# Asim ibn Ali ibn Asim al-Taymi
**Asim ibn Ali ibn Asim al-Taymi** (عاصم بن علي بن عاصم التيمي), full name Abu al-Husayn (also reported as Abu al-Hasan) Asim ibn [Ali ibn Asim](https://www.edgepedia.org/ali-ibn-asim) ibn Suhayb al-Wasiti al-Taymi, was a Sunni hadith hafiz of the Taym client family of Wasit and Baghdad who died on 15 Rajab 221 AH (4 July 836) in Wasit[1](https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/asim-b-ali) • [2](https://ftp.shamela.ws/book/1293/946). He matters to hadith scholarship chiefly as an isnad (chain of named transmitters backing a hadith) link: al-Bukhari included seven of his hadith in the *Jami' al-Sahih*, and his students included al-Bukhari, [Ahmad ibn Hanbal](https://www.edgepedia.org/ahmad-ibn-hanbal), and [Abu Hatim al-Razi](https://www.edgepedia.org/abu-hatim-al-razi)[1](https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/asim-b-ali). His biography is also a case study in the jarh wa'l-ta'dil (criticism and validation) method, because the leading critic Yahya ibn Ma'in is recorded with flatly contradictory verdicts on him[2](https://ftp.shamela.ws/book/1293/946).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Identity | Abu al-Husayn (also Abu al-Hasan) Asim ibn Ali ibn Asim ibn Suhayb al-Wasiti al-Taymi, hadith hafiz, mawla of Qurayba bint Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr al-Siddiq[2](https://ftp.shamela.ws/book/1293/946) |
| Death | 15 Rajab 221 AH (4 July 836), in Wasit[1](https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/asim-b-ali) |
| Teachers | Shu'ba ibn al-Hajjaj, his father Ali ibn Asim, Ikrima ibn Ammar, Ibn Abi Dhi'b, al-Layth ibn Sa'd, and others[1](https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/asim-b-ali) • [2](https://ftp.shamela.ws/book/1293/946) |
| Students | Al-Bukhari, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Abu Hatim al-Razi, al-Darimi, al-Maruwadhi, Ibrahim al-Harbi, and others[2](https://ftp.shamela.ws/book/1293/946) |
| In the canonical collections | Seven hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari; one in Jami' al-Tirmidhi (via Muhammad ibn Yahya al-Dhuhli) and citations in Abu Dawud and Ibn Majah[1](https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/asim-b-ali) • [2](https://ftp.shamela.ws/book/1293/946) |
| Criticism record | Abu Hatim: saduq; Ahmad ibn Hanbal: "sound in hadith, of few errors"; Ibn Ma'in: contradictory reports ranging from "weak" to praise[3](https://mail.shamela.ws/book/10906/5929) • [2](https://ftp.shamela.ws/book/1293/946) |
| Public teaching | Baghdad sessions reported at over 100,000 attendees, counted at 120,000 or 160,000 by order of Caliph al-Mu'tasim[3](https://mail.shamela.ws/book/10906/5929) • [1](https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/asim-b-ali) |
## Family and genealogy
Ibn Hajar gives the four-generation chain that distinguishes him from other narrators named Asim: Asim ibn Ali ibn Asim ibn Suhayb al-Wasiti, Abu al-Husayn, also called Abu al-Hasan al-Taymi, a mawla (client) of Qurayba bint [Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr](https://www.edgepedia.org/muhammad-ibn-abi-bakr) al-Siddiq, brother of al-[Hasan ibn Ali](https://www.edgepedia.org/hasan-ibn-ali) ibn Asim, nephew of Uthman ibn Asim, and cousin of Umar ibn Uthman ibn Asim[2](https://ftp.shamela.ws/book/1293/946). The nisba al-Taymi marks the family's clientage to Banu Taym, the clan of [Abu Bakr](https://www.edgepedia.org/abu-bakr) al-Siddiq, and al-Wasiti his home city[2](https://ftp.shamela.ws/book/1293/946).
