Abu Tahir al-Silafi
Abu Tahir al-Silafi | |
|---|---|
| Title | Biographer |
| Muslim leader | |
Influenced by | |
Abū Ṭāhir al-Silafī (
Shafi'i hadith scholar from Isfahan who taught for many years at the 'Adiliyya madrassa in Alexandria, where he was frequently visited by pupils from all over the Muslim world, including Al-Andalus.[4] He lived to be a hundred years old possessing the worlds shortest chains and well-known for his great memory and precision.[5]
Biography
The revered hadith transmitter and jurist, Abu Tahir al-Silafi at a young age left his birth town of
Shāfi‘ī one there), built in Alexandria in 1149 on the order of Alexandria's then-governor, the Shāfi‘ī al-‘Ādil ibn Salār, vizier to Caliph al-Ẓāfir. It was named ‘Ādiliyya after its founder, but became popularly known as al-Silafiyya after its leading teacher.[7] Probably in 1118, al-Silafī married Sitt al-Ahl bint al-Khalwānī; their daughter Khadīja (d. 1226) married the scholar Abu’l-Ḥarām Makkī b. ‘Abd al-Raḥmān al-Ṭrabulsī, whose son, Abu’l-Qāsim ‘Abd al-Raḥmān (born 1174), also became an important scholar in Alexandria.[8]
Legacy and Students
The transfer of religious knowledge from
isnads were compiled by al-Silafi, and his disciples, including notable tabaqa scholars like Ibn Tahir al-Maqdisi, Abd al-Ghani al-Maqdisi, and Abd al-Qadir al-Ruhawi, highly valued these compilations.[1]
His other known students include the hadith scholar Ibn al-Mufaddhal and the linguist and historian, Abu al-Hajjaj al-Balawi.
Works
Among his popular works is the Mu‘jam al-safar (The Dictionary of Travel), a biographical dictionary: 'covering from 511/1117 to 560/1164, the Mu‘jam can be regarded as a digest of intellectual life in late Fāṭimī Alexandria'.[9] His other famous similar works include: (The Dictionary of the scholars of Isfahan) and (The Dictionary of The Scholars of Baghdad).[10]
Key studies
- Rizzitano, U. “Akhbār ‘an ba‘ḍ muslimī ṣiqilliya alladhīna tarjama la-hum Abū Ṭāhir al-Silafī,” Annals of the Faculty of Arts, Uni. of ‘Ayn Shams, 3 (1955): pp. 49-112
- ‘Abbās, I. Akhbār wa tarājim Andalusiyya al-mustakhraja min Mu ‘jam al-safar li al-Silafī. Beirut, 1963
- Zaman, S.M. Abū Ṭāhir al-Silafī al-Iṣbahānī. His life and works with an analytical study of his Mu‘jam al-safar. PhD thesis, Harvard Univ., Cambridge (Mass.), 1968
- Ṣāliḥ, Ḥ. The life and times of al-Ḥāfiẓ Abū Ṭāhir al-Silafī accompanied by a critical edition of part of the author’s Mu‘jam al-safar. PhD thesis, Univ. of Cambridge, 1972
- Ma ‘rūf, B. A. “Mu‘jam al-safar li-Abī Ṭāhir al-Silafī,” al-Mawrid, 8 (1979): pp. 379–383
- Zaman, S.M. Mu‘jam al-safar. Islamabad, 1988
References
- ^ ISBN 9789004133198.
- ^ "Ahl al-Sunna: The Ash'aris - The Testimony and Proofs of the Scholars". almostaneer.com (in Arabic). Archived from the original on 28 January 2021.
- Gibril Fouad Haddad (2 May 2015). THE BIOGRAPHIES OF THE ELITE LIVES OF THE SCHOLARS, IMAMS & HADITH MASTERS Biographies of The Imams & Scholars. Zulfiqar Ayub. p. 164.
Imam al-Subki mentions him among those who followed the school of Imam Ashari in Beliefs & Doctrine (Aqidah) along with Abu al-Walid al-Baji, Abu al-Hasan al-Qabisi, Abu al-Qasim bin Asakir, Abu al-Hasan al-Muradi, Abu Sad bin al-Samani, Abu Tahir al-Silafi, Qadi Iyad and Al-Shahrastani
- ISBN 9789004243101.)
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link - ^ "Scholar Of Renown: Abu Tahir Al-Silafi-II". arabnews.com.
- ISBN 9780791446454.
- ^ Cortese 2012, p. 12.
- ^ Cortese 2012, p. 14.
- ^ Cortese 2012, p. 4.
- ^ "Encyclopedia of flags - Encyclopedia of Rural Knowledge Network. Archived from" (in Arabic). Archived from the original on 2 October 2017.
Sources
- Cortese, Delia (2012). "Transmitting Sunnī Learning in Fāṭimid Egypt: The Female Voices". 26th Congress of the Union Européenne des Arabisants et Islamisants (UEAI 26), 12-16 Sep 2012, Basel, Switzerland.
