Ibn Dihya al-Kalby

Umar bin al-Hasan bin Ali bin Muhammad bin al-Jamil bin Farah bin Khalaf bin Qumis bin Mazlal bin Malal bin Badr bin Dihyah bin Farwah, better known as Ibn Dihya al-Kalbi was an Andalusī scholar of both the Arabic language and Islamic studies. He preferred to be called Abu al-Khattab, though at various times he was also referred to as Ibn al-Jumayyil, Majd al-Din, Abu al-Fadl or simply Ibn Dihya. From his mother Amat Allah, he traced his maternal bloodline through Abu Abdillah bin Abul-Bassam Musa bin Abdullah bin al-Hussein bin Ja'far bin Ali bin Muhammad bin Ali bin Musa bin Ja'far bin Muhammad bin Ali bin al-Hussein bin Ali bin Abi Talib;

Biography

Early life While Ibn Diyha is generally acknowledged to have been born in Valencia, Ibn Khallikan held the view that Kalbi was born in March 1150, despite the fact that he was personally informed by Kalbi's son and nephew that Kalbi was born in February 1152. In order to further his studies, he traveled from Al-Andalus to Marrakesh, Morocco. Later, his study of Prophetic traditions took him through to Tunis in the year 590AH, then through Africa and on to Egypt, the Levant, Baghdad, Erbil and Wasit in Iraq, and Isfahan and Nisapur in Greater Khorasan.

Career In addition to his renown as a linguistic scholar, Kalbi was also considered to be from the scholars of Prophetic narrations, His number of students was considered high and his chain of narration is recognized by later scholars of the field. A number of these later scholars also narrated either directly from him or through his chain, such as Ibn al-Salah.