# Nafi' ibn Umar al-Jumahi
**Nafi' ibn Umar al-Jumahi** (نافع بن عمر بن عبد الله بن جميل الجمحي) was a Meccan hadith narrator of the seventh generational tabaqa (tabi' al-tabi'in), graded reliable by most classical critics and transmitting hadith that entered [Sahih al-Bukhari](https://www.edgepedia.org/sahih-al-bukhari), Sunan Abi Dawud, and Sunan an-Nasa'i. He died in Mecca in 169 AH.
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Identity | Nafi' ibn Umar ibn Abd Allah ibn Jamil ibn Amir ibn Hudhaym ibn Salaman ibn Rabi'a ibn Sa'd ibn Jumah; al-Qurashi, al-Jumahi, al-Makki; kunya Abu M'ashr[1](https://shamela.ws/book/10906/5097) • [2](https://sunnah.com/narrator/7857) |
| Epithets | Al-Hafiz, al-Imam, al-Thabit in al-Dhahabi's Siyar A'lam al-Nubala'[1](https://shamela.ws/book/10906/5097) |
| Death | Mecca, 169 AH per Ibn Sa'd, Sunnah.com, hadith.dev, and hdith.com[3](https://hadith.dev/narrator/6505) • [4](https://hadithtransmitters.hawramani.com/%d9%86%d8%a7%d9%81%d8%b9-%d8%a8%d9%86-%d8%b9%d9%85%d8%b1/) |
| Generation | Seventh tabaqa, counted among its senior members[2](https://sunnah.com/narrator/7857) • [3](https://hadith.dev/narrator/6505) |
| Corpus | 182 hadith in 187 isnads (hadith.dev); 62 indexed on Sunnah.com; 12 in Sahih al-Bukhari[3](https://hadith.dev/narrator/6505) • [2](https://sunnah.com/narrator/7857) • [5](https://sahibukhari.com/narrators/nafi-bin-umar-al-jumhi) |
| Leading grades | Ibn Hajar: thiqah thabit; Abu Hatim: thiqa, his hadith is adduced; Ibn Mahdi: among the most firm of people[2](https://sunnah.com/narrator/7857) • [3](https://hadith.dev/narrator/6505) |
| Dissent | Ibn Sa'd: thiqa, of few hadith, in which there is something (فيه شيء)[3](https://hadith.dev/narrator/6505) |
## Identity and biographical outline
Al-Dhahabi's *Siyar A'lam al-Nubala'* opens its entry (numbered 163 in the seventh generation) with the full genealogy running back to Jumah, the clan of Quraysh from which his nisba al-Jumahi derives, and titles him al-Hafiz, al-Imam, al-Thabit, al-Jumahi al-Makki[1](https://shamela.ws/book/10906/5097). Al-Mizzi's *Tahdhib al-Kamal* carries a dedicated entry for him under the letter nun with the same genealogy[6](https://shamela.ws/book/3722/15859). The databases record his kunya as Abu M'ashr and place his death in 169 AH[2](https://sunnah.com/narrator/7857) • [3](https://hadith.dev/narrator/6505).
He was a Meccan, not a Kufan. The sources identify him uniformly as al-Makki, of the Jumah clan of Quraysh, and Ibn Sa'd's report states that he died in Mecca[1](https://shamela.ws/book/10906/5097) • [3](https://hadith.dev/narrator/6505) • [4](https://hadithtransmitters.hawramani.com/%d9%86%d8%a7%d9%81%d8%b9-%d8%a8%d9%86-%d8%b9%d9%85%d8%b1/).
## Teachers, students, and isnad position
Al-Dhahabi lists his sheikhs as Ibn Abi Mulaika, Umayya ibn Safwan al-Jumahi, Bishr ibn Asim al-Thaqafi, Abd al-Malik ibn Abi Mahdhura, Amr ibn Dinar, Abu Bakr ibn Abi Shaykh al-Sahmi, Sa'id ibn Hassan, and Sa'id ibn Abi Hind, noting that Sa'id ibn Abi Hind was his eldest sheikh[1](https://shamela.ws/book/10906/5097). The database Didn't He Say records 17 teachers in total[7](https://didnthesay.com/figures/narrators/nafi-ibn-umar-al-jumahi).
