Yahya ibn Ma'in

يحيى بن معين

The celebrated traditionist — among the seven first tested at the mihna in 218, dead at Medina aged seventy-five, most reports in 233 ¹. Ibn al-Khatib's long entry (#7484): Abu Zakariyya b. Ma'in b. 'Awn b. Ziyad b. Bistam al-Murri of Ghatafan — a mawla, not Arab-born, 'a mawla of al-Junayd b. Abd al-Rahman al-Murri'; born 158 in al-Mansur's last year, of 'Aqya near al-Anbar twelve farsakhs from Baghdad where his father was a katib; inherited one million and fifty thousand dirhams and spent it all on hadith 'until nothing remained to wear'; his teachers Ibn al-Mubarak, Hushaym, 'Isa b. Yunus, Ibn 'Uyayna, Ghundar, al-Qattan, Ibn Mahdi, Waki' and Abu Mu'awiya; his students Ahmad, Abu Khaythama (may God be pleased with him), the two Dawraqis, al-Saghani, al-'Abbas al-Duri, Ya'qub b. Shayba, al-Bukhari, Hanbal b. Ishaq and Abu Dawud. Ibn al-Madini: 'men's knowledge ended at Yahya b. Ma'in'; Ahmad called him only 'Abu Zakariyya' — never by name — and said 'God created this man for this matter, to expose the liars' lies' ².

Overview

Yahya ibn Ma'in ibn 'Awn ibn Ziyad al-Ghatafani al-Murri, Abu Zakariyya of Baghdad, was the master of narrator criticism — the science of wounding and accrediting — and the foremost authority on the transmitters of his age. He died in 233 AH, leaving thirty book-chests and twenty cases of writings. ³

Method and standing

It was said of him that his word judged and settled disputes between quarrelling critics. Among his companions 'Ali ibn al-Madini was the most knowledgeable, Sulayman al-Shadhakuni the most retentive of the chapters, and Yahya himself the most prolific writer. His verdicts "trustworthy" and "weak" became the accepted currency of the hadith collections. ⁴

From Sheikh Omar Abdelkafy's Tafsir lectures (episode 1)

The Sheikh tells an anecdote of a hadith narrator who was questioned by two men: had he narrated from a certain person? He said, no, by God; had he heard from him? He said, no, by God; then the two men identified themselves, one saying that he was Ahmad (the context suggests Ibn Hanbal) and that the other was Yahya ibn Main (needs_source) ⁵.

Sources

Muruj al-Dhahab — al-Masʼudi , p. 512

Tarikh Baghdad — al-Khatib al-Baghdadi , j.11 p.177-180

Siyar a'lam al-nubala' — al-Dhahabi (Ideas House International edition, 2004) , p.4202

Siyar a'lam al-nubala' — al-Dhahabi (Ideas House International edition, 2004) , p.4202-4204

Assabile archive of Omar Abdelkafy's lectures (audio and video) , Tafsir Al Quran Al Qareem, episode 1, at 00:53:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)

al-Fihrist of Ibn al-Nadim

Tarikh al-Khulafa — al-Suyuti (Dar al-Minhaj edition)

Yahya ibn Ma'in

At a glance

Overview

Method and standing

From Sheikh Omar Abdelkafy's Tafsir lectures (episode 1)

Connections

People and things also explored

Sources

People

Muwatta, Book of Prayer