Abd al-Qadir al-Rahawi

عبد القادر الرهاوي

c. 1141 CE · Jumada II 536 AH – c. 1215 CE · 2 Jumada I 612 AH

al-Ruha (Edessa) → Harran → Baghdad → Damascus → Cairo

The hafiz Abu Muhammad Abd al-Qadir al-Rahawi al-Hanbali, traditionist of al-Jazira. He had been a slave of some people of Mosul, who freed him, and he came to love the discipline of hadith and heard a great deal. He was born in Jumada al-Akhira 536 in al-Ruha; he was then taken captive when Zengi conquered al-Ruha in 539, and the Harrani Banu Fahm bought him and set him free. He heard hadith in Isfahan, Hamadhan, Herat, Merv, Nishapur, Sijistan, Baghdad, Damascus and Egypt. He wrote and compiled, and his works include al-Arba'un al-mutabayina al-asanid wa-l-bilad, a feat that no one had achieved before him and that no traditionist can be expected to match after him, given the ruin of the lands. Abu Shama said he was a righteous man, awe-inspiring, ascetic, austere in his living, scrupulous and devout; Ibn Khalil said he was a retentive, firm hafiz, prolific in writing, with whom the transmission of hadith was closed. He died on Saturday, 2 Jumada al-Ula 612, at Harran ¹.