Ibn Majah

Muhammad ibn Yazid ibn Majah al-Qazwini (209-273 AH / 824-887 CE) was the compiler of Sunan Ibn Majah, the sixth of the six canonical hadith collections (al-Kutub as-Sittah). Born in Qazvin (in present-day Iran), he traveled throughout the Islamic world to collect hadith, visiting Iraq, the Hejaz, Egypt, and Syria to study under the leading scholars of his time.

His Sunan contains approximately 4,341 hadith organized by legal topics. While it is included in the six canonical collections, scholars have noted that it contains more weak narrations than the other five. However, it is valued for including hadith on topics not covered in the other collections, making it an important supplementary source. The hadith unique to his collection (zawaid) have been the subject of separate critical studies by later scholars. Some early authorities, such as Ibn al-Athir, preferred the Muwatta of Imam Malik as the sixth canonical work instead of Ibn Majah's Sunan.

Beyond his Sunan, Ibn Majah authored a tafsir of the Quran and a work on history (at-Tarikh), though neither has survived. He returned to his hometown of Qazvin after his travels and spent the rest of his life there teaching and writing. He died in Qazvin in 273 AH (887 CE). Despite debates about its ranking relative to other collections, his Sunan remains an important reference in hadith scholarship and Islamic jurisprudence.