Biography of an Imam: The Legacy of Imam Ibn Majah and His Sunan
In this episode of the Biography of an Imam series, the speaker explores the life of Imam Ibn Majah and his contributions to Hadith sciences. The lecture discusses the structure of Sunan Ibn Majah, its status among the Six Books, and his lost Tafsir of the Quran. It highlights the importance of studying classical scholars to draw inspiration and seek the pleasure of Allah ﷻ.
“And among people and moving creatures and grazing livestock are various colors similarly. Only those fear Allāh,
from among His servants, who have knowledge. Indeed, Allāh is Exalted in Might and Forgiving.” (Quran 35:28)
As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.
“In the name of Allāh, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful.”
“[All] praise is [due] to Allāh, Lord of the worlds -” (Quran 1:1-2)
...Lord of the worlds. I bear witness there is no deity except Allah, without partner,
and I bear witness that Muhammad ﷺ is His servant and Messenger.
Welcome, my brothers and sisters, to a new episode of this series, "Biography of an Imam."
My talk continues to be about the Imam, the author of the Sunan, Imam Ibn Majah (RH), may Allah forgive him.
There is no doubt, my brothers and sisters, that talking about scholars should not be
just to narrate their stories and lives, but rather
to take lessons, admonitions, and draw inspiration,
and to look at these scholars, who are bright stars and glowing planets in the sky of this world,
whose names, unfortunately, have almost disappeared, except among the elite students of knowledge.
And the reality is that people are in dire need of reading the biographies of these noble, exemplary men,
especially in a time when people are in need of role models.
Therefore, scholars have mentioned that, in reality,
it adds a great deal to the listener and the reader.
So imitate them if you are not like them; indeed, imitating the noble is success.
It also helps a person in many aspects, whether in terms of knowledge or practice,
in worship, and in behavior and character.
These, Subhan Allah, are indeed treasures in our hands; we should really go back and read their biographies.
By the way, their biographies are written and available; they only require one step from us,
which is reading the biographies of these great figures (RH).
Therefore, especially at this time, with this open world, this open space, this virtual world...
I see that reality strongly urges us to
re-read the biographies of these scholars,
especially since these media platforms have overshadowed these figures in terms of recognition,
and in terms of people's access to these scholars.
We have spoken, alhamdulillah, about a large group of these scholars,
and the purpose is that they are role models for us.
Imam Ibn Majah (RH) is...
a link in a unique necklace,
he is a pearl in a unique necklace, in reality, among the scholars, and a long chain.
In the last session, I spoke about Ibn Majah,
his early upbringing, his life, his birthplace,
his travels across the land and his many journeys in which he met great scholars.
I mentioned some of his teachers, and I did not fully cover his students as well.
Perhaps today I will complete the discussion about Ibn Majah,
to see how the scholars praised Ibn Majah.
Ibn Majah is a point of consensus for everyone.
All scholars agreed on the Imamate of Ibn Majah.
Scholars also elevated the status of Ibn Majah's book, the Sunan,
and placed it in the rank of the Six Books.
Meaning, I mean the four books, the four Sunan.
There was a previous disagreement about this among the early scholars,
as they would choose between it and the Muwatta of Imam Malik,
but they saw that Sunan Ibn Majah had unique additions, unlike the Muwatta of Imam Malik.
Therefore, when they say "the Four," they mean Abu Dawud, Al-Nasa'i, Al-Tirmidhi, and Ibn Majah.
When they say "the Six," they mean Al-Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawud, Al-Tirmidhi, Al-Nasa'i, and Ibn Majah.
For this reason, we find scholars heaping praise upon Ibn Majah.
They unanimously agreed on his memorization...
...and his knowledge, trustworthiness, and the quality of his compilation.
Ibn Khallikan says about Ibn Majah:
"He was an Imam in Hadith, knowledgeable in its sciences and all related to it."
As for Abu Ya'la al-Khalili, when he spoke about Imam Ibn Majah, he said:
"He is trustworthy, great, agreed upon, relied upon as proof,
and has knowledge and memorization of Hadith."
As for the historian of Islam, al-Dhahabi (RH),
when he wrote the biography of Imam Ibn Majah, what did he say?
"Ibn Majah was a memorizer, a critic, truthful, and vast in knowledge."
