SHAYKH ABŪ SAʿD AS-SAMʿĀNĪ raḥimahullāh
Among those who roamed countries and horizons and traversed the world in eager pursuit of knowledge was Imām Abū Saʿd as-Samʿānī [also called Abū Saʿīd with a yāʾ, as noted by Ibn Khallikān] ʿAbdul-Karīm ibn Muḥammad al-Marwazī.
His Lineage and Family
A man of noble lineage, scion of a house of learning and scholars, and crown of a family of guardians of the Qurʾān and the Sunnah and masters of the jurists; born in 506 AH in Marw and passed away there in 562 AH at the age of 56, may Allāh have mercy on him.
He had reached such an extent in extensive travel and continual journeying that it scarcely enters the imagination.
It is as though the accounts of his journeys belong to legend, yet they are more certain than the radiant dawn.
His Journeys
He undertook journeys spanning close to 20 years, knowing neither boredom nor fatigue; nor would he ever become satiated from repeated draughts and continual quenching. His thirst for knowledge was unquenchable.
He found no rest except in widening the scope of his travels, seizing beneficial knowledge, increasing his teachers, and acquiring rarities, until he became a singular landmark and a monument of scholarship.
I shall present here selected passages from his richly detailed biography, drawn from four sources:
- the Ṭabaqāt ash-Shāfiʿiyya al-Kubrā of Tāj ad-Dīn as-Subkī;
- the Tadhkirat al-Ḥuffāẓ of adh-Dhahabī;
- the introduction of the editor Munīra Nājī Sālim to his Kitāb at-Taḥbīr fī ‘l-Muʿjam al-Kabīr;
- and the introduction of the distinguished scholar-editor ʿAllamah Shaykh ʿAbdur Raḥmān al-Muʿallimī to the Kitāb al-Ansāb.
What Scholars Said About Him
Tāj ad-Dīn as-Subkī said, ‘He is ʿAbdul-Karīm ibn Muḥammad ibn Manṣūr ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdil-Jabbār, the Ḥāfiẓ Abū Saʿd ibn Imām Abū Bakr ibn Imām Abū ‘l-Muẓaffar ibn Imām Abū Manṣūr ibn as-Samʿānī.
The Crown of Islam, son of the Crown of Islam; the muḥaddith of the East; the author of beneficial and impressive scholarly works; a man of leadership, nobility, and authentic lineage.’
Maḥmūd al-Khwārazmī said, ‘His is the most exalted house in the lands of Islam, the greatest and most venerable in the religious sciences and matters of faith.
He said, ‘The predecessors and successors of this household are exemplars for the scholars and models for the virtuous.’
Leadership was entrusted to them and authority was vested in them.
They surpassed the imāms of their age across all regions by merit, and they presided over them by virtue of excellence and juristic mastery, not through wealth and brazenness.’ End of quotation.
His Birth, Early Life, and Education
He was born on the 21st of Shaʿbān in 506 AH in Marw.
His father, Imām Abū Bakr, took him to Nīsāpūr in 509 AH and presented him at sessions of transmission, when he was in his 4th year, before ʿAbdul-Ghaffār ash-Shīrūyī, Abū ‘l-ʿAlāʾ ʿUbayd ibn Muḥammad al-Qushayrī, and others.
He had previously presented him in Marw before Abū Manṣūr Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī al-Kurāʿī and others.
His father passed away in 510 AH, having commended him to Imām Ibrāhīm al-Marrūdhī, the author of the Taʿlīqah.
Abū Saʿd studied jurisprudence under him, refined his character through him, and was raised among his uncles and family.
When he reached adolescence he devoted himself to the Qurʾān and jurisprudence and applied himself to ḥadīth and its audition.
His Travels and Teachers
His journeys expanded to encompass Khurāsān, Aṣbahān, Transoxiana, Iraq, the Ḥijāz, Syria, and Ṭabaristān.
He visited Jerusalem while it was in the hands of the Christians, and performed Ḥajj twice.
