Ali ibn al-Madini

Ali ibn Abdullah ibn al-Madini (161–234 AH / 778–849 CE) was the foremost hadith scholar of his generation and is considered by many to be the greatest scholar of hadith criticism (ilm al-rijal) after Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal. He was the teacher of Imam al-Bukhari, and al-Bukhari reportedly said: 'I never felt humble before anyone as I felt humble before Ali ibn al-Madini.' He wrote on the illnesses (ilal) of hadith and on the evaluation of narrators, establishing critical tools that became foundational for later hadith scholarship. He was the leading authority on hadith chains and narrators in Basra and later Baghdad.