And al-Dhahabi (RH), indeed,
if he praises a scholar, his word is to be held onto firmly.
This is how he wrote the biography of Ibn Majah. He says:
"Ibn Majah was a memorizer, a critic, truthful, and vast in knowledge."
And Ibn Nasir al-Din says about Imam Ibn Majah:
"Muhammad ibn Yazid ibn Majah is one of the leading Imams and the author of al-Sunan,
which is one of the books of Islam; he was a great, trustworthy Hafidh."
Ibn Kathir al-Dimashqi (RH) said:
"Muhammad ibn Yazid ibn Majah is the author of the famous book of Sunan,
which indicates his knowledge and action, or his action and knowledge,
and his deep learning, vast knowledge, and adherence to the Prophetic Sunnah in fundamentals and branches.
It comprises thirty-two books and one thousand five hundred chapters,
and contains four thousand Hadiths, all of which are good except for a few."
Actually, I wanted to go on at length mentioning the scholars' praise of Ibn Majah,
but we will select the most important critical scholars, if we may use that expression,
who have vast knowledge and familiarity with the scholars.
In fact, the works of Ibn Majah (RH)
were not limited only to 'al-Sunan' for which he is famous,
but he left behind a great heritage. However, unfortunately, most of this heritage was lost.
Most of it was lost, such as his Tafsir of the Quran.
He had a Tafsir—glory be to Allah ﷻ—a Tafsir of the Quran that is lost today.
Ibn Kathir (RH) described it, and it seems he had access to it.
He said, describing the Tafsir of Ibn Majah (RH): 'A comprehensive Tafsir,' 'a comprehensive Tafsir.'
Where is it? Gone, lost. How was it lost? Allah ﷻ knows best.
You know that the tribulations that occurred
in the Muslim lands destroyed many books and great manuscripts,
some of which were drowned in water, while others...
...sold, and some of them may have been ruined.
And some of the scholar's children might be a reason for the loss of his legacy.
Subhan Allah, some heirs do not know the value of books,
nor the value of the scholar,
As Ibn al-Jawzi and others said:
"The least appreciative of a scholar are his family and neighbors."
Ibn al-Jawzi (RH) — his children wronged some of his legacy.
Alhamdulillah, most of the legacy survived.
Some children do not understand or know the value of these books.
Anyway, this Tafsir is gone. We ask Allah ﷻ to facilitate the emergence of this Tafsir.
It might be in some country, or in one of the libraries in the world,
or it might be in one of the houses, where its value is not known.
In general, Ibn Kathir praised this Tafsir, saying: "A comprehensive Tafsir."
He also wrote a book on history.
This book—glory be to Allah—it is mentioned that it remained in existence
for a long time after his death, for a long time.
Then it was lost, it was lost, until Ibn Khallikan said,
when he mentioned the book of history by Ibn Majah, he said: "A fine history, a fine history."
Anyway, my brothers and sisters, Ibn Majah is famous for the book of Sunan, "Sunan Ibn Majah" in Hadith,
meaning, in the narration of Hadith. Of course, this book was kept in existence by Allah ﷻ,
Allah ﷻ kept and preserved it,
to be one of the most important references preserving the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ.
And the book of Sunan, of course, enjoyed a high status among scholars,
especially the major scholars of Hadith, jurists, and also the memorizers.
The scholars of Hadith compared it with the well-known books of Sunan, as I mentioned,
namely, Sunan Abi Dawud, al-Tirmidhi, al-Nasa'i, and Ibn Majah, making it the complement to the Six Books.
They always mention it as the fourth book.
That is, when we say the Six Books...
...Sahih al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, and the four Sunan.
When we say the four, they are...
...Abu Dawud, al-Nasa'i, al-Tirmidhi, and Ibn Majah.
Of course, they made it the complement to these Six Books,
which include, of course, as I mentioned, Sahih al-Bukhari and Muslim.
In fact, and I mentioned this during my talk,
that the early scholars did not include
Sunan Ibn Majah among these source books.
six.
Originally, the books were five: al-Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawud, al-Tirmidhi, and al-Nasa'i.
But the reason for that is that they differed on priority,
whether it was Muwatta Malik or Sunan Ibn Majah.
For this reason, for example, we find that the scholars who came after them, of the people of verification and memorization,
included it among the six authoritative books.
