{ "id": "ep4chwtx68", "slug": "ibn-zanjawayh", "title": "Ibn Zanjawayh", "updated": "2026-10-15", "topic_path": [ { "id": "society", "label": "Society and history", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/society" }, { "id": "society.belief", "label": "Philosophy, religion, and mythology", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/society.belief" }, { "id": "society.belief.religion", "label": "Religion and spirituality", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/society.belief.religion" }, { "id": "society.belief.religion.people", "label": "Religious biographies", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/society.belief.religion.people" }, { "id": "society.belief.religion.people.non_christian_leaders", "label": "Jewish, Islamic, and Dharmic religious leaders", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/society.belief.religion.people.non_christian_leaders" }, { "id": "society.belief.religion.people.islamic_leaders", "label": "Islamic 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"society.belief.religion.people.islamic_sunni_scholars.hadith_scholars.khorasanian-and-transoxanian-traditionists.hadith-scholars-of-nishapur", "label": "Hadith scholars of Nishapur", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/society.belief.religion.people.islamic_sunni_scholars.hadith_scholars.khorasanian-and-transoxanian-traditionists.hadith-scholars-of-nishapur" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.mena.t500.society.belief.religion.people.islamic_sunni_scholars.hadith_scholars.khorasanian-and-transoxanian-traditionists", "label": "Middle East and North Africa · 500 BC to AD 999: Khorasanian and Transoxanian traditionists", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.mena.t500.society.belief.religion.people.islamic_sunni_scholars.hadith_scholars.khorasanian-and-transoxanian-traditionists", "path": [ { "id": "geo.mena", "label": "Middle East and North Africa", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.mena" }, { "id": "geo.mena.t500", "label": "Middle East and 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"geo.mena.t500.society.belief.religion.people.islamic_sunni_scholars.hadith_scholars.khorasanian-and-transoxanian-traditionists", "label": "Khorasanian and Transoxanian traditionists", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.mena.t500.society.belief.religion.people.islamic_sunni_scholars.hadith_scholars.khorasanian-and-transoxanian-traditionists" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Ibn Zanjawayh (ابن زنجويه), fully Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Zanjawayh al-Qushayri al-Naysaburi, was a hadith scholar of Nishapur who died in 302 AH (914/915 CE), with 21 narrations in the canonical collections.", "snippet": "Ibn Zanjawayh (ابن زنجويه), fully Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Zanjawayh al-Qushayri al-Naysaburi, was a hadith scholar of Nishapur who died in 302 AH (914/915 CE), with 21 narrations in the canonical collections.", "node": "society.belief.religion.people.islamic_sunni_scholars.hadith_scholars.khorasanian-and-transoxanian-traditionists.hadith-scholars-of-nishapur", "markdown": "# Ibn Zanjawayh\n\n**Ibn Zanjawayh** (ابن زنجويه), fully Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Zanjawayh ibn al-Haytham al-Qushayri al-Naysaburi (محمد بن زنجويه بن الهيثم القشيري النيسابوري), was a hadith transmitter of the 13th tabaqa (generation) who died in 302 AH (914/915 CE). Al-Dhahabi's *Siyar A'lam al-Nubala* opens his entry with the titles \"Imam, hadith master\" and ties him to Nishapur through his nisba al-Naysaburi.[1](https://shamela.ws/book/10906/8848) • [2](https://beta.sunnah.com/narrator/29144)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Full name | Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Zanjawayh ibn al-Haytham ibn Isa ibn Abd Allah, al-Qushayri al-Naysaburi[1](https://shamela.ws/book/10906/8848) • [2](https://beta.sunnah.com/narrator/29144) |\n| Death | 302 AH (914/915 CE); Abu Nu'aym gives the month as Jumada al-Akhira[1](https://shamela.ws/book/10906/8848) |\n| Lifespan | About eighty years, per al-Dhahabi's remark[1](https://shamela.ws/book/10906/8848) |\n| Spheres of activity | Nishapur, Iraq, and the Hijaz[2](https://beta.sunnah.com/narrator/29144) |\n| Teachers (per al-Dhahabi) | Abu Mus'ab al-Zuhri, Abd al-Aziz ibn Yahya, Ibn Rahawayh, Amr ibn Zurara, Abu Marwan