# Ibrahim ibn Marzuq al-Basri
**Ibrahim ibn Marzuq al-Basri** (إبراهيم بن مرزوق بن دينار البصري), more fully Ibrahim ibn Marzuq ibn Dinar al-Umawi, kunya Abu Ishaq, was a hadith narrator of the third Islamic century (ninth century CE): a Basran by origin and nisba who settled in Egypt, a mawla (client) of the caliph Uthman ibn Affan, who died in Egypt in 270 AH (883 CE).[1](https://hadith.dev/narrator/9751) • [2](https://beta.sunnah.com/narrator/11843)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Identity | Ibrahim ibn Marzuq ibn Dinar al-Umawi, Abu Ishaq, Basran settled in Egypt, mawla of Uthman ibn Affan and of Thaqif[1](https://hadith.dev/narrator/9751) |
| Death | Thursday, after fourteen nights of Jumada al-Akhira 270 AH had elapsed, in Egypt; blind shortly before death; funeral prayer led by the qadi Bakkar[3](http://www.haditb.al-eman.com/%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%83%D8%AA%D8%A8/%D8%AA%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AE%20%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%BA%D8%B1%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%A1%20%D9%81%D9%8A%20%D9%85%D8%B5%D8%B1/30-%20%D8%A5%D8%A8%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%87%D9%8A%D9%85%20%D8%A8%D9%86%20%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B2%D9%88%D9%82%20%D8%A8%D9%86%20%D8%AF%D9%8A%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%B1%20%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A8%D8%B5%D8%B1%D9%8A:%20/i752&d1058166&c&p1) |
| Corpus size | 1,760 hadiths in 1,702 isnads in one database; 859 narrated hadiths in another, an unresolved discrepancy[1](https://hadith.dev/narrator/9751) • [2](https://beta.sunnah.com/narrator/11843) |
| Grading | Ibn Hajar: thiqa, but blind before death so he erred and did not correct himself; al-Dhahabi: saduq; Ibn Yunus: thiqa thabit[1](https://hadith.dev/narrator/9751) • [4](https://www.islamweb.net/ar/library/content/60/2277/%D8%A5%D8%A8%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%87%D9%8A%D9%85-%D8%A8%D9%86-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B2%D9%88%D9%82) |
| Namesake risk | A separate narrator, Ibrahim ibn Marzuq al-Thaqafi, mawla of al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, has his own Tahdhib al-Kamal entry; classical scholars warned against conflating them[5](https://shamela.ws/book/3722/681) |
| Chain position | 52% of his isnads place him at position 6, 25% at position 5, 17% at position 7; 43% of his chains have seven transmitters[1](https://hadith.dev/narrator/9751) |
| Students | al-Nasa'i, al-Tahawi, Ibn Sa'id, Abu Awana, al-Asamm, and per one list Ibn Khuzayma and Ibn Abi al-Dunya[1](https://hadith.dev/narrator/9751) • [4](https://www.islamweb.net/ar/library/content/60/2277/%D8%A5%D8%A8%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%87%D9%8A%D9%85-%D8%A8%D9%86-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B2%D9%88%D9%82) |
## Name, genealogy, and identification
Al-Mizzi's *Tahdhib al-Kamal fi Asma' al-Rijal*, the great biographical dictionary of hadith transmitters, carries his entry as number 242: Ibrahim ibn Marzuq ibn Dinar al-Umawi, Abu Ishaq al-Basri, resident of Egypt, mawla of Uthman ibn Affan.[6](https://shamela.ws/book/3722/679) The nisba al-Basri marks his Basran origin, al-Umawi his clientage to Uthman, and the databases also record clientage to the tribe of Thaqif.[1](https://hadith.dev/narrator/9751)