He heard personally from al-Furāwī, Zāhir ash-Shaḥḥāmī, Hibatullāh as-Sayyidī, Tamīm al-Jurjānī, ʿAbdul-Jabbār al-Khuwārī, Ismāʿīl ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Faḍl the Ḥāfiẓ, ʿAbdul-Munʿim ibn al-Qushayrī, Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdul-Bāqī al-Anṣārī, ʿAbdur Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad ash-Shaybānī al-Qazzāz, and countless others too numerous to list.
Ibn an-Najjār said, ‘I heard someone mention that the number of his teachers reached 7,000 shaykhs.’
This is something no one has attained.
He authored Muʿjam al-Buldān recording the towns in which he heard ḥadīth.
His Return and Later Life
He returned to his homeland of Marw in 538 AH.
He married and was blessed with a son, Abū ‘l-Muẓaffar ʿAbdur-Raḥīm.
He then travelled with him to Nīshāpūr and its environs, Harāt and its surroundings, Balkh, Samarqand, and Bukhārā, compiling a Muʿjam for him. He then returned with him to Marw.
He laid down the staff of travel after traversing the land extensively, and turned to authorship, dictation, preaching, and instruction.
A group of his teachers and peers heard from him.
Those who narrated from him include the foremost ḥāfiẓ Abū ‘l-Qāsim ibn ʿAsākir, his son al-Qāsim ibn ʿAsākir, Abū Aḥmad ibn Sukayna, ʿAbdul-ʿAzīz ibn Manīnā, Abū Rawḥ ʿAbdul-Muʿizz al-Harawī, his son Abū ‘l-Muẓaffar ʿAbdur-Raḥīm ibn as-Samʿānī, Yūsuf ibn al-Mubārakah al-Khaffāf, and others.
He returned, after having traversed the world in his travels, to his city of Marw,
He remained engaged in compilation and authorship, as well as in transmitting ḥadīth and teaching, at the ʿAmīdiyyah school.
He disseminated knowledge until he passed away as one of the imāms of the Muslims in many sciences, the most intimately associated of which was ḥadīth in all its varied disciplines.
His companion and friend, the great Ḥāfiẓ Abū ‘l-Qāsim ibn ʿAsākir, mentioned him in the Tārīkh Dimashq and praised him, saying,
‘He is now without dispute the Shaykh of Khurāsān, by virtue of genuine mastery, extensive hearing of juzʾ (volumes), and composed works.
May Allāh preserve him for the dissemination of the Sunnah and make him attain the deeds of the people of Paradise.’
His Death
The Ḥāfiẓ Abū Saʿd passed away in the last third of the night of the first of Rabīʿ al-Awwal in the year 562 AH in the city of Marw and was buried in the Sinjadān cemetery of Marw, may Allāh have mercy on him. End of quotation.
A Fast and Elegant Writer & Other Talents
After praising him and describing him with lofty epithets, Ḥāfiẓ adh-Dhahabī said,
‘He was intelligent and perceptive, a fast and elegant writer. He taught, issued fatwās, preached, and dictated. He wrote from everyone, high and low. He was reliable, a ḥāfiẓ, an authority, extensively-travelled, upright, pious, of fine conduct, an excellent companion, and possessed of a vast memorised corpus.
Ibn an-Najjār, the Ḥāfiẓ, imām, and historian of his age, Muḥammad ibn Maḥmūd al-Baghdādī said, ‘I heard those who said that the number of his shuyukh was 7,000.’
This is a feat that no one else has achieved.
He was an elegant author, abundant in beneficial conversation and recitation of poetry, delightful in gentle humour, gracious, a ḥāfiẓ, extensively-travelled, reliable, truthful, and pious.
His own shuyukh and contemporaries heard from him, and a number of scholars transmitted to us from him.’ End of quotation.
A Detailed Account from Professor Munīrah Nājī Sālim
In the introduction written by Professor Munīrah Nājī Sālim from Iraq to his book at-Taḥbīr fī ‘l-Muʿjam al-Kabīr, I have excerpted the following, with some additions and modifications.
