Al-A'raj

Al-A'raj, whose full name was Abdur-Rahman ibn Hurmuz al-Hilali al-Madani, was one of the most authoritative Tabi'i scholars of Medina and among the primary transmitters from the great companion Abu Hurayra, may Allah be pleased with him. His nickname al-A'raj (the lame) referred to a physical characteristic. He was also a master of Quranic recitation and Arabic philology and was considered by scholars a polymath of the first rank. He studied under Abu Hurayra so thoroughly that he became one of the chief channels through which Abu Hurayra's vast treasury of hadiths — over five thousand narrations — reached the subsequent generations. Imam al-Zuhri and Imam Malik relied on his transmissions extensively; the chain 'Abu Zinad from al-A'raj from Abu Hurayra' is one of the most trusted chains in hadith scholarship and appears frequently in Sahih al-Bukhari. He later moved to Alexandria, Egypt, where he died around 117 AH. His narrations are foundational in all six major hadith collections, and the chain through al-A'raj from Abu Hurayra is regarded as one of the most reliable in all of hadith literature.