**His father was also a traditionist.** Ali ibn Asim, born in 109 AH, died in Jumada al-Ula 201 AH at the reported age of 92, was a mawla of Banu Taym with 400 hadith indexed in modern narrator databases, drawn from sources including Sunan al-Daraqutni, al-Bayhaqi's Sunan al-Kubra, Sahih Ibn Khuzayma, and al-Hakim's Mustadrak[4](https://sunnah.com/narrator/5786). Critics accused the father of frequent error, poor memory, and persistence in error, while acknowledging his piety; Asim himself reported that his father fasted eighty Ramadans without breaking fast on a single day[4](https://sunnah.com/narrator/5786). Abdullah ibn Ahmad, reporting from his father Ahmad ibn Hanbal, said after reviewing his hadith that the son's was sounder than his father's[2](https://ftp.shamela.ws/book/1293/946).
## Teachers and transmission
His main teachers were [Shu'ba ibn al-Hajjaj](https://www.edgepedia.org/shuba-ibn-al-hajjaj), his father Ali ibn Asim, Ikrima ibn Ammar, Ibn Abi Dhi'b, and al-Layth ibn Sa'd[1](https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/asim-b-ali). Ibn Hajar's fuller list adds Abu Uways, Mahdi ibn Maymun, Asim ibn Muhammad al-Umari, Abd al-Rahman al-Mas'udi, Qays ibn al-Rabi', Abu Ma'shar al-Madani, and Qaz'a ibn Suwayd[2](https://ftp.shamela.ws/book/1293/946).
The list of those who narrated from him is unusually strong for a narrator of contested grade: al-Bukhari, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Abu Hatim al-Razi, al-Darimi, Sulayman ibn Tuba al-Nahrawani, al-Maruwadhi, al-Za'farani, and Ibrahim al-Harbi[2](https://ftp.shamela.ws/book/1293/946). Al-Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah each narrated one hadith from him through Muhammad ibn Yahya al-Dhuhli[2](https://ftp.shamela.ws/book/1293/946).
## Standing in hadith criticism
The verdicts divide into three groups, all attributed here to their holders.
**Validation.** Abu Hatim called him saduq (truthful)[2](https://ftp.shamela.ws/book/1293/946). Ahmad ibn Hanbal, in al-Maimuni's report, said "sahih al-hadith, qalil al-ghalat" (sound in hadith, of few errors), adding "was he but trustworthy, God willing"[2](https://ftp.shamela.ws/book/1293/946). Al-Ijli likewise declared his hadith sahih and described him as truthful and reliable[1](https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/asim-b-ali). Ibn Sa'd called him thiqa (trustworthy) but not well known for hadith and prone to error in what he narrated; [Ibn Hibban](https://www.edgepedia.org/ibn-hibban) listed him in *al-Thiqat*; and al-Dhahabi in *al-Kashif* called him "thiqa mukthir" (a trustworthy prolific narrator), noting that the weakness attributed to him stems from Ibn Ma'in[5](https://doi.org/10.21608/fisb.2022.281086).
**Criticism.** Ibn Ma'in's assessments vary across reports: "da'if" (weak), "laysa bi-shay'" (he is nothing), "laysa bi-thiqa" (not trustworthy), and "kadhdhab ibn kadhdhab" (a liar, son of a liar)[2](https://ftp.shamela.ws/book/1293/946).
**Contradictory praise from the same critic.** Other reports have Ibn Ma'in praising him: "Asim is the master of people, for he has 30,000 students in his hadith session"[1](https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/asim-b-ali), and in another report calling Asim ibn Ali "a sayyid among the sayyids of the Muslims"[2](https://ftp.shamela.ws/book/1293/946). Al-Dhahabi weighed these against each other and concluded that the correct view is that he was saduq, as Abu Hatim said, citing Ibn Abi Hatim's *al-Jarh wa'l-Ta'dil* 3/348[3](https://mail.shamela.ws/book/10906/5929). A modern academic study of the narrator reached a similar direction of judgment, arguing that the few recorded cases of his shortcomings can be rejected with reasons and that his confirmations of reliability far outweigh the criticisms[6](https://ensani.ir/file/download/article/6546405006e01-10204-14-3.pdf).
