. J '1 J (cont.)

By the grace and mercy of Allah, through al-Nawawi's effort, people have turned to these hadith, memorized them, studied them and explained them in detail. May Allah reward al-Nawawi greatly and handsomely for his noble effort. May the peace and blessings be upon the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) who conveyed the message and strove earnestly for the sake of Allah. All praises and gratitude are for Allah, the One who sent the messengers, revealed the books and guided the Muslims to the straight path and guided this Ummah to the noble teachings found in the works of the scholars. Commentary on the Forty Hadith of al-Nawawi .Ii ࡴ1 1) U_,c..) y>..iJ ഠI ಗWl y.J u,;..1 Biographical Data Biographical Data 1 Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-As [`WI 0! JJA&- 0! ..ii *]- see p. 1576 Abdul Rahmaan ibn Mahdi ['-'+- 0! Ə)\ *]: Abdul Rahmaan ibn Mahdi ( 120-198) was one of the greatest scholars and critics of hadith in his time. He is the one who wrote to al-Shafi'ee, requesting al-Shafi'ee to write about the principles of legal theory and the result was al-Shafi'ee's al-Risaalah. Al-Shafi'ee said about him, "I do not know of anyone similar to him [in knowledge] in this world." Abdul Razzaaq al-Sanaani [_,.;aI L;lj)I * ]: Abdul Razaaq was born in the 126 A.H. His father was a scholar in his own right and narrated hadith from Ikrimah, W ahb ibn Munabbih and others. Abdul Razaaq was a great scholar of hadith. He was considered a trustworthy scholar although toward the end of his life, when he lost his eyesight, his narrations are not considered of excellent quality. He is probably most famous for his collection of hadith and reports from the Companions and Followers entitled al-Musannaf His teachers included Sufyaan al-Thauri, Sufyaan ibn Uyainah, Mamar ibn Raashid and Imam Malik. His students included Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Yahya ibn Maeen, Ishaaq ibn Rahawaih and numerous others. Abdul Razaaq also compiled a tafseer of the Quran that has recently been published. His narrations were an important source for al-Tabari's tafseer. Abu Bakr al-Siddeeq [iJ:!.i.....l fa ,,;l] (573-13/634) was the closest friend of the Prophet (peace be on him) before and after Islam. He was the greatest of all the Companions and the first Caliph. He as the leader in suppressing the apostasy of the Arabs after the Prophet's death and reestablishing the rule of Islam over Arabia. He was the first to have the entire Quran collected and written down in one volume. Abu Dawood al-Sijistaani [_,.;bI .lJl.J _,;l] - see p. 1083. Abu al-Darda [cl.l.J.ll ,,;l]: Abu al-Darda Uwaimir ibn Maalik ibn Qays al-Ansaari (d. 32 A.H./652 C.E.) was a Companion of the Prophet from the Khazraj tribe of Madinah. He was also an ascetic and a warrior. He was appointed Judge over Damascus by Muawiyah at the order of the Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattaab. He 1 Not all of the personalities mentioned in the text are presented here, only those who were most relied upon. The personalities discussed here are placed in alphabetical order of most recognized portions of their names; for alphabetization purposes, the al (JI) is ignored; the portion in bold is the portion written in Arabic. Most of the information presented here is well-established and of public record. Hence, individual referencing is not required. However, most of the information comes from al-Zirikli; ibn Katheer, Bidaayah; ibn Hajr, Tahdheeb and al-/saabah; and al­ Dhahabi, Siyar. ln many cases, the introductions to the published editions of books quoted and mentioned in the Bibliography were used for dates of birth, death and other vital information. The dates after the person's name are the dates of his life or of his birth (b.) or death (d.). If two dates are given separated by a slash (/), the first date is the Hijri date while the second date is that of the Christian Era. If only one date is given, it is of the Hijri era, unless otherwise noted. Commentary on the Forty Hadith of al-Nawawi was a scholar of the Quran and taught it in Syria where he died. He narrated 1 17 hadith. Abu Dharr Jundub ibn Junaadah [>..i4 L>! ୓ j..i _,;I] - see p. 696. Abu Hanifah al-Numan ibn Thaabit [୎ȏ L>! ul..Wl ഝ _,;i]: Abu Hanifah lived from 80 A.H. (699 C.E.) to 150 A.H. (767 C.E.). The Hanafi school of fiqh, the most widespread school of fiqh, is named after him. He was born and brought up in Kufah in a family that had come to Iraq from Afghanistan. He started his studies in philosophy and scholastic theology. After mastering those fields, he decided to give them up and concentrate on fiqh. Some of his most important students include Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Shaibaani and Abu Yoosuf. Abu Huraira [•..>.!.JA _,;I] - see pp. 521-522. Abu Masood al-Badri ((j.J..i,ill ..i_,..... _,;I] - see pp. 810-8 1 1 . Abu Moosa al-Ashari ((j,YI l ..l:!.Y_,;I]: Abu Yazeed (188/804-2611875) was a very early Sufi, the son of a Zoroastrian who had converted to Islam. He was known for his piety.