The name is not secure without qualification, because a second narrator carried almost the same name. Tahdhib al-Kamal entry 243 records an Ibrahim ibn Marzuq al-Thaqafi al-Basri, mawla of al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, a distinct man belonging, as Ibn Hajar noted, to the tabaqa of the previous generation's shaykhs.[5](https://shamela.ws/book/3722/681) Ibn Abi Hatim had already distinguished the two men in *al-Jarh wa-l-Ta'dil* (1/137), and Ibn Hajar flagged that al-Jiyni had confused them in his book *Shuykh Ibn al-Jarud*, judging that the correct course is to separate them.[5](https://shamela.ws/book/3722/681) The modern editor of the Risala edition adds that Mughultay conflated the two by citing Muslima ibn Qasim al-Andalusi's report under the first entry rather than the second.[5](https://shamela.ws/book/3722/681) The conflation risk persists in digital form: Sunnah.com lists the Thaqafi separately as a 9th-generation narrator, but his shaykh and student lists overlap with names also attached to the Umawi, which keeps the two men easy to mix.[7](https://sunnah.com/narrator/11842)
## Teachers, students, and the Basran milieu
The attested teacher lists differ by source. Al-Dhahabi's *Siyar A'lam al-Nubala'*, which places him in the fourteenth tabaqa, lists Abu Dawud al-Tayalisi, Uthman ibn Umar, Makki ibn Ibrahim, Abd al-Samad ibn Abd al-Warith, and Abu Amir al-Aqadi.[4](https://www.islamweb.net/ar/library/content/60/2277/%D8%A5%D8%A8%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%87%D9%8A%D9%85-%D8%A8%D9%86-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B2%D9%88%D9%82) [Ibn Yunus](https://www.edgepedia.org/ibn-yunus)'s *Tarikh al-Ghuraba fi Misr*, a history of scholars who settled in Egypt, records that he narrated from Abu Dawud al-Tayalisi and [Abd al-Samad ibn Abd al-Warith](https://www.edgepedia.org/abd-al-samad-ibn-abd-al-warith).[3](http://www.haditb.al-eman.com/%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%83%D8%AA%D8%A8/%D8%AA%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AE%20%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%BA%D8%B1%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%A1%20%D9%81%D9%8A%20%D9%85%D8%B5%D8%B1/30-%20%D8%A5%D8%A8%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%87%D9%8A%D9%85%20%D8%A8%D9%86%20%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B2%D9%88%D9%82%20%D8%A8%D9%86%20%D8%AF%D9%8A%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%B1%20%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A8%D8%B5%D8%B1%D9%8A:%20/i752&d1058166&c&p1) The hadith.dev database adds Habban ibn Hilal, Rawh ibn Aslam, and Sulayman ibn Dawud al-Tayalisi,[1](https://hadith.dev/narrator/9751) while Sunnah.com's list instead includes [Shu'ba ibn al-Hajjaj](https://www.edgepedia.org/shuba-ibn-al-hajjaj), Hammad ibn Salama, Hammad ibn Zayd, and al-Fadl ibn Dukayn.[2](https://beta.sunnah.com/narrator/11843)
His students are more consistently reported: al-Nasa'i and al-Tahawi narrated from him, as did Ibn Sa'id, Abu Awana, Umar ibn Bajayr, al-Asamm, and Abu al-Fawaris al-Sindi; al-Dhahabi notes that al-Nasa'i's narration from him is mentioned solely by [Ibn Asakir](https://www.edgepedia.org/ibn-asakir).