# Ibn Ahmad Tusi
**Ibn Ahmad Tusi**, fully Abu Muhammad Hajib ibn Ahmad ibn Yarham ibn Sufyan al-Tusi (حاجب بن أحمد بن يرحم بن سفيان الطوسي), was a Sunni hadith transmitter of Tus and Nishapur in Khurasan who died in 336 AH (947 or 948 CE). Classical biographers call him the *musnid* of Nishapur,, and 324 indexed narrations trace to him in al-Bayhaqi's *Sunan al-Kubra*.[1](https://portainer.sunnah.com/narrator/14137) • [2](https://shamela.ws/author/2188) • [3](https://tarajm.com/people/57710)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Name and kunya | Abu Muhammad Hajib ibn Ahmad ibn Yarham ibn Sufyan al-Tusi, of Tus and Nishapur, generation 14[1](https://portainer.sunnah.com/narrator/14137) |
| Death | 336 AH, reported as sudden (faj'atan); converted dates given as 947 or 948 CE[4](https://shamela.ws/book/12397/12151) • [3](https://tarajm.com/people/57710) |
| Standing | Described by al-Dhahabi as musnid Nishapur[2](https://shamela.ws/author/2188) |
| Reliability | Disputed: authenticated by Ibn Manda, Ibn Tahir, al-Khalili, and Uqba; accused by al-Hakim of never hearing any hadith[1](https://portainer.sunnah.com/narrator/14137) • [4](https://shamela.ws/book/12397/12151) |
| Output | 324 indexed narrations, all in al-Bayhaqi's Sunan al-Kubra, books 1 through 18[1](https://portainer.sunnah.com/narrator/14137) • [5](https://portainer.sunnah.com/narrator/14137/hadith) |
| Age claim | He claimed to be 108 years old (Siyar) or 180 in the year 335 (Tarikh al-Islam); the two readings are unresolved[2](https://shamela.ws/author/2188) • [4](https://shamela.ws/book/12397/12151) |
## Identity and name
The biographical dictionaries agree on the skeleton of the name: Hajib ibn Ahmad ibn Yarham ibn Sufyan, with the kunya Abu Muhammad and the attribution al-Tusi after his home city of Tus in Khurasan.[1](https://portainer.sunnah.com/narrator/14137) • [2](https://shamela.ws/author/2188) • [4](https://shamela.ws/book/12397/12151) What "Hajib" signifies is not settled; it could be a personal name or the Arabic word for a chamberlain.
He must not be confused with the far better known **al-Shaykh al-Tusi**, Muhammad ibn Hasan (385/995 to 460/1067), the later Twelver Shia author of *al-Rijal*, *al-Tahdhib*, and *al-Istibsar*; the two men are separated by roughly a century and belong to different confessional traditions.[6](https://en.wikishia.net/view/Rijal_al-Shaykh_al-Tusi)
## Life and context
Al-Dhahabi's *Tarikh al-Islam* records that he died suddenly in the year 336 ("tuwwuffi sanata sitt faj'atan"), and the *Siyar* places his death in 336 AH in Tus and Nishapur.[2](https://shamela.ws/author/2188) • [4](https://shamela.ws/book/12397/12151) • [3](https://tarajm.com/people/57710) The conversion to the [Common Era](https://www.edgepedia.org/common-era) is itself a small disagreement: the aggregator Tarajm gives 336 AH as 947 CE, while the standard conversion gives 948 CE.[3](https://tarajm.com/people/57710)