The first to include it among the six books was Al-Hafiz Ibn Tahir Al-Maqdisi,
who has a treatise on the six books.
Of course, Ibn Tahir Al-Maqdisi (RH)
has a book, a well-known treatise,
in which he outlined the conditions of the six Imams,
and included among them Sunan Ibn Majah.
Of course, the last of the books is Sunan...
Ibn Majah. Therefore, scholars agreed that Sunan Ibn Majah
is among the books that rise to this rank,
because, as I mentioned, the disagreement was only between it and Al-Muwatta.
However, they saw that Sunan Ibn Majah contains unique narrations,
Therefore, Al-Hafiz Abdul Ghani al-Nabulsi (RH) says:
"There is disagreement regarding the sixth book. According to the Easterners,
it is the book of Sunan by Abu Abdillah Muhammad ibn Majah al-Qazwini.
And according to the Westerners, it is Al-Muwatta by Imam Malik ibn Anas.
However, the majority of later scholars agreed that Sunan...
...Ibn Majah is more deserving than the Muwatta, and it is the sixth of the Sihah.
And al-Sakhawi (RH) says:
"They preferred it over the Muwatta due to the abundance of its unique additions over the five, unlike the Muwatta."
As for Ibn Majah, he did not stipulate authenticity in his book,
and as a Sunan book, it contains the sahih, hasan, and da'if.
And it contains some narrations noted to be munkar, but they are few.
For this reason, al-Dhahabi says: 'The Sunan of Abu Abdillah ibn Majah...
...is a fine book, were it not blemished by some very weak hadiths, which are not many, but few.'
Ibn Tahir (RH) says: 'By my life, the book of Abu Abdillah ibn Majah,
whoever looks into it will recognize the man's virtue in its excellent organization,
abundance of chapters, and conciseness of hadiths,
avoidance of repetition, with no anomalies, broken chains, mursal, or narrations from weak narrators,
except to the extent that Abu Zur'ah pointed out.
And this book, even if it is not well-known among most jurists,
has a great status in Rayy and its surrounding areas, upon which they rely,
and it has many chains of narration according to them.'
Of course, Imam Ibn Majah (RH)
organized his book... organized the Sunan into books and chapters.
Indeed, there are truly beautiful and wonderful gems in the Sunan of Ibn Majah.
For example, the very first thing he began with
was the chapter on following the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ,
citing hadiths on the authority of the Sunnah and the obligation of following and acting upon it.
And this is truly what distinguishes the book of Sunan.
For example, al-Bukhari (RH) wrote —
the first thing he mentioned was the Book of Revelation, followed by the Book of Knowledge.
And the scholars said this was not merely a coincidence,
but rather it was for the purpose of showing that these hadiths are revelation from Allah ﷻ.
Likewise, Ibn Majah (RH) prefaced his work with the Book of the Sunnah.
For this reason, al-Suyuti (RH) says:
"And this is the best arrangement, as he began with the chapters on following the Sunnah, indicating that compilation of all the Sunnah is something indispensable."
and to alert the student that adhering to these Sunan is a religious duty.
Then he followed with chapters on creed — faith and destiny — because the first duty of the accountable person...
Then he followed with the virtues of the Companions (RA), the conveyers of the Sunan to us.
For unless their integrity is established, our knowledge of the Sunan and rulings cannot be complete.
Of course, this great book, Sunan Ibn Majah, contains an introduction and thirty-seven books,
one thousand five hundred chapters,
containing four thousand three hundred and forty-one Hadiths.
In fact, of these,
three thousand and two are shared in narration with the authors of the five books.
And he was unique in narrating one thousand three hundred and twenty-nine Hadiths, which are the additions to what is in the five books,
which distinguished Sunan...
Ibn Majah (RH), among which are 428 hadiths with authentic chains of narration,
and 119 hadiths with good chains of narration.
This is what Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar (RH) pointed out by saying
that he alone narrated many authentic hadiths.
Scholars, of course, undertook explaining Sunan Ibn Majah
and writing annotations. For example, the explanation of Sunan Ibn Majah by Al-Hafiz Ala' al-Din Mughaltay,
Also, 'Ma Tamass Ilayhi al-Haja ala Sunan Ibn Majah'
by Siraj al-Din Umar ibn Ali ibn al-Mulaqqin (RH).