**His students are a roll of the great transmitters.** [Al-Dhahabi](https://www.edgepedia.org/al-dhahabi) names Ibn al-Mubarak, Yahya al-Qattan, Abu Usama, Abd al-Rahman ibn Mahdi, Waki', Yazid ibn Harun, Muhammad ibn Bishr, Bishr ibn al-Sari, and Khalid ibn Yahya[1](https://shamela.ws/book/10906/5097); the databases add [Ahmad ibn Hanbal](https://www.edgepedia.org/ahmad-ibn-hanbal) among 44 students[7](https://didnthesay.com/figures/narrators/nafi-ibn-umar-al-jumahi). Hadith.dev states the reason they sought him out: they flocked to him for his precision (itqan) and the height of his isnads[3](https://hadith.dev/narrator/6505).
His isnad profile quantifies that height. Of his 187 recorded isnads, 6% are four-transmitter isnads, 26% five-transmitter, 29% six-transmitter, and 21% seven-transmitter; 64% of his isnads position him third from the compiler, with 7% second, 27% fourth, and 1% each fifth and sixth[3](https://hadith.dev/narrator/6505).
## His narrations in the canonical collections
His material entered the canonical sunni collections. Sahih al-Bukhari contains 12 hadith from him[5](https://sahibukhari.com/narrators/nafi-bin-umar-al-jumhi), including the eclipse prayer narrated from Asma' bint Abi Bakr (hadith 745) and the verdict that the defendant must take an oath, narrated from Ibn Abi Mulaika (hadith 2668)[5](https://sahibukhari.com/narrators/nafi-bin-umar-al-jumhi). Sunnah.com indexes his narrations at Bukhari 6593, 2364, and 2668, Sunan Abi Dawud 505, and Sunan an-Nasa'i 5219[2](https://sunnah.com/narrator/7857). A further narration on the handling of a morsel, chewed and snipped, was adduced by al-Bukhari through Ibn Abi Maryam as supporting evidence within the Sahih[8](https://www.islamarchive.cc/a3lam/120767).
The corpus counts differ across databases because each indexes a different body of literature: 62 hadith on Sunnah.com, 182 hadith in 187 isnads on hadith.dev, and 32 narrated reports on Didn't He Say[2](https://sunnah.com/narrator/7857) • [3](https://hadith.dev/narrator/6505) • [7](https://didnthesay.com/figures/narrators/nafi-ibn-umar-al-jumahi). These are database coverage figures, not competing claims about how many hadith he transmitted in total.
## Verdicts of the hadith critics
**The positive verdicts dominate the record.** hadith.dev aggregates critic statements: 9 thiqa, 3 thabit, 3 thiqa with his hadith adduced as evidence, 2 among the most firm of people, plus [Ibn Hibban](https://www.edgepedia.org/ibn-hibban)'s inclusion of him in *al-Thiqat*[3](https://hadith.dev/narrator/6505) • [9](https://hdith.com/encyclopedia/rawi/p-6505). Ibn Hajar's *Taqrib* grades him thiqah thabit, and his *Hadi al-Sari* calls him one of the most firm, saying the imams relied on him[2](https://sunnah.com/narrator/7857). [Abu Hatim al-Razi](https://www.edgepedia.org/abu-hatim-al-razi) graded him thiqa yuhtajj bi-hadithihi, reliable with his hadith adduced as evidence[2](https://sunnah.com/narrator/7857). Ibn Mahdi said he was among the most firm of people, and Ahmad ibn Hanbal, when comparing him with a contemporary, said Nafi' ibn Umar is dearer to me than [Abd al-Jabbar](https://www.edgepedia.org/abd-al-jabbar) ibn al-Ward, and sounder in hadith[3](https://hadith.dev/narrator/6505).
