Ali ibn al-Madini

علي بن المديني

161 AH – 234 AH

Ali ibn Abd Allah ibn Ja'far al-Sa'di, Abu'l-Hasan Ibn al-Madini (d. 234) — a hadith master on whose eminence consensus held; author of fine works. Heard Ibn 'Uyayna, Hammad b. Zayd, Hushaym, Ibn Wahb, 'Abd al-Razzaq, Yahya al-Qattan, Ibn Mahdi; transmitted to al-Bukhari, Abu Dawud, Ahmad, al-Dhuhli, Abu Ya'la. Abu Hatim: 'Ibn al-Madini was a landmark among men in hadith and its defects'; Ibn 'Uyayna: 'were it not for Ibn al-Madini I would not have sat'; al-Bukhari: 'I never felt small before anyone but Ibn al-Madini'. He answered in the mihna out of fear of the sword, then declared a month before his death: 'the Qur'an is the uncreated speech of God' ¹.

Depth

At a glance

Roles: Scholar
Identifiers: Wikidata
Review: Draft Completeness 2/5 · Help complete it

Connections

Explore the connections

Studied under: Sufyan ibn Uyayna· Hushaim ibn Bashir· Yahya ibn Sa'id al-Qattan· Abd al-Rahman ibn Mahdi· Abd al-Razzaq al-San'ani

People and things also explored

The Jurists' Consultation on Cyprus· Muwatta 718· Al-Humaydi, Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr· Ibrahim ibn al-Mundhir al-Hizami· Abd al-Rahman ibn Mahdi· Abd al-Razzaq al-San'ani· Hushaim ibn Bashir· Sufyan ibn Uyayna

Sources

Tabaqat al-Shafi'iyya al-Kubra — Taj al-Din al-Subki (al-Husayniyya edition) , p. 265-267

Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Ali ibn al-Madini”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/person/ali-ibn-al-madini/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-22.

Improve this page on GitHub · Report an error · JSON

The Jurists' Consultation on Cyprus

In al-Baladhuri from Syrian scholars and Abu Ubayd al-Qasim ibn Sallam: the people of Cyprus gave fresh offence while Abd al-Malik ibn Salih ibn Ali the Abbasid governed the marches, and he wished to annul their treaty — the jurists being accessible — so he wrote to al-Layth ibn Sa'd, Malik ibn Anas, Sufyan ibn Uyayna, Musa ibn A'yun, Isma'il ibn Ayyash, Yahya ibn Hamza, Abu Ishaq al-Fazari and Makhlad ibn al-Husayn about their case and they answered him; among their rulings: al-Layth ibn Sa'd — they are suspected of betraying the Muslims and counselling the Byzantines; I hold you should denounce the treaty and give them a year's grace to choose — whoever wishes may join the Muslims' lands as a dhimmi paying kharaj, whoever wishes may withdraw to Byzantine lands, and whoever would stay in Cyprus stays at war; Malik ibn Anas — their safe-conduct is ancient and successive governors have honoured it, I find none who annulled their treaty, and hold you should not hasten to denounce it until the proof stands against them; Sufyan ibn Uyayna — we know of no people God covenanted with who broke the covenant without their blood becoming lawful, save the people of Mecca; Musa ibn A'yun — I have seen none of our predecessors annul them and hold they should be kept to their terms, transmitting from al-Awza'i that a dhimmi who guided the polytheists to the Muslims' weakness has left his dhimma, while a mere treaty-people is denounced openly; Isma'il ibn Ayyash — they are a humbled, conquered people whom the Byzantines master over their own lives and women, so it is our duty to defend and protect them and keep them on their covenant; Yahya ibn Hamza — Cyprus's case is that of Arabasus, where Umayr ibn Sa'd reported to Umar and Umar offered them double their wealth or expulsion, and when they refused he exiled them a year then ruined it — they are people of ransom, not of dhimma; Abu Ishaq al-Fazari and Makhlad ibn al-Husayn — nothing resembles Cyprus's case but Arabasus and Umar's ruling in it, transmitting from al-Awza'i that Cyprus's treaty was fourteen thousand dinars, seven to the Muslims and seven to the Byzantines, and that their treaty cannot be annulled save for an act in which their treachery is known.