His Family of Scholars
“Imām al-Ḥāfiẓ Abū Saʿd as-Samʿānī at-Tamīmī al-Marwazī ash-Shāfiʿī was born in the city of Marw in Khurāsān.
He grew up in a family whose every member was either a scholar, a ḥāfiẓ, a muḥaddith, a jurist, a literary figure, a preacher, or an orator.
He was nourished by knowledge from its richest springs and was set on the path of the jurists and scholars in the very prime of his youth.
His father devoted great attention to him. Very early he presented him for audition before the most eminent shuyukh of Marw.
He then travelled with him to Nīshāpūr [the city of ḥadīth and its scholars] in 509 AH. His age at that time was three and a half years old.
His father, both in Marw and in Nīshāpūr, would bring him to the sessions of the muḥaddithūn.
He would write down for him whatever they dictated or whatever was read to them in those sessions while he was present.
He would record it, and verify it, so that it might serve as a source his son could refer to and transmit from when he grew up.
He also obtained licences of transmission for him from them.
By this means his son acquired elevated chains of transmission from the shuyukh of his era, and these licences, auditions, and recitations formed the foundation of his earliest scholarly material.
The Vast Number of His Teachers
As for his shuyukh, Abū Saʿd received the sciences of ḥadīth and all manner of learning from a vast number of teachers.
Among his shuyukh were muḥaddithūn, ḥuffāẓ, jurists, dialectical scholars, exegetes, reciters, preachers, literary figures, poets, and grammarians.
Ibn an-Najjār said, “I heard it said that the number of his shuyukh was 7,000.
This is something that no one else has achieved.”
Meeting this vast number of scholars demanded tremendous effort.
His Method in Seeking Teachers
Abū Saʿd was able to endure exhausting hardships and to overcome the obstacles that confronted him in meeting the shuyukh.
He did not content himself with meeting the scholars of the city to which he travelled; he would also meet the shuyukh of villages and districts.
He would move from one village to another and from one neighbourhood to another.
He likewise moved through alleyways, lanes, gateways, and market stalls.
Even on the road of travel itself he would hear ḥadīth and engage scholars in scholarly discussion.
The Three Major Journeys
Abū Saʿd travelled to more than 100 cities. I shall list their names later.
He undertook many journeys, the most significant of which were three:
- The first journey lasted approximately ten years, extending from Khurāsān in the east to Syria in the west, and from Iraq in the north to the Ḥijāz in the south, spanning from 529 to 538 AH.
ʿAbdul-Fattāḥ said, I leave it to the ʿAllamah Shaykh ʿAbdur Raḥmān al-Muʿallimī to recount an aspect of this journey, and I shall reproduce his words.
He said, may Allāh have mercy on him, ‘The father of Abū Saʿd as-Samʿānī passed away when his son was approximately three and a half years old.
Abū Saʿd was taken into the care of his guardian and his paternal uncles.
All of them were among the finest scholars, and they cared for him with the utmost care.
He memorised the Qurʾān, studied jurisprudence, Arabic, and literature, and began hearing ḥadīth alongside his paternal uncles.
After he approached his 20th year he began hearing on his own, though they did not permit him to travel until somewhat later.
The Race to Hear Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim
Abū Saʿd pressed them insistently to permit him to travel to Nīshāpūr, in order to hear Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim from the sole surviving transmitter of it.
The long-lived, reliable, and accomplished Abū ʿAbdullāh Muḥammad ibn al-Faḍl al-Furāwī, born in 441 AH and deceased in 530 AH, whose death was expected any day. Despite his eminence in learning, al-Furāwī had become the sole transmitter of Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim through an elevated and illustrious chain.
There were only three intermediaries between him and Muslim, even though approximately 270 years separated their deaths.
Were he to pass away without Abū Saʿd having heard from him, it would be a grief in his heart that could never heal.
They did not grant him permission until he had passed his 22nd year, and they did not allow him to travel alone; rather, his uncle Abū ‘l-Qāsim Aḥmad ibn Manṣūr as-Samʿānī travelled with him.