[4](https://www.islamweb.net/ar/library/content/60/2277/%D8%A5%D8%A8%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%87%D9%8A%D9%85-%D8%A8%D9%86-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B2%D9%88%D9%82) • [3](http://www.haditb.al-eman.com/%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%83%D8%AA%D8%A8/%D8%AA%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AE%20%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%BA%D8%B1%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%A1%20%D9%81%D9%8A%20%D9%85%D8%B5%D8%B1/30-%20%D8%A5%D8%A8%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%87%D9%8A%D9%85%20%D8%A8%D9%86%20%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B2%D9%88%D9%82%20%D8%A8%D9%86%20%D8%AF%D9%8A%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%B1%20%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A8%D8%B5%D8%B1%D9%8A:%20/i752&d1058166&c&p1) Sunnah.com's student list adds [Ibn Khuzayma](https://www.edgepedia.org/ibn-khuzayma) al-Sulami, [Ibn Abi al-Dunya](https://www.edgepedia.org/ibn-abi-al-dunya), and Muhammad ibn Yahya al-Dhuhli.[2](https://beta.sunnah.com/narrator/11843)
**The Basran setting.** He inherited a city with a deep transmission infrastructure. A quantitative study of 900 Basran narrators of the 2nd/8th century found that Basran hadith rested generally on Medina and specifically on [Abu Hurayra](https://www.edgepedia.org/abu-hurayra), with the circles of al-[Hasan al-Basri](https://www.edgepedia.org/hasan-al-basri), Muhammad ibn Sirin, Thabit al-Bunani, and Yahya ibn Abi Kathir standing out.[8](https://www.acarindex.com/en/islam-arastirmalari-dergisi/ehl-i-hadis-ders-halkalarinin-tespitine-dair-bir-metot-teklifi-ii-viii-asrin-ilk-yarisi-basra-ornegi-111326) A dissertation corpus of 2,124 Basran transmitters of the same century identified 114 figures with significantly higher transmission activity, classified into six generations.[9](https://tezara.org/theses/990993)
## His place in the isnad and jarh wa-l-ta'dil system
Muslim scholarship dates the establishment of this field to the second quarter of the 8th century, with Shu'bah ibn al-Hajjaj regarded as its founder; a study comparing his assessments with twelve 3rd/9th-century critics shows the continuity of the practice into Ibrahim ibn Marzuq's own century.[10](https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/is/article/1086197) Critics also examined the text (matn) of reports, not only the chains; documented examples of matn criticism by Sunni critics run from the 3rd/9th and 4th/10th centuries.[11](https://brill.com/view/journals/ils/15/2/article-p143_1.xml) The genre in which his grading is recorded, the biographical dictionary of critics, is exemplified by [Ibn Abi Hatim al-Razi](https://www.edgepedia.org/ibn-abi-hatim-al-razi) (240/854–327/938), whose *Taqdima* collected early critics' verdicts.[12](https://brill.com/display/title/7240)
A narrator's grading aggregates many separate judgments rather than being a single verdict. Doctrinal affiliation also mattered but within limits: hadith scholars adopted three approaches to people of bid'ah (innovation), from absolute rejection to acceptance unless the person was an active propagandist, and the active-propagandist criterion became decisive; doctrinally criticized Basran transmitters such as [Ma'bad al-Juhani](https://www.edgepedia.org/mabad-al-juhani), Qatadah, and [Amr ibn Ubayd](https://www.edgepedia.org/amr-ibn-ubayd) were still included in the Six Canonical Collections.[13](https://tidsad.com/index.jsp?makale_id=94530&mod=makale_tr_ozet)
## Critical assessment by hadith scholars
The hdith.com narrator encyclopedia tabulates 20 recorded verdicts on him, including 4 saying thiqa thabit, 3 thiqa saduq, 3 thiqa, 2 thiqa except that he errs and does not retract, 1 la ba'sa bihi (no harm in him), 1 salih (upright), plus [Ibn Hibban](https://www.edgepedia.org/ibn-hibban)'s inclusion of him in *al-Thiqat*.[14](https://hdith.com/encyclopedia/rawi/p-9751) The named verdicts run as follows.