Of course, there is also a group of works,
such as 'Al-Dibaja fi Sharh Sunan Ibn Majah' by Sheikh Kamal al-Din Muhammad ibn Mursi al-Dubayri,
and also 'Misbah al-Zujaja fi Sharh Sunan Ibn Majah' by Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti.
Also, "Kifayat al-Hajah Sharh Sunan Ibn Majah" by the Hadith scholar Muhammad Abd al-Hadi al-Sindi (RH).
And there is, of course, Shihab al-Din Ahmad ibn Zayn al-Din al-Busiri.
Al-Busiri compiled the unique additions (Zawa'id) of the Sunan in a book, graded them, and discussed their chains of transmission,
as appropriate to their status of authenticity or weakness.
Because these unique additions to the Six Books needed such service.
And that is why this book became a focus of attention for scholars.
By the way, before I conclude, here is a pause to consider the words of al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar.
Ibn Hajar commented on the words of al-Hafiz al-Mizzi regarding the unique narrations of Imam Ibn Majah,
where he says that none of them are authentic.
Al-Hafiz al-Mizzi, of course, says none of them are authentic.
What did al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar (RH) say?
He said: "His Sunan is a good collection with many chapters and rare narrations,
and it contains very weak hadiths, to the point that I heard Al-Mizzi used to say:
'Whenever he alone reports a narration, it is usually weak.' But this is not absolute, based on induction."
Whose words are these? These are the words of al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar (RH), who says:
'But this is not absolute, based on induction. In general, it contains rejected hadiths, and Allah's help is sought.'"
Then I found in the handwriting of al-Hafiz Shams al-Din Ibn 'Ali al-Husayni the following:
'I heard our Sheikh, Al-Hafiz Abu al-Hajjaj al-Mizzi, say: "Whatever Ibn Majah is alone in narrating is weak,
meaning by that, the hadiths he alone narrated apart from the five Imams."'"
End of what I found in his handwriting.
Therefore, this speaker—his words reflect the apparent meaning of the Sheikh's words—says:
"But applying it to the narrators—or applying it, excuse me, he says applying it to the narrators is better than applying it to the hadiths,"
This is a reminder from him, may Allah the Almighty have mercy on him.
For example, he mentioned examples of his unique authentic narrations:
"Allah will not cease to plant for this religion a planting, employing them in His obedience."
And the hadith: "Seeking knowledge is an obligation upon every Muslim."
"Establish the limits of Allah upon the near and far, and let not the blame of any critic divert you from Allah."
And the hadith: "The Mahdi is from us, Ahl al-Bayt; Allah will rectify him in a single night," and others.
And some of them count them in the hundreds, as he said.
The poet says: "Al-Mizzi went to extremes regarding those he deemed unique,"
"And he weakened all of them without hesitation."
"And the truth is to apply it to the narrators,"
"And the planting and the Mahdi serve as examples."
Meaning, the hadiths they mentioned.
In general, what is reported as weak in Sunan Ibn Majah may
be authentic through other chains of narration.
except that there is a consensus on the weakness of this chain.
Ibn Majah (RH),
after a life full of dedication to Hadith, teaching, writing, and compiling,
departed from this world on Monday,
and was buried on Tuesday, with eight days remaining of Ramadan, in the year 273 AH.
His funeral prayer was led by his brother Abu Bakr, may Allah have mercy on them all,
and his burial was overseen by his brothers, Abu Bakr and Abdullah, and his son, Abdullah.
He was eulogized in many poems, including a poem by Muhammad ibn al-Aswad al-Qazwini,
in the first verses of which he says: "Indeed, it has weakened the pillars of the throne of knowledge."
"Indeed, it has weakened the pillars of the throne of knowledge, and its corner has crumbled with the loss of Ibn Majah."
Of course, Ibn Majah (RH) has passed away, but his impact and memory remain.
Peace be upon him among the former and the latter generations.
I ask Allah ﷻ to gather us with him in the Gardens of Pleasure,
in the company of the prophets, the truthful, the martyrs, and the righteous.
I will meet you with another figure from the giants of the people of knowledge,
to share some of their biographies.
Until the next meeting, Allah willing. I entrust you to Allah.
May the peace, mercy, and blessings of Allah be upon you.