Abū Saʿd became constrained by that affectionate yet restrictive care.
When he had completed his audition of Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim in Nīsāpūr from al-Furāwī, his uncle wished to return with him to his homeland.
Abū Saʿd had no recourse but to hide, hoping his uncle would grow tired of waiting, go home, and leave him to roam the centres of learning as he wished.
But his uncle proved more patient than him.
He remained in Nīsāpūr until Abū Saʿd grew weary of staying in concealment.
He then emerged and complied with his uncle in returning with him.
It seems he continued to argue his case to his uncle and to explain that he was compelled to travel, and that there was no reason to prevent him from journeying alone.
He may also have written to his other uncle and guardian; their reply returned granting him permission.
His uncle gave him leave while they were both in Ṭūs.
Abū Saʿd returned to Nīsāpūr and stayed there for a year.
He then set out to traverse the centres of knowledge in the world for several years.
His journeys expanded, and his two uncles and guardian passed away in Marw while he was still travelling.
The Account of His Uncle
I present here what he himself said under the entry of as-Samʿānī in his book al-Ansāb, as he speaks of the Samʿānī household: his fathers, forefathers, and paternal uncles, ‘My other younger uncle was my teacher, from whom I studied fiqh, and upon whom I wrote notes on khilāf and portions of the madhhab; Abū ‘l-Qāsim Aḥmad ibn Manṣūr as-Samʿānī.
He was a distinguished, learned imām, a skilled debater, a muftī, a preacher, eloquent in his preaching, a poet of fine verse, possessing abundant virtues and numerous merits.
He was modest, dignified, steadfast, patient, and forbearing.
I selected passages in his presence, and I read to him [what he acquired] from his teachers.
I travelled with him to Sarakhs, and we returned together to Marw.
We departed to Nīsābūr in Shawwāl of the year 529, and his departure was on my account, for I had wished to travel in order to hear the ḥadīth of Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj al-Qushayrī, and so he listened to the Ṣaḥīḥ alongside me.
He resolved to return home, and I remained behind, concealing myself so as to stay in Nīsābūr after his departure.
He waited until I emerged, and I returned with him to Ṭūs.
I then parted from him, with his permission, to Nīsābūr, and he returned to Marw.
I remained in Nīsābūr for a year, then departed to Iṣbahān. I did not see him after that.
He passed away in the year 534.
The news of his death reached me while I was in Baghdad, and we held a mourning gathering for him there.’ End of al-Muʿallamī’s words.
- The second journey lasted six years, from 540 to 546.
He confined himself during it to visiting most of the cities of Khurāsān: Nīsābūr, Sarakhs, Marw ar-Rūdh, Harāt, Balkh, and Nasā.
He took with him on this journey his son Abū ‘l-Muẓaffar ʿAbdur-Raḥīm, born in Nīsābūr at the end of the year 537, at that time he was approximately three years of age.
He travelled with him through the lands of Khurāsān and Transoxiana.
He brought him to the sessions of ḥadīth audition there, and procured for him copies of books and individual fascicles whose audition sessions he attended.
He compiled for him a muʿjam of his teachers in 18 parts, and ʿawālī of ḥadīth (higher-chained ḥadīths which he had him hear) in two substantial volumes.
- The third journey lasted for four years, from 549 to 552, to the lands of Transoxiana.
He visited Samarqand, Bukhārā, Nasaf, and other cities, and on his return route to Marw he passed through the city of Khuwārazm.
He then settled in his homeland until his death in the year 562, may Allāh have mercy upon him.
The total duration of his three journeys was approximately 20 years, and his movements throughout them were as the poet said:
A day at Ḥuzwā, a day at al-ʿAqīq, a day at al-ʿUdhayb, and a day at al-Khulayṣāʾ.
The Cities He Visited
The following are the names of the most notable cities and towns he journeyed to, arranged alphabetically (according to the Arabic alphabet):
Abīward, Arghiyān, Astarābādh, Asadābādh, Isfarāyīn, Ashfūrqān, Iṣbahān, Āmul Ṭabaristān, Āmul Khwārazm, al-Anbār, Awānā.
