dhahabi, Siyar A'lam al-Nubala', vol. 16: Ibn Zunbur Muhammad ibn 'Umar al-Baghdadi (namesake), Shamela](https://shamela.ws/book/10906/10403)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › Philosophy, religion, and mythology › Religion and spirituality › Religious biographies › Jewish, Islamic, and Dharmic religious leaders › Islamic religious leaders and scholars › Sunni imams and classical Islamic scholars › Hadith scholars and traditionists › Egyptian traditionists*
*Initially written Oct 10, 2026 · Edited: Oct 11, 2026; Oct 15, 2026*
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