Ibn Khuzaimah
1. Biography
Ibn Khuzaymah is a Hadeeth scholar that is known for his renowned book, Sahih Ibn
Khuzaymah. His name is Muhammad bin Ishaaq bin Khuzaymah bin al-Mughirah bin Salih
bin Bakr Al-Naysaboori; also known as Imam of the Imams. Another nickname that is given
to him is Abu Bakr. He was born in Naysabur; in the month of Safar 223 H. Imam
Muhammad bin Ishaaq bin Khuzaymah became ill on Wednesday and passed away on
Saturday after the Salah of Ishaa on the 5th of Dhul Qaidah, year 301 Hijri, at the age of 88
years. He was buried in his house, which was made a cemetery afterwards.
He travelled across many regions seeking the knowledge of Hadeeth; he travelled to
Iraq, Shaam, Egypt and other countries. He entered the city of Gorgan (Jurjan) in the month
of Rajab, in the year 300H; and he narrated Hadeeth there. He then headed to Ribaat
Dahistan where he also narrated Hadeeth, and in the Old Masjid of the city, he narrated
ahadeeths to others in order for them to be recorded.
He heard Hadeeth from Ishaq bin Rahwaih and Muhammad bin Hameed; yet despite
this, he did not narrate any Hadeeth from them as he recorded their ahadeeths when he was
still a child and before he was able to comprehend this knowledge. During his travels, he had
many teachers, among them are Ali bin Hujr in the City of Marw, Yunus bin Abdel A`la in
Egypt, Ahmad bin Ibraheem al-Dawraqi and his brother Yaqoob, Muhammad bin Harb in the
City of Waasit, Muhammad bin Abban al-Mustamli, and many others.
Throughout his life, he had many students. Abu Bakr al-Ismaeeli, recorded Hadeeth
from him in the Cities of Gorgan and Dahistan. His two teachers; al-Bukhari and Muslim
narrated from him in books other than their two Sahih books; al-Hakim said: I saw the
handwriting of Muslim bin al-Hajjaj in his book which read: Muhammad bin Ishaaq; Abu
Bakr our companion narrated to me. His students also included his Shaykh Muhammad bin
Abdillah bin Abdil Hakam, his grandson Muhammad bin al-Fadl bin Muhammad bin
Khuzaymah, Abu Hatim al-Busti (Ibn Hibban), Abu Ahmad bin Udai, Abu Bakr Ahmad bin
Ishaaq al-Sibghi, Abu Ahmad al-Hakim, and many others.
Al-Hakim said: He authored more than 140 books, besides the authored materials on
specific topics which exceeds 100 parts; the Fiqh of the Hadeeth of Burairah is 3 parts and
the paper of Hajj consists of 5 parts. He also authored the renowned book Tawheed and
Affirming the Attributes of the Lord and Sahih Ibn Khuzaymah.
2. His Life and Critics Assessment of Him
His student Ibn Hibban said: He May Allah bestow His mercy upon him was one
of the pinnacles of this life in various fields of knowledge, Fiqh, memorization,
compiling (other sciences) and concluding rulings from texts. He excelled to the level that he
was able to narrate Sunan ahadeeths with chains that none of the expert leaders knew before
him, while also being perfect in his knowledge and exceedingly righteous until the day he
passed away, may Allah bestow His mercy upon him".
Abu al-Sad al-Samaani said: The people of his era agreed on his advanced rank in
knowledge he met the companions of ash-Shafii and he learnt fiqh from them.
Abu al-Abbas bin Surayj said: He would extract the benefits from the Hadeeth of the
Messenger of Allah with a chisel (to signify that he was capable of noticing what others could
not)."
Abu Abdullah al-Hakim said: The virtues of this Imam have been compiled by me in
many papers, and they are excessively numerous and more renowned to be mentioned in this
place.
Adh-Dhahabi said about him: He cared so much about learning Hadeeth and Fiqh
from an early age until he became a standard that people recalled when mentioning someone
who possesses vast knowledge and proficiency. He also said: Ibn Khuzaymah is glorified
in the sight of others, and he is glorified in the hearts because of his knowledge,
righteousness, and his following of the Sunnah.
Ibn Katheer said: He was an ocean of knowledge; he travelled across the world
seeking Hadeeth and knowledge. He recorded abundant amounts of knowledge, and authored
and compiled much as well. His book Sahih Ibn Khuzaymah is amongst the most beneficial
and noble books. He is amongst the Mujtahids of the religion of Islam. The scholar Abu
Ishaaq al-Shirazi, in his book "Tabaqaat Al-Shafi'iyyah, reported him (i.e. Ibn Khuzaymah) as
saying: I have not made Taqleed of anyone since I was 16 years old.
3. Some of His Statements in Matters of Creed (Aqeedah)
Istiwa and 'uluw (aboveness) of Allah over His creations
Ibn Khuzaymah, May Allah bestow His mercy upon him, said: "Whoever does not
admit that Allah, Most High, is upon His throne, and that He performed Istiwaa over His
seven heavens, has disbelieved in his Lord and must be asked to repent, either he repents or
he is put to death.
He said regarding the ayah: {O Haamaan! Build me a tower that I may arrive at the
ways, - the ways of the heavens, and I may look upon the God of Musa though I think he is a
liar} [40:36-37]. The part {though I think him a liar} indicates that Musa informed him that His
Lord is High and above.