Bādhaghīs, Bāshīnān, Bālis, Bālūz, Bukhārā, Badhash, Badhīkhūn, al-Barrāniyyah, Barsūkhān, Barūjird, Bisṭām, al-Baṣrah, Baghdād, Baghshūr, Balkh, Banj Diyah, Būshanaj, Bayt al-Maqdis, Baysān, Bayhaq, Bushtanqān.
Tirmidhh, Tikrīt, Tall Abī Ḥafṣ, Tall ʿAqarqūf, Tall Yaʿfar, Tūth.
Jābir, Jarbādaqān, Jurjān, Jurwāʾān, Jalūlatayn, Jawraqān, Jawzjān, Jawzdān, Jawsaqān, Jayy.
Ḥiṭṭīn, al-Ḥafar, Ḥalab, Ḥulwān, Ḥamāh, Ḥimṣ.
Khābarān, Khākhsar, Khālabarzan, Kharjān, Kharjird, Khuwār al-Rayy, Khwārazm, Khūjān.
Dārayyā, Dāmghān, Dabīr, Darzījān, Darghim, al-Dizaq al-ʿUlyā, Dimashq, Dimimā, Dawnaq, Dayr al-Ḥāfir, Dīwānjah.
Al-Rāfiqah, Rāwanīr, al-Rabadhhah, Rabīnaḥan, Raqqat Baghdād, Raqqat al-Jazīrah, Runān, Rūdhbār, al-Rayy.
Zubālah, Zamakhshar, Zamlakān, Zandakhān, Zandarzan.
Sāriyah, Sāwah, Sarakhs, Sakajkath, Simnān, Sinjār, Sinjabast, al-Sīn.
Shulānjird, Shawkān.
Ṣāgharj — also pronounced Sāgharj — Ṣāliḥān, Ṣarṣar, Ṣarīfīn, Ṣanʿāʾ Dimashq, Ṣūr.
Ṭābarān, Ṭāsabandhā, Ṭālaqān, Ṭabaristān, Ṭamīsah, Ṭūrīn, Ṭūsan, Ṭihrān.
ʿAsqalān, al-ʿAqr, ʿAkkā, ʿUkbarā.
Fāz, Farāwah, Farkhūr Dhīzah, Falkhār, Fam al-Ṣilḥ, Fundīn, Fayd.
Qashān, Qarmīsīn, Qasāmil, Qusṭānah, Qaṣrān, Qaṣr Kinkiwar, Qinnasrīn, Qūmis, Qaysāriyyah.
Kār, Kāziyyārkāh, al-Karaj, Karmīniyyah, al-Kūfah.
Mārbānān, Mālīn Harāt, Mā Warāʾ al-Nahr, Majd Ābādh, Marw al-Rūdh, al-Mawṣil, Mayhanah.
Nābulus, Nāmish, Nasā, Nasaf, Naṣrābādh, al-Nuʿmāniyyah, Nawqān, Nahāwand, al-Nahrawān, Nayrab, Nīsābūr.
Wāsiṭ al-ʿIrāq, Wāsiṭ Ṭūs, Wakhshumān, Wadhār, Warkān, Waydhābādh.
Harāt, Hamdhān.
His Works
As for his precious and invaluable works; spanning the sciences of ḥadīth, rijāl, history, genealogy, fiqh, uṣūl, khilāf, tafsīr, ethics, and other fields, they reached 68 compositions, as stated by the scholar Munīrah Nājī Sālim in her introduction to at-Taḥbīr fī ‘l-Muʿjam al-Kabīr.
She indicated that she enumerated them in the study section of that work.
As this book is not presently before me, I present the names of the most important and substantial of them from al-Muʿallimī’s introduction to al-Ansāb, as he recorded them there.
He said, ‘Ibn an-Najjār transmitted the names of Abū Saʿd’s works and their extents, from Abū Saʿd’s own handwriting. We therefore present them in his