## By the numbers
Al-Bukhari included seven of his hadith in the *Jami' al-Sahih*, and Abu Dawud and Ibn Majah cited his hadith in their Sunan collections[1](https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/asim-b-ali). A structured database counts, marked as unconfirmed by the database itself, 9 narrations in [Sahih al-Bukhari](https://www.edgepedia.org/sahih-al-bukhari), 1 in Jami' al-Tirmidhi, and 3 in Sunan Ibn Majah[7](https://muslimscholars.info/manage.php?ID=20430&submit=scholar); the seven-figure from the TDV encyclopedia is the one used here.
Ibn al-Munadi said his gathering in Baghdad was attended by more than 100,000 people, with Harun al-Dikk and Harun Mukhula as his ushers (mustamli)[3](https://mail.shamela.ws/book/10906/5929). When Caliph al-Mu'tasim ordered the crowd counted, the ushers counted 120,000 at his session in the palm grove (Rahbat al-Nakhl) of the Rusafa mosque[3](https://mail.shamela.ws/book/10906/5929); Ibn Hajar in *Fath al-Bari* (II, 166) and al-'Ajli as an eyewitness give 160,000 for a single day[1](https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/asim-b-ali) • [5](https://doi.org/10.21608/fisb.2022.281086). Al-Dhahabi records that Asim once repeated the isnad "haddathana al-Layth ibn Sa'd" fourteen times because the crowd could not hear, with the usher Harun standing on a bent palm trunk[3](https://mail.shamela.ws/book/10906/5929).
## The mihna and public teaching
Al-Dhahabi describes Asim as one of those who defended religion during the mihna, the caliphal inquisition over the createdness of the Qur'an[3](https://mail.shamela.ws/book/10906/5929). According to the TDV encyclopedia, during the mihna he openly called the caliph's policy zulm (injustice) and asked who would go with him to speak to the caliph[1](https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/asim-b-ali). A letter from his two daughters in Wasit reported that Ahmad ibn Hanbal was pressed to affirm "the Qur'an is created" and was whipped for refusing[1](https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/asim-b-ali).
He taught hadith in Baghdad for a period, and the crowds grew so large around him that he returned to Wasit, where he died[3](https://mail.shamela.ws/book/10906/5929).
## References
1. [Ãsım b. Alî, TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (M. Yaşar Kandemir)](https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/asim-b-ali)
2. [Tahdhib al-Tahdhib (Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani), vol. 2, p. 256, entry for Asim ibn Ali ibn Asim al-Wasiti al-Taymi, Shamela](https://ftp.shamela.ws/book/1293/946)
3. [Siyar A'lam al-Nubala (al-Dhahabi), vol. 9, p. 263, entry for Asim ibn Ali ibn Asim al-Taymi, Shamela](https://mail.shamela.ws/book/10906/5929)
4. [`Ali ibn `Asim al-Tamimi, Narrators, Sunnah.com](https://sunnah.com/narrator/5786)
5. [Izalat al-Ishtibah 'amma Ishtahara min Du'f Kull 'Asim min al-Ruwat, digitized rijal compilation](https://doi.org/10.21608/fisb.2022.281086)
6. [The Rijal Status of 'Asim in Rijal Sources of Fariqayn and an Examination of a Doubt about Asim's Recitation of the Qur'an, Ensani](https://ensani.ir/file/download/article/6546405006e01-10204-14-3.pdf)
7. [Asim ibn Ali ibn Asim ibn Suhayb, muslimscholars.info, Scholar 20430](https://muslimscholars.info/manage.php?ID=20430&submit=scholar)
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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 › Baghdad and Iraqi traditionists of the Abbasid era › Traditionists of Wasit and southern Iraq*
*Initially written Oct 10, 2026 · Edited: Oct 11, 2026; Oct 15, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license