Ibn Jurayj

ʿAbd al-Malik ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Jurayj al-Rūmī al-Umawī al-Qurashī al-Makkī (, 80 AH/699 CE - 150 AH/767 CE) commonly known as Ibn Jurayj was an eighth-century tabi'i faqīh, exegete and transmitter of hadith.

A student of early Meccan jurist Ata ibn Abi Rabah, Ibn Jurayj became a scholar in his own right and served as the mufti of Mecca under the Umayyads. He composed works on Quranic exegesis and the rites of pilgrimage, and his compilation of hadith, Kitab al-Sunan, was a founding work of the musannaf genre. Though lost, much of the latter was preserved in the musannaf of his student Abd al-Razzaq al-San'ani, who cites Ibn Jurayj as an informant in approximately one-third of the traditions transmitted.

Biography

Early life Ibn Jurayj was born in Mecca in the year 80 AH / 699 CE. His grandfather Jurayj was of Byzantine origin and had been a slave owned by Umm Habib bint Jubayr, a Meccan woman from the Umayyad clan of Quraysh. His father 'Abd al-'Azīz was a faqīh and according to a report, was a slave of Fāṭimah bint Jubayr ibn Muṭʿim, the daughter of Jubayr ibn Muṭʿim. His father was set free, and thus Ibn Jurayj became a client (mawlā) of the Umayyads, specifically of Umayyah ibn Khālid ibn Asīd. Ibn Jurayj would sometimes affiliate himself with Banu Nawfal (the family of his mother), and other times with the Banu Umayyah, who were the 'iṣbah (agnatic kin) of his clientage.

Ibn Jurayj had two kunyas: Abū Khālid and Abū al-Walīd.

Education At the age of fourteen, he was accepted to the study circle of Meccan jurist Ata ibn Rabah after previously being rejected twice due to lacking knowledge on Quran and Islamic inheritance laws with whom he studied for eighteen to nineteen years.

Travels Ibn Jurayj spent most of his life within the Hejaz, where he may have visited the Prophet's Mosque in Medina. He did not travel beyond the region until 143 AH / 760 CE, when, at over sixty-five years of age, he embarked on a journey to Yemen and subsequently to Iraq.

He initially travelled to Yemen to meet the governor Ma'n ibn Za'ida al-Shaybani. According to reports, Ibn Jurayj came to him as a delegate due to a debt he had incurred. He remained with Yemen until the 10th of Dhu al-Qadah. Upon seeing people preparing for Hajj, he requested Ma'n to be sent back to Mecca. Ma'n hired guides for him, gave him 500 dinars, and handed him an additional 1,500. He also gifted him fifteen mules loaded with Yemeni goods, bundles of cloth, silver coins, and various types of provisions. He returned to Mecca, arriving just in time for the Day of Arafah. During his time in Yemen, he was heard by the scholars of Sanaa, including Abd al-Razzaq al-San'ani.

Ibn Jurayj returned to Mecca, but did not stay long as he was again in debt, eventually pushing him to travel again, this time eastwards to Iraq. He arrived in Basra in the latter part of 144 AH / 762 CE and stayed there through 145 AH / 763 CE.

Following this, Ibn Jurayj returned to Mecca, where he spent the rest of his years until his death on 11 Dhu al-Hijjah 150 AH / 7 January 768 CE. although narrations present in later sources describe Ibn Jurayj retracting this opinion. Harald Motzki suggests his view on mut'ah accorded with a Meccan school tradition that was originated by Ibn Abbas and developed by his student Ata ibn Abi Rabah, and thus did not stem from the Sunni-Shi'ite dispute on the matter.

Kitab al-Sunan Ibn Jurayj compiled a collection of hadith known as Kitab al-Sunan or Al-Jāmiʿ (The Comprehensive Collection), which is credited with initiating the musannaf genre of hadith literature. His student Abd al-Razzaq claimed that he was the first to arrange hadith thematically, arranging them into subject-based chapters. Although the work has been lost, substantial portions are preserved in the musannaf of Abd al-Razzaq and other later compilations. Approximately one-third of the traditions found in Abd al-Razzaq's Musannaf are transmitted from Ibn Jurayj.

Tafsir Ibn Jurayj is credited with composing one of the earliest works of Quranic exegesis (tafsir). More than a dozen students are reported to have studied tafsir with him, though only five of them are known to have transmitted his tafsir with certainty. Among them, Ḥajjāj ibn Muḥammad al-Miṣṣīṣī al-A'war transmitted two versions of tafsir from him: a shorter version that Ibn Jurayj dictated from memory as he did not have the physical copy at that time, and a larger and expansive version that Ibn Jurayj dictated from his written copy. In February 2019, a partial manuscript of the shorter version was identified in the Zahiriyya Library (formerly catalogued No. 10990), containing commentary on the verses from the middle of Surah Nisa to Surah Waqqiyah. It was published by Dār al-Kamāl with partial reconstructions of the lost sections from earlier citations.

Kitāb al-Manāsik Being the mufti and jurist of Mecca, he authored a work titled Kitāb al-Manāsik ('The Book of Pilgrimage Rites'). It contained the knowledge that pilgrims needed annually during the Hajj season. This may have been an expansion on the chapter of Hajj from his hadith compilation. The transmission of Kitāb al-Manāsik was extremely rare among later scholars, and the work itself has not survived.

Legacy

Hadith Hadith transmitted by Ibn Jurayj are present in all six of the canonical Sunni hadith collections. During his stay in Yemen, Ibn Jurayj's lectures were attended by ʽAbd al-Razzaq al-Sanʽani, who included 5,000 of the traditions taught in his musannaf.

Ibn Jurayj's status as a hadith transmitter was viewed positively by his student Yahya ibn Sa'id al-Qattan, although he cast doubt on those traditions which had been transmitted from memory and where an informant had been concealed (tadlis). The evaluation of Ibn Jurayj being a trustworthy transmitter when not practicing tadlis was also shared by later hadith critics, including Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Yahya ibn Maʻin, and Ali ibn al-Madini. More recently, Motzki assessed Ibn Jurayj's material in Abd al-Razzaq al-Sanʽani's musannaf, concluding he did not forge the traditions he transmitted.