Abd al-Rahim ibn al-Husain al-'Iraqi

ʿAbd al-Raḥīm b. Ḥusayn b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Ibrāhīm b. Abū Bakr b. Ibrāhīm al-Kurdī al-Miṣrī al-Rāzinānī al-Mihrānī al-Irāqī al-Atharī al-Shāfiʿī , commonly known as Zain al-Din al-'Iraqi ( or shortly Al-Ḥāfiẓ al-ʿIrāqī (; 725-806 AH/ 1325–1403 CE) was an Egyptian-Kurdish Islamic scholar. He is widely described by contemporaries as "the greatest hadith scholar in his age". A scholar of immense memory and precision, he achieved mastery over every branch of hadith sciences and became a central authority for both transmission (riwāya) and comprehension (dirāya). Revered for his piety, humility, and intellectual depth, al-ʿIrāqī's influence shaped the study of hadith for generations.

Lineage Although the sources do not provide extensive detail regarding his lineage, his father, Ḥusayn, who was of Kurdish origin, came as a child from the town of Rāznān, which was near Erbil in northern Iraq, and settled in Cairo. When Irāqī was three years old, his father passed away.

Early life Birth He was born to an Iraqi father and an Egyptian mother on 21 Jumādā al-Awwal 725 AH, corresponding to 5 May 1325 CE in Cairo. When al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Irāqī was born, his father took him to Shaykh Taqi al-Dīn al-Qanāwī for supplication, taḥnīk (placing a sweet substance in the infant's mouth), and seeking blessing.

When ʿAbd al-Raḥīm was three years old, his father passed away. As a result, he came under the guardianship of his father's close companion, Shaykh Taqi al-Dīn al-Qanāwī (d. 744/1343), and was raised under his care and guidance. The name ʿAbd al-Raḥīm was also given to him by this shaykh, in honour of his own teacher and grandfather, Shaykh ʿAbd al-Raḥīm al-Qanāwī (d. 692/1292).

"You are sharp-minded and of sound intellect — devote your ambition and effort to the science of ḥadīth."

After traveling through the main centers of knowledge in Egypt, especially Cairo and Alexandria receiving lessons and transmissions from the muḥaddithin there, he travelled to the east and southeast, to places such as Damascus, Aleppo, Hama, Homs, Nablus, Gaza, Jerusalem, Mecca, and Medina; and to the west, including Tripoli and Baalbek. He undertook numerous riḥlas (scholarly journeys) to centers where he heard that notable scholars of ḥadīth resided, in order to benefit from them.

Teachers He studied among the greatest scholars of his time:

Taqi al-Dīn al-Subkī Salāh al-Dīn al-ʿAlāʾī Izz al-Dīn Ibn Jamāʿah Ibn Kathir The Shāfiʿī jurist al-Isnawī Ibn ʿAbd al-Hādī

Scholarly life Career Al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Irāqī's engagement with knowledge extended far beyond study and authorship; he was deeply involved in teaching, issuing legal opinions, and reviving scholarly traditions. He held teaching posts and delivered lectures in numerous madrasas, which served as the principal centers of higher learning in his time. Among the main institutions where he taught were Dār al-Ḥadīth al-Kāmiliyya and al-Madrasa al-Zāhiriyya al-Qadīma in Cairo, as well as al-Madrasa al-Qarasnikriyya. He also taught in the Fāḍiliyya Madrasa, where he lectured on jurisprudence, and he established public teaching circles in Jāmiʿ Ibn Ṭūlūn and Jāmiʿ al-Fāḍiliyya.

His teaching activities were not limited to Egypt. In Syria, Mecca, and Medina he taught ḥadīth, trained students, and issued legal opinions (fatwās). During his residence in the Ḥaramayn al-Sharīfayn, he taught in various mosques and madrasas. Beginning on 12 Jumādā al-Awwal 788 (1386), he served for three years and five months in Medina al-Munawwara as qāḍī, as well as imām and khaṭīb in the Prophet's Mosque. Later, he was also appointed judge in Mecca.

Al-Irāqī devoted himself completely to ḥadīth—its study, teaching, and transmission. He revived the tradition of public dictation sessions (imlāʾ), which had largely fallen out of practice since the era of Ibn al-Ṣalāḥ al-Shahrazūrī. He began these sessions in Medina in 795 (1393) and continued them in Cairo until six months before his death, delivering a total of 416 sessions over eleven years. According to Ibn Ḥajar, the majority of the ḥadīth he dictated in these assemblies he recited from memory.

Nur al-Din al-Haythami Wali al-Din al-'Iraqi Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani Badr al-Din al-Ayni Ibn Rajab Ibn al-Jazari Taqi al-Din al-Fasi Al-Damiri Al-Qalqashandi Ibn al-'Ajmi Shihab al-Din al-Busiri

Ibn Kathīr, though twenty-four years his senior, read some works under him and benefited from him in ḥadīth verification. Al-Irāqī most outstanding students, however, were: Nūr al-Dīn al-Haythamī, Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī, and his son, Abū Zur'a, known as Ibn al-Irāqī. Al-Haythamī was his student, son-in-law, and closest companion. Ibn Ḥajar studied under al-Irāqī for ten years and was Ibn Hajar's most important teacher in hadith studies. His son Abū Zurʿa benefited continually from him as well.

