# Ibn Zanjawayh

**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.<sup>[1](https://shamela.ws/book/10906/8848)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[2](https://beta.sunnah.com/narrator/29144)</sup>

| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Full name | Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Zanjawayh ibn al-Haytham ibn Isa ibn Abd Allah, al-Qushayri al-Naysaburi<sup>[1](https://shamela.ws/book/10906/8848)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[2](https://beta.sunnah.com/narrator/29144)</sup> |
| Death | 302 AH (914/915 CE); Abu Nu'aym gives the month as Jumada al-Akhira<sup>[1](https://shamela.ws/book/10906/8848)</sup> |
| Lifespan | About eighty years, per al-Dhahabi's remark<sup>[1](https://shamela.ws/book/10906/8848)</sup> |
| Spheres of activity | Nishapur, Iraq, and the Hijaz<sup>[2](https://beta.sunnah.com/narrator/29144)</sup> |
| 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<sup>[1](https://shamela.ws/book/10906/8848)</sup> |
| Indexed narrations | 21 hadiths transmitted through him in the canonical collections, including in *Sunan al-Daraqutni*<sup>[2](https://beta.sunnah.com/narrator/29144)</sup> |
| Standing in jarh wa ta'dil | Praised as "Imam, muhaddith"; no criticism (jarh) recorded against him<sup>[3](https://hdith.com/encyclopedia/rawi/p-17554)</sup> |

## Life and genealogy

The 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.<sup>[1](https://shamela.ws/book/10906/8848)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[2](https://beta.sunnah.com/narrator/29144)</sup> 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.<sup>[1](https://shamela.ws/book/10906/8848)</sup>

**Where he worked.** The narrator database describes him as a hadith scholar active in Nishapur, Iraq, and the Hijaz.<sup>[2](https://beta.sunnah.com/narrator/29144)</sup> 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.<sup>[1](https://shamela.ws/book/10906/8848)</sup>

## Teachers and students

Al-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."<sup>[1](https://shamela.ws/book/10906/8848)</sup> 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.<sup>[2](https://beta.sunnah.com/narrator/29144)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[3](https://hdith.com/encyclopedia/rawi/p-17554)</sup> The two lists do not overlap, and the discrepancy is unresolved.

**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.<sup>[1](https://shamela.ws/book/10906/8848)</sup> The database adds Abu Ya'la al-Mawsili and Muhammad ibn Yahya al-Baghdadi (al-Dhuhli) among his students.<sup>[2](https://beta.sunnah.com/narrator/29144)</sup>

**Presence in the collections.** Twenty-one hadiths are indexed as narrated through him in the canonical collections, including in *Sunan al-Daraqutni*.<sup>[2](https://beta.sunnah.com/narrator/29144)</sup> 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.

## Assessment in hadith criticism

The 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*).<sup>[3](https://hdith.com/encyclopedia/rawi/p-17554)</sup> 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.<sup>[1](https://shamela.ws/book/10906/8848)</sup>

**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.<sup>[1](https://shamela.ws/book/10906/8848)</sup> 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.

## Namesakes and disambiguation

The name Zanjawayh was borne by several unrelated scholars, and classical and modern databases keep them as separate entries.

- **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.<sup>[4](https://sunnah.com/narrator/17287)</sup>
- **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.<sup>[5](https://www.tarajm.com/people/33244)</sup>
- **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.<sup>[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/)</sup>
- **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.<sup>[7](https://hdith.com/encyclopedia/rawi/p-5778)</sup>
- **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.<sup>[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/)</sup>

The 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.<sup>[1](https://shamela.ws/book/10906/8848)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[2](https://beta.sunnah.com/narrator/29144)</sup>

## References

1. [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)
2. [Muhammad ibn Zanjawayh ibn al-Haytham al-Naysaburi, narrator database entry, sunnah.com](https://beta.sunnah.com/narrator/29144)
3. [Muhammad ibn Zanjawayh ibn al-Haytham: tarjama, shuyukh, talamidh, and aqwal al-ulama, hdith.com](https://hdith.com/encyclopedia/rawi/p-17554)
4. [Zanjawayh ibn Muhammad al-Labbad, narrator database entry, sunnah.com](https://sunnah.com/narrator/17287)
5. [Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Zanjawayh al-Zanjani, from Siyar A'lam al-Nubala, tarajm.com](https://www.tarajm.com/people/33244)
6. [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/)
7. [Muhammad ibn Abd al-Malik ibn Zanjawayh, Hadith Transmitters Encyclopedia, hdith.com](https://hdith.com/encyclopedia/rawi/p-5778)
8. [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/)

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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 › Hadith scholars of Nishapur*

*Initially written Oct 10, 2026 · Edited: Oct 11, 2026; Oct 15, 2026*

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