- **Ibn Hajar**, in *Taqrib al-Tahdhib*: thiqa, but he went blind before his death so he erred and did not correct himself.[1](https://hadith.dev/narrator/9751)
- **Al-Dhahabi**: saduq (truthful).[1](https://hadith.dev/narrator/9751)
- **Al-Daraqutni**: thiqa, except that he erred, and when told, did not retract.[1](https://hadith.dev/narrator/9751)
- **Al-Nasa'i**: three varying verdicts, salih in one place, la ba'sa bihi in another, and I have no knowledge of him in a third.[1](https://hadith.dev/narrator/9751)
- **Ibn Abi Hatim**: I wrote from him, and he is thiqa saduq; Ibn Hibban included him in *al-Thiqat*.[1](https://hadith.dev/narrator/9751)
- **Ibn Yunus** of Egypt: he was thiqa thabat (firmly reliable).[4](https://www.islamweb.net/ar/library/content/60/2277/%D8%A5%D8%A8%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%87%D9%8A%D9%85-%D8%A8%D9%86-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B2%D9%88%D9%82)
- **Muslima ibn Qasim al-Andalusi** authenticated him in *al-Silla*, as transmitted by Mughultay and taken by Ibn Hajar in *Tahdhib* (1/163).[6](https://shamela.ws/book/3722/679)
Al-Nasa'i's three inconsistent statements are a genuine disagreement within the record, not a discrepancy between modern databases.[1](https://hadith.dev/narrator/9751)
## By the numbers
The hadith.dev database counts 1,760 hadiths and 1,702 isnads running through him, with 43% of his isnads being seven-transmitter chains; Sunnah.com lists 859 narrated hadiths routed through him. The two databases differ by roughly a factor of two, and the sources do not explain the difference.[1](https://hadith.dev/narrator/9751) • [2](https://beta.sunnah.com/narrator/11843)
His chain position is heavily concentrated late in the isnad: 52% at position 6, 25% at position 5, 17% at position 7, 3% at position 4, and 2% at position 8.[1](https://hadith.dev/narrator/9751) The collections in which Sunnah.com samples his chains include al-Bayhaqi's *al-Sunan al-Kubra*, al-Hakim's *Mustadrak*, al-Daraqutni's *Sunan*, and Ibn Khuzayma's *Sahih*.[2](https://beta.sunnah.com/narrator/11843) [Al-Dhahabi](https://www.edgepedia.org/al-dhahabi) preserves a sample isnad through him: Ibrahim ibn Marzuq from [Makki ibn Ibrahim](https://www.edgepedia.org/makki-ibn-ibrahim) from Musa ibn Ubayda, from al-Simt ibn Abdallah, from Musa ibn Wardan, from [Ka'b al-Ahbar](https://www.edgepedia.org/kab-al-ahbar).[4](https://www.islamweb.net/ar/library/content/60/2277/%D8%A5%D8%A8%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%87%D9%8A%D9%85-%D8%A8%D9%86-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B2%D9%88%D9%82)
## Recent developments
Verifying his entries no longer requires shelf access to the Risala edition of Tahdhib al-Kamal (Bashshar Awwad Ma'ruf's edition, now digitized on Shamela).[5](https://shamela.ws/book/3722/681) Several open projects now make a minor narrator traceable programmatically:
- **Hadith-Viz** holds 79 classical rijal works parsed entry by entry, 319,657 narrator entries of which 96.08% carry printed page numbers, supplying 71,887 verdict phrases, 58,415 death years, 437,831 critic statements, and 660,101 teacher-student links; where works disagree it keeps both readings, and 219,999 narrations carry a Dorar al-Saniyya grade naming grader and book.[15](http://hadith-viz.com/sources.html)
- **Itqan** provides a structured open-source database of 115,735 narrator profiles spanning 22 classical texts including Tahdhib al-Kamal, Taqrib, Mizan al-I'tidal, al-Jarh wa al-Ta'dil, and al-Thiqat, with 217,762 name variants, 31,822 cross-references, and 84,040 graded profiles (72.6%), consolidating assessments from Ibn Hajar, al-Dhahabi, Abu Hatim, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, and Ibn Hibban in one entry.[16](https://github.com/R3GENESI5/Itqan)