**The age claim.** Al-Dhahabi's *Siyar* says he claimed to be 108 years old, and that Abu Muhammad al-Baladhuri testified on his behalf that he had met the teachers he named.[2](https://shamela.ws/author/2188) The *Tarikh al-Islam* instead reads that he claimed to be 180 years old in the year 335. The two readings of the same claim (108 versus 180) remain unresolved between the editions.[4](https://shamela.ws/book/12397/12151)
## Teachers and students
Al-Dhahabi's *Siyar* lists his sources as Muhammad ibn Rafi', al-Dhahli (Muhammad ibn Yahya al-Dhahli), Muhammad ibn Hammad al-Abiwardi, Abd al-Rahman ibn Munib al-Marwazi, and Abd Allah ibn Hashim al-Tusi; Sunnah.com adds Muhammad ibn Abi Umar al-Adni, Ali ibn al-Hasan al-Abdi, and al-Rabi' ibn Sulayman al-Muradi.[2](https://shamela.ws/author/2188) • [1](https://portainer.sunnah.com/narrator/14137) Tarajm, drawing on the *Siyar*, adds Husayn ibn al-Hasan ibn Harb and Abd Allah ibn Hashim ibn Hibban al-Abdi al-Tusi.[3](https://tarajm.com/people/57710)
His students and transmitters include Ibn Manda, Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Jurjani, Abd Allah ibn Muhammad al-Asbahani, Mansur ibn Abd Allah al-Khalidi, Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Basir, Ali ibn Ibrahim al-Muzakki, Qadi Abu Bakr al-Hayri, Abu Tahir ibn Mahmash, Ahmad ibn al-Hasan al-Harashi, and Muhammad ibn Mahmash al-Ziyadi.[1](https://portainer.sunnah.com/narrator/14137) • [2](https://shamela.ws/author/2188)
## Hadith transmission and reliability
**The favorable verdicts.** Sunnah.com's consolidated grading is "Truthful, Good Hadith" (saduq hasan al-hadith). Ibn Manda called him thiqa thiqa ("trustworthy, trustworthy"), Ibn Tahir authenticated him (waththaqahu), al-Khalili called him "a trustworthy elderly shaykh" (shaykh muammar thiqa), and Uqba said of his chain "its narrators are firm, trustworthy men" (rawatuhu athbat thiqat); Ibn Hajar's *Lisan al-Mizan* also notes that he saw Ibn Tahir narrate a hadith through his chain.[1](https://portainer.sunnah.com/narrator/14137) • [8](http://www.al-eman.com/%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%83%D8%AA%D8%A8/%D9%84%D8%B3%D8%A7%D9%86%20%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%B2%D8%A7%D9%86%20(%D9%86%D8%B3%D8%AE%D8%A9%20%D9%85%D9%86%D9%82%D8%AD%D8%A9)/2017-%20%D8%AD%D8%A7%D8%AC%D8%A8%20%D8%A8%D9%86%20%D8%A3%D8%AD%D9%85%D8%AF%20%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B7%D9%88%D8%B3%D9%8A%20%D8%A3%D8%A8%D9%88%20%D9%85%D8%AD%D9%85%D8%AF./i837&d1125432&c&p1)
**The accusation.** Against these, al-Hakim al-Nishapuri, answering a question from Mas'ud ibn Ali al-Sijzi, said Hajib never heard any hadith at all, but had an uncle who had; al-Baladhuri then selected five volumes (ajza') from the uncle's books for him, which al-Hakim took to be the true origin of the material Hajib transmitted.[4](https://shamela.ws/book/12397/12151) • [8](http://www.al-eman.com/%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%83%D8%AA%D8%A8/%D9%84%D8%B3%D8%A7%D9%86%20%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%B2%D8%A7%D9%86%20(%D9%86%D8%B3%D8%AE%D8%A9%20%D9%85%D9%86%D9%82%D8%AD%D8%A9)/2017-%20%D8%AD%D8%A7%D8%AC%D8%A8%20%D8%A8%D9%86%20%D8%A3%D8%AD%D9%85%D8%AF%20%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B7%D9%88%D8%B3%D9%8A%20%D8%A3%D8%A8%D9%88%20%D9%85%D8%AD%D9%85%D8%AF./i837&d1125432&c&p1) Al-Dhahabi's *Tarikh al-Islam* adds a detail from al-Hakim's own experience: he personally saw Hajib carried into the dar al-sunna of Nishapur after Abu al-Abbas finished dictation, and Abu Ahmad al-Warraq read three volumes to him containing material from Abd Allah ibn Hashim and Abd al-Rahim ibn Munib, but al-Hakim did not obtain that hearing for himself.[4](https://shamela.ws/book/12397/12151) The dispute is unresolved.