The dissenting note is Ibn Sa'd's, preserved through Shihab ibn Abbad: he died in Mecca in the year 169 and was thiqa, of few hadith, in which there is something (فيه شيء)[3](https://hadith.dev/narrator/6505) • [4](https://hadithtransmitters.hawramani.com/%d9%86%d8%a7%d9%81%d8%b9-%d8%a8%d9%86-%d8%b9%d9%85%d8%b1/). Ibn Hajar addressed this directly in *Hadi al-Sari*, questioning Ibn Sa'd's weakening because it relied on al-Waqidi, a narrator whose own reliability is contested[2](https://sunnah.com/narrator/7857).
The general methodology for such conflicts is established in the jarh wa ta'dil literature. According to a 2024 peer-reviewed study of contradictory narrators' narrations, a controversial narrator's narration may be graded hasan li-zatihi (good in itself) under conditions noted by Ibn al-Qattan, [Ibn al-Salah](https://www.edgepedia.org/ibn-al-salah), and al-Dhahabi, and corroboration through multiple paths (tadaddud al-asanid) can raise it to sahih li-ghayrihi (authentic due to supporting chains)[10](https://www.al-azhaar.org/index.php/alazhar/article/download/529/398/949).
## By the numbers: his place between the Successors and the compilers
His death in 169 AH came after the systematic-compilation stage dated below to 120 to 150 AH. The scholarly periodization divides early hadith writing into a tadwin (collection) stage from roughly 70 to 120 AH and a tasnif (systematic compilation) stage from 120 to 150 AH, in which Meccan compilers such as Abd al-Malik ibn Jurayj (d. 150/767) and Muhammad ibn Ishaq (d. 151/768) worked[11](https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/1250/2415626d395fffe6bea8066f1d0e3eac7e14.pdf). His students include Ibn al-Mubarak, Yahya al-Qattan, Abd al-Rahman ibn Mahdi, and Waki'[1](https://shamela.ws/book/10906/5097).
The isnad statistics make the bridge position concrete: with 64% of his 187 isnads placing him third from the compiler[3](https://hadith.dev/narrator/6505).
## References
1. [Al-Dhahabi, Siyar A'lam al-Nubala', vol. 7, p. 433 (entry 163), ed. al-Risala, Shamela](https://shamela.ws/book/10906/5097)
2. [Nafi` ibn `Umar al-Jumahi, Sunnah.com narrator entry](https://sunnah.com/narrator/7857)
3. [نافع بن عمر بن عبد الله بن جميل الجمحي, hadith.dev narrator entry](https://hadith.dev/narrator/6505)
4. [نافع بن عمر, The Hadith Transmitters Encyclopedia](https://hadithtransmitters.hawramani.com/%d9%86%d8%a7%d9%81%d8%b9-%d8%a8%d9%86-%d8%b9%d9%85%d8%b1/)
5. [Nafi' bin 'Umar al-Jumhi, Narrator in Sahih al-Bukhari](https://sahibukhari.com/narrators/nafi-bin-umar-al-jumhi)
6. [Al-Mizzi, Tahdhib al-Kamal fi Asma' al-Rijal, vol. 29, p. 287, ed. Basha Awwad Ma'ruf, Shamela](https://shamela.ws/book/3722/15859)
7. [Nafi` ibn `Umar al-Jumahi, Didn't He Say](https://didnthesay.com/figures/narrators/nafi-ibn-umar-al-jumahi)
8. [الأعلام: نافع بن عمر بن عبد الله بن جميل الجمحي, Arshif al-Islam](https://www.islamarchive.cc/a3lam/120767)
9. [من هو نافع بن عمر الجمحي؟, hdith.com](https://hdith.com/encyclopedia/rawi/p-6505)
10. [Haq Nawaz, The determination of contradictory narrators' narrations in the light of jarh o tadeel, Al-Azhar vol. 10 no. 1 (2024)](https://www.al-azhaar.org/index.php/alazhar/article/download/529/398/949)
11. [Writing Down of Hadiths in the VII–VIII Centuries: Approaches and Methods](https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/1250/2415626d395fffe6bea8066f1d0e3eac7e14.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*
*Initially written Oct 10, 2026 · Edited: Oct 11, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026*
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