- **qataruts/hadith** contains 49,819 narrator biographies with machine-readable tabaqa and reliability fields, plus 1,015 critics with 127,863 critic statements and 20,745 meaning groups.[17](https://github.com/qataruts/hadith/blob/ef5a004c/README.md)
A 2024 peer-reviewed survey of *Tahdhib al-Tahdhib*, *Taqrib al-Tahdhib*, and *Khulasah Tahdhib al-Kamal* confirms that these classical reference works remain the authoritative basis for narrator study, now read alongside such databases.[18](https://www.ukm.my/turath/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/turath_2024_vol.9_no.1_54-68.pdf)
## References
1. [إبراهيم بن مرزوق بن دينار الأموي — hadith.dev narrator database](https://hadith.dev/narrator/9751)
2. [Ibrahim ibn Marzuq al-'Umawi — Narrators database, Sunnah.com](https://beta.sunnah.com/narrator/11843)
3. [Tarikh al-Ghuraba fi Misr (Ibn Yunus), entry 30 — al-eman.com](http://www.haditb.al-eman.com/%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%83%D8%AA%D8%A8/%D8%AA%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AE%20%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%BA%D8%B1%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%A1%20%D9%81%D9%8A%20%D9%85%D8%B5%D8%B1/30-%20%D8%A5%D8%A8%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%87%D9%8A%D9%85%20%D8%A8%D9%86%20%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B2%D9%88%D9%82%20%D8%A8%D9%86%20%D8%AF%D9%8A%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%B1%20%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A8%D8%B5%D8%B1%D9%8A:%20/i752&d1058166&c&p1)
4. [Siyar A'lam al-Nubala' (al-Dhahabi), vol. 12, Tabaqa 14 — IslamWeb library](https://www.islamweb.net/ar/library/content/60/2277/%D8%A5%D8%A8%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%87%D9%8A%D9%85-%D8%A8%D9%86-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B2%D9%88%D9%82)
5. [Tahdhib al-Kamal (al-Mizzi, ed. Ma'ruf), entry 243 — al-Maktaba al-Shamela](https://shamela.ws/book/3722/681)
6. [Tahdhib al-Kamal, entry 242 — al-Maktaba al-Shamela](https://shamela.ws/book/3722/679)
7. [Sunnah.com narrator page 11842 — Ibrahim ibn Marzuq al-Thaqafi](https://sunnah.com/narrator/11842)
8. [A Proposal for a Methodology of Determining Scholarly Circles of Ahl al-Hadith: The Case of Basra (Islam Arastirmalari Dergisi)](https://www.acarindex.com/en/islam-arastirmalari-dergisi/ehl-i-hadis-ders-halkalarinin-tespitine-dair-bir-metot-teklifi-ii-viii-asrin-ilk-yarisi-basra-ornegi-111326)
9. [2./8. asır Basra Ehl-i hadis'i (Tezara thesis record)](https://tezara.org/theses/990993)
10. [Referential Value of Hadith Transmitter Criticism in the 2nd/8th Century: The Case of Shu'bah ibn al-Hajjaj (Ilahiyat Studies)](https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/is/article/1086197)
11. [How We Know Early Hadith Critics Did Matn Criticism (Islamic Law and Society, Brill)](https://brill.com/view/journals/ils/15/2/article-p143_1.xml)
12. [The Development of Early Sunnite Hadith Criticism (Brill)](https://brill.com/display/title/7240)
13. [Basran Narrators of Bid'ah (Journal of Turk-Islam World Social Studies)](https://tidsad.com/index.jsp?makale_id=94530&mod=makale_tr_ozet)
14. [Narrator encyclopaedia entry: Ibrahim ibn Marzuq ibn Dinar — hdith.com](https://hdith.com/encyclopedia/rawi/p-9751)
15. [Sources & Data Lineage, Hadith-Viz](http://hadith-viz.com/sources.html)
16. [R3GENESI5/Itqan, GitHub](https://github.com/R3GENESI5/Itqan)
17. [qataruts/hadith README, GitHub](https://github.com/qataruts/hadith/blob/ef5a004c/README.md)
18. [The Books of Tarajum al-Ruwah (Turath, vol. 9 no. 1, 2024)](https://www.ukm.my/turath/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/turath_2024_vol.9_no.1_54-68.pdf)
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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 › Basran traditionists*
*Initially written Oct 10, 2026 · Edited: Oct 11, 2026; Oct 15, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license