**Why the dispute matters.** In the technical vocabulary of jarh wa tadil (criticism and authentication of transmitters), Ibn Abi Hatim (d. 327/938) defined four tiers of reliable narrators, of which saduq ("veracious") denotes one whose hadith is written and examined; Hajib's "saduq hasan al-hadith" grading sits in that tier.[7](https://www.academia.edu/109427398/The_Ambiguity_of_Early_Hadith_Criticism_%CA%BFAl%C4%AB_b_al_Mad%C4%ABn%C4%AB_s_161_234_778_849_Evaluation_of_Hadith_Transmitters) A study of [Ali ibn al-Madini](https://www.edgepedia.org/ali-ibn-al-madini)'s peer evaluations of transmitters found about 61% consensus, illustrating how classical critics could disagree as sharply as al-Hakim's "never heard a hadith" versus al-Khalili's "trustworthy elderly shaykh" for the same man.[7](https://www.academia.edu/109427398/The_Ambiguity_of_Early_Hadith_Criticism_%CA%BFAl%C4%AB_b_al_Mad%C4%ABn%C4%AB_s_161_234_778_849_Evaluation_of_Hadith_Transmitters)
## By the numbers
Sunnah.com indexes 324 narrations attributed to him, all in al-Bayhaqi's *Sunan al-Kubra*, spanning books 1 through 18 (for example Book 1, Hadith 236; Book 2, Hadith 2125; Book 18, Hadith 19073).[1](https://portainer.sunnah.com/narrator/14137) • [5](https://portainer.sunnah.com/narrator/14137/hadith) Sample texts include "when one of you enters the mosque, let him not sit until he prays two rak'ahs" (Book 3, Hadith 5248) and a report on two people bathing from one vessel while fasting (Book 1, Hadith 859).[5](https://portainer.sunnah.com/narrator/14137/hadith) No indexed narrations appear in collectors such as al-Nasa'i or Ibn Majah in this database.
## References
1. [Hajb ibn Ahmad al-Tusi — Narrators, Sunnah.com](https://portainer.sunnah.com/narrator/14137)
2. [حاجب بن أحمد الطوسي, المكتبة الشاملة (al-Dhahabi, Siyar)](https://shamela.ws/author/2188)
3. [حاجب بن أحمد بن يرحم (أبو محمد الطوسي), Tarajm](https://tarajm.com/people/57710)
4. [Tarikh al-Islam (al-Dhahabi, ed. Tadmuri), vol. 25, p. 136](https://shamela.ws/book/12397/12151)
5. [Hadith Narrated — Hajb ibn Ahmad al-Tusi, Sunnah.com](https://portainer.sunnah.com/narrator/14137/hadith)
6. [Al-Rijal (al-Tusi), WikiShia](https://en.wikishia.net/view/Rijal_al-Shaykh_al-Tusi)
7. [The Ambiguity of Early Hadith Criticism: Ali b. al-Madini's Evaluation of Hadith Transmitters](https://www.academia.edu/109427398/The_Ambiguity_of_Early_Hadith_Criticism_%CA%BFAl%C4%AB_b_al_Mad%C4%ABn%C4%AB_s_161_234_778_849_Evaluation_of_Hadith_Transmitters)
8. [Lisan al-Mizan — حاجب بن أحمد الطوسي أبو محمد (Ibn Hajar)](http://www.al-eman.com/%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%83%D8%AA%D8%A8/%D9%84%D8%B3%D8%A7%D9%86%20%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%B2%D8%A7%D9%86%20(%D9%86%D8%B3%D8%AE%D8%A9%20%D9%85%D9%86%D9%82%D8%AD%D8%A9)/2017-%20%D8%AD%D8%A7%D8%AC%D8%A8%20%D8%A8%D9%86%20%D8%A3%D8%AD%D9%85%D8%AF%20%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B7%D9%88%D8%B3%D9%8A%20%D8%A3%D8%A8%D9%88%20%D9%85%D8%AD%D9%85%D8%AF./i837&d1125432&c&p1)
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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 › Khorasanian and Transoxanian traditionists*
*Initially written Oct 10, 2026 · Edited: Oct 11, 2026; Oct 15, 2026*
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