al-Uthmani, Abu Kurayb, Yahya ibn Aktham, and their generation[1](https://shamela.ws/book/10906/8848) |\n| Indexed narrations | 21 hadiths transmitted through him in the canonical collections, including in *Sunan al-Daraqutni*[2](https://beta.sunnah.com/narrator/29144) |\n| Standing in jarh wa ta'dil | Praised as \"Imam, muhaddith\"; no criticism (jarh) recorded against him[3](https://hdith.com/encyclopedia/rawi/p-17554) |\n\n## Life and genealogy\n\nThe biographical record for Ibn Zanjawayh is brief. Al-Dhahabi's entry in the *Siyar* identifies him by kunya, name, and two nisbas, al-Qushayri and al-Naysaburi, and the narrator databases extend the genealogy further, to Muhammad ibn Zanjawayh ibn al-Haytham ibn Isa ibn Abd Allah.[1](https://shamela.ws/book/10906/8848) • [2](https://beta.sunnah.com/narrator/29144) No birth date or birthplace is recorded for him; al-Dhahabi's remark that he lived to about eighty years is the only indication of when he was born.[1](https://shamela.ws/book/10906/8848)\n\n**Where he worked.** The narrator database describes him as a hadith scholar active in Nishapur, Iraq, and the Hijaz.[2](https://beta.sunnah.com/narrator/29144) Al-Dhahabi closes the entry by citing *Tabaqat al-Hanabila* 1/306, *al-Ibar* 2/123, and *Shadharat al-Dhahab* 2/239 as parallel biographical sources.[1](https://shamela.ws/book/10906/8848)\n\n## Teachers and students\n\nAl-Dhahabi lists his teachers as Abu Mus'ab al-Zuhri, Abd al-Aziz ibn Yahya, Ibn Rahawayh, Amr ibn Zurara, Abu Marwan al-Uthmani, Abu Kurayb, and [Yahya ibn Aktham](https://www.edgepedia.org/yahya-ibn-aktham), \"and their generation.\"[1](https://shamela.ws/book/10906/8848) The narrator databases give a partly different list, naming Abd al-Razzaq ibn Hammam al-Humayri, [Ahmad ibn Hanbal](https://www.edgepedia.org/ahmad-ibn-hanbal) al-Shaybani, Hisham ibn Ammar, Abd Allah ibn Maslama, and Abd al-A'la ibn Hammad al-Narsi among his teachers.[2](https://beta.sunnah.com/narrator/29144) • [3](https://hdith.com/encyclopedia/rawi/p-17554) The two lists do not overlap, and the discrepancy is unresolved.\n\n**His transmitters.** On the downward side, al-Dhahabi records that hadith was transmitted from him by Ali ibn Hamshadh, Abu al-Fadl Muhammad ibn Ibrahim, Abdallah ibn Sa'd, Abu Amr ibn Hamdan, and the shaykhs.[1](https://shamela.ws/book/10906/8848) The database adds Abu Ya'la al-Mawsili and Muhammad ibn Yahya al-Baghdadi (al-Dhuhli) among his students.[2](https://beta.sunnah.com/narrator/29144)\n\n**Presence in the collections.** Twenty-one hadiths are indexed as narrated through him in the canonical collections, including in *Sunan al-Daraqutni*.[2](https://beta.sunnah.com/narrator/29144) The cited database lists none of the Six Books (al-Bukhari, Muslim, al-Nasa'i, Ibn Majah, Abu Dawud, al-Tirmidhi) among the collections narrating from him, while indexing *Sunan al-Daraqutni* material.\n\n## Assessment in hadith criticism\n\nThe verdicts recorded for Ibn Zanjawayh are uniformly positive and come from named early authorities. The compilers summarize the critics' judgments on him in two phrases: \"Imam, muhaddith\" and \"I see no fault in him\" (*ma ara bihi basan*).[3](https://hdith.com/encyclopedia/rawi/p-17554) Abu al-Shaykh described him as \"from the mines of truthfulness\" (*min ma'adin al-sidq*), and al-Dhahabi's compiler notes that no criticism (*basan*) is known against him in transmission.[1](https://shamela.ws/book/10906/8848)\n\n**Character as well as reliability.** Abu Nu'aym placed him among \"the devout notables\" (*al-ubbad al-fudala*), a judgment about piety rather than isnad technique, and recorded his death in Jumada al-Akhira of 302 AH.[1](https://shamela.ws/book/10906/8848) In the standard categories of jarh wa ta'dil, the recorded evidence supports a high ranking: the phrases used are those of praise. The sources consulted here record no verdicts from al-Khatib al-Baghdadi or Ibn Hajar for this Ibn Zanjawayh.\n\n## Namesakes and disambiguation\n\nThe name Zanjawayh was borne by several unrelated scholars, and classical and modern databases keep them as separate entries.\n\n- **Zanjawayh ibn Muhammad al-Labbad** (Abu Muhammad al-Naysaburi), also of the 13th tabaqa, died in 318 AH, sixteen years after the subject; both were Nishapur hadith scholars.[4](https://sunnah.com/narrator/17287)\n- **Ahmad ibn Zanjawayh al-Zanjani** ([Abu Bakr](https://www.edgepedia.org/abu-bakr)), a Shafi'i jurist born in 403 AH (1012 CE), studied in Baghdad, heard *Musnad Ahmad* from al-Husayn al-Fallaki, issued fatwas from 429 AH, and was still narrating in 500 AH.[5](https://www.tarajm.com/people/33244)\n- **Ahmad ibn Zanjawayh ibn Musa al-Mukharrimi** (Abu al-Abbas), a transmitter described as *muwaththaq ma'ruf*, died in 434 AH; al-Khatib al-Baghdadi had treated two entries for this Ahmad as separate people, and the later record notes they are one.[6](https://hadithtransmitters.hawramani.com/%d8%a7%d8%a8%d9%86-%d8%b2%d9%86%d8%ac%d9%88%d9%8a%d9%87-%d8%a3%d8%ad%d9%85%d8%af-%d8%a8%d9%86-%d8%b2%d9%86%d8%ac%d9%88%d9%8a%d9%87-%d8%a8%d9%86-%d9%85%d9%88%d8%b3%d9%89-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%85%d8%ae%d8%b1/)\n- **Muhammad ibn Abd al-Malik ibn Zanjawayh**, a distinct narrator whose students included the four Sunni collectors, Ibrahim al-Harbi, Abu Ya'la al-Mawsili, Abu al-Qasim al-Baghawi, Ibn Sa'id, and Abdallah ibn Urwa al-Harawi.[7](https://hdith.com/encyclopedia/rawi/p-5778)\n- **Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Zanjawayh al-Naysaburi**, who came to Baghdad as a pilgrim and narrated there from [Abd al-Samad](https://www.edgepedia.org/abd-al-samad) ibn al-Fadl al-Balkhi.[8](https://hadithtransmitters.hawramani.com/%d9%85%d8%ad%d9%85%d8%af-%d8%a8%d9%86-%d8%a7%d8%ad%d9%85%d8%af-%d8%a8%d9%86-%d8%b2%d9%86%d8%ac%d9%88%d9%8a%d9%87-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%86%d9%8a%d8%b3%d8%a7%d8%a8%d9%88%d8%b1%d9%8a/)\n\nThe subject is distinguished from all of these by his full chain of descent, Muhammad ibn Zanjawayh ibn al-Haytham, and by his death year of 302 AH.[1](https://shamela.ws/book/10906/8848) • [2](https://beta.sunnah.com/narrator/29144)\n\n## References\n\n1. [Siyar A'lam al-Nubala (al-Risala ed.), vol. 14, p. 143: tarjama of Ibn Zanjawayh Muhammad ibn Zanjawayh ibn al-Haytham al-Qushayri, Shamela](https://shamela.ws/book/10906/8848)\n2. [Muhammad ibn Zanjawayh ibn al-Haytham al-Naysaburi, narrator database entry, sunnah.com](https://beta.sunnah.com/narrator/29144)\n3. [Muhammad ibn Zanjawayh ibn al-Haytham: tarjama, shuyukh, talamidh, and aqwal al-ulama, hdith.com](https://hdith.com/encyclopedia/rawi/p-17554)\n4. [Zanjawayh ibn Muhammad al-Labbad, narrator database entry, sunnah.com](https://sunnah.com/narrator/17287)\n5. [Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Zanjawayh al-Zanjani, from Siyar A'lam al-Nubala, tarajm.com](https://www.tarajm.com/people/33244)\n6. [Ahmad ibn Zanjawayh ibn Musa al-Mukharrimi, Hadith Transmitters Encyclopedia](https://hadithtransmitters.hawramani.com/%d8%a7%d8%a8%d9%86-%d8%b2%d9%86%d8%ac%d9%88%d9%8a%d9%87-%d8%a3%d8%ad%d9%85%d8%af-%d8%a8%d9%86-%d8%b2%d9%86%d8%ac%d9%88%d9%8a%d9%87-%d8%a8%d9%86-%d9%85%d9%88%d8%b3%d9%89-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%85%d8%ae%d8%b1/)\n7. [Muhammad ibn Abd al-Malik ibn Zanjawayh, Hadith Transmitters Encyclopedia, hdith.com](https://hdith.com/encyclopedia/rawi/p-5778)\n8. [Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Zanjawayh al-Naysaburi, Hadith Transmitters Encyclopedia](https://hadithtransmitters.hawramani.com/%d9%85%d8%ad%d9%85%d8%af-%d8%a8%d9%86-%d8%a7%d8%ad%d9%85%d8%af-%d8%a8%d9%86-%d8%b2%d9%86%d8%ac%d9%88%d9%8a%d9%87-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%86%d9%8a%d8%b3%d8%a7%d8%a8%d9%88%d8%b1%d9%8a/)\n\n---\n*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 › Khorasanian and Transoxanian traditionists › Hadith scholars of Nishapur*\n\n*Initially written Oct 10, 2026 · Edited: Oct 11, 2026; Oct 15, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/ibn-zanjawayh", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/ibn-zanjawayh.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Ibn Zanjawayh\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/ibn-zanjawayh. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Ibn Zanjawayh](https://www.edgepedia.org/ibn-zanjawayh)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/ibn-zanjawayh](https://www.edgepedia.org/ibn-zanjawayh). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Ibn Zanjawayh\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/ibn-zanjawayh. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Ibn Zanjawayh, fully Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Zanjawayh al-Qushayri al-Naysaburi, was a hadith scholar of Nishapur who died in 302 AH, with 21 narrations in the canonical collections." }