When al-Irāqī was asked near the end of his life who remained after him who could be counted among the ḥuffāẓ (leading masters of ḥadīth), he named first Ibn Ḥajar, then his son Ibn al-Irāqī, and third Nūr al-Dīn al-Haythamī, an indication of the special attention he gave to these three students who would succeed him and become the top three ḥuffāẓ of their era.

Ḥāfiẓ al-ʿIrāqī was celebrated as an exceptionally versatile scholar of ḥadīth, mastering every major discipline within its sciences, including ʿilm al-rijāl (the study of narrators’ biographies), taḥrīj (tracing ḥadīth sources), ʿilm al-dirāyah (understanding the meaning of ḥadīth), ʿilm al-riwāyah (methods of transmission), jarḥ wa taʿdīl (criticism and accreditation of narrators), ghurab al-ḥadīth (rare ḥadīth), and ʿilal al-ḥadīth (hidden defects in ḥadīth). His stature was such that his own teachers, among them: Taqī al-Dīn al-Subkī, al-ʿAlāʾī, Ibn Kathīr, Ibn Jamāʿah, and al-Isnawī all spoke highly of him and adopted his judgments, and deferred to his insight. They described him as a person of wisdom and insight, which demonstrates the authority and depth he possessed in knowledge.

Ibn Nāṣir al-Dīn said: “He was a Shaykh, Imam, Allāmah, and unique. He was the ḥāfiẓ of his age, the shaykh of muḥaddithin, the mark of the critics, and the foremost of the scholars of ḥadīth classification.”

Hadith Iḥbār al-Aḥyāʾ bi-Aḥbār al-Iḥyāʾ Al-Kashf al-Mubīn ʿan Taḥrīj al-Iḥyāʾ ʿUlūm al-Dīn Al-Mughnī ʿan Ḥamli'l-Asfār fī'l-Asfār fī Taḥrīj Mā fī'l-Iḥyāʾ min al-Aḥbār Al-Takyīd wa'l-ʾĪẓāḥ limā Utlika wa Ughliqa min Muqaddimat Ibn al-Ṣalāḥ Alfiyya of al-Iraqi Takrīb al-Asānīd wa Tartīb al-Masānīd Zayl ʿalā Mīzān al-Iʿtidāl Taḥrīj Aḥādīth al-Minhāj li’l-Bayzāwī Naẓm al-Minhāj al-Wuṣūl ilā ʿIlm al-Usūl (al-Najm al-Wahhāj fī Naẓm al-Minhāj) Takmīlat Sharḥ al-Tirmidhī Kitāb al-Arbaʿīn al-ʿUshāriyyah Al-Tusāʿiyyāt Al-Bāʿiṣ ʿalā al-Ḥalās min Ḥawādis al-Quṣṣāṣ Al-Durar al-Saniyya fī (Naẓm) Al-Siyr al-Zakiyya (fī Naẓm al-Sīrah al-Nabawiyya) Al-Kurab fī Maḥabbati’l-ʿArab Kurrah al-ʿAyn bi'l-Masarrat bi-Wafāʾ al-Dīn Al-Risālah Nukāt al-Fatāwā ʿalā al-Muḥtaṣarāt Al-Mustahraç ʿalā al-Mustadrak li'l-Hākim Majālis-i Sabʿah Muḥtaṣar fī'l-Aḥādīth al-Mutaʿalliqah bi'l-Aḥkām Al-ʿAdad al-Muʿtabar fī'l-Awjuh allatī Bayna al-Ṣuwar Istihbāb al-Wudūʾ Al-Istiʿāzah bi'l-Wāḥid min Iqāmat Ḥummaʿateyn bi-Makān Wāḥid Tamyīz al-Ashāb Zayl al-Tārīkh al-Islām Al-Kalām ʿalā al-Aḥādīth allātī Tukallimuhu Fīhā bi'l-Waḍʿ wa Hiya fī Musnad al-Imām Aḥmad Fatwā fī Anna Mā Uʿtida Yawma ʿĀshūrāʾ min Akli al-Dajjāj wa’l-Ḥubūb al-Mubāḥ Amālī fīmā Yataʿallaqu bi'l-Istiskāʾ

Other Ajwibat Ibn al-ʿArabī Iḥyāʾ Qalbi'l-Mayyit bi Dhukhūl al-Bayt Al-Istiʿāzah bi'l-Wāḥid min Iqāmat Ḥummaʿateyn fī Makān Wāḥid Asmāʾ Allāh al-Ḥusnā Alfiyya fī Gharīb al-Qurʾān Tatimmāt al-Muhimmāt Tārīkh Taḥrīm al-Ribā Tarjamat al-Isnevī Tafdīl Zamzam Faḍl Gharī Hirāʾ Kurrah al-ʿAyn bi Wafāʾ al-Dīn Masʾalat al-Shurb Kāʾiman Al-Kalām ʿalā Masʾalat al-Sujūd li-Tark al-Ṣalāt