He also quoted the following words of the Prophet: When you ask Allah, ask Him for
Firdaws for it is the middle and highest part of Jannah and above it there is the Throne of ar-
Rahman from which the rivers of Jannah flow [Sahih Bukhari], then he commented: This
narration explicitly states that the Throne of our Lord Most High is above His Jannah, and
He Most High- informed us that He rose above His throne, therefore our Lord is High
above His throne which is above His Jannah.
He also said: All these narrations indicate that the Creator is above His seven
heavens and not as Muattilah (i.e. those who deny and negate Allahs attributes) claim that
their Lord whom they worship is with them in their homes.
On Seeing Allah
Ibn Khuzaymah said in his book al-Tawheed in the Chapter: Mentioning the fact
that Allahs loyal slaves will be privileged with seeing Him on the Day of Judgment is what is
referred to in the ayah: {Some faces on that day will be bright, looking eagerly towards their
Lord}.[75:22-23] This is a virtue that His believing loyal slaves are privileged with while all
His enemies will be prevented from seeing Him; including the Mushrik, the Jew, the
Christian, the Majus, the hypocrite as Allah has explicitly stated: {Nay, they (disbelievers) are
blocked from their Lord on the Day of Judgment} [83:15]. They (Allahs loyal believing
slaves) see their Creator after the people of Jannah enter Jannah and after the people of
hellfire enter hellfire by which Allah will add more virtue, nobility and grace to His believing
slaves while He obstructs it from all His enemies.
On The Attribute of Descent and Its Kayfiyyah (i.e. Reality, Howness) :
Ibn Khuzaymah, may Allah bestow His mercy upon him said: The scholars of Hijaz
and Iraq reported from the Prophet that the Lord descends to the sky of the dunya every night.
We therefore testify and acknowledge on our tongues while our hearts are certain of the
information about the descending of Allah without delving into how it happens because our
Prophet did not describe to us how our Creator descends to the sky of the dunya but he only
informed us that He does descend. And Allah Most High and His Prophet did not leave a
matter that Muslims are required to know about their religion without mentioning it to them.
Therefore, we narrate this information and believe in what it includes about the descending of
Allah without delving into how this happens or describing this descending as the Prophet did
not describe it to us.
4. Sahih Ibn Khuzaymah
Ibn Khuzaymah required that every narration in his book be authentic, as is apparent
from its formal title. Ibn Khuzaymahs definition of sahih however, differs slightly from that
of the majority of muhaddithin. This difference emerges because Ibn Khuzaymah includes
the hasan hadith (second-grade of acceptable ahadith) as part of the sahih category.
However, this difference in terminology is of little practical consequence, since
both hasan and sahih hadith are authentic and require the acceptance and acquiescence of a
Muslim.
Some of the structures and methodology of this book are:
He organized the narrations into chapters and subchapters in accordance with the
prominent organization of hadith books during his time. Hence, he begins with the
chapter of wud, followed by salah, and so forth. In the chapter (kitb al-wud), he
nests subchapters known as abwb, literally doors or gates.
The ahadth of his book are supported by chains of narrators that go from him back to
the Prophet . If a hadth has more than one narration, he mentions them all.
He generally follows up the narration with a short, scholarly discussion about the
chain of narrators (sanad) and the Text (matn). He pays meticulous attention to the
wording of the Text, to the degree that he makes sure to distinguish the short vowels
of a word (in an undiacriticized Text) that he deems to require emphasis or greater
clarify. Clarifying the unwritten vowels is known among scholars as dabt al-alf. It
is not achieved by applying the diacritical marks to the Text, such as by
adding fatha and dammah, because these marks are highly subject to error during
transcription. Rather, scholars wrote out in their explications, for example, such and
such letter of such and such word has a damma on it, or such and such letter has two
dots over it.
If there are varying narrations of the same hadth, Ibn Khuzaymah takes care to make
clear the variations and distinguish between them.
Ibn Khuzaymah often begins his explanatory discussions that follow the hadth with
the phrase: Ibn Khuzaymah said.
Oftentimes, Ibn Khuzaymah mentions his fiqh (juristic) opinions about an issue in the
form of a subtitle preceding the hadth that has elicited from him his opinionas is
common in other hadth
Regarding the Station of Sahih Ibn Khuzaymah among the compilations of
the Sunnah, Ibn Al-Salah writes in his Muqaddima, or Introduction:
Then as for the authentic ahadith that are not narrated by Bukhari
or Muslim, the researcher of these ahadith can find them in the other
reliable compilations If the hadith is found in a book in which the
compiler has made it a condition that the hadith be authentic, such as
Sahih Ibn Khuzaymah, then it is enough to prove the authenticity of the
hadith.
Al-Suyuti writes:
Sahih Ibn Khuzaymah is more authentic on the whole than Sahih Ibn
Hibban because Ibn Khuzaymah investigated his narrations very
thoroughly, to the degree that he refused to accept a narration if there
existed the slightest doubt about its authenticity.
At-Thahabi stated:
Imam Ibn Khuzaymah was one of the great imams who had insight
when it came to rijal (the science of determining the reliability of
narrators).
Al-Dhahabi adds that Ibn Khuzaymah writes in his book: I do not view as
reliable: [so and so, and so and so], whereupon Ibn Khuzaymah
catalogues a lengthy list of narrators about whom there was scholarly
disagreement regarding their reliability. The fact that Ibn Khuzaymah
excluded these narrators shows how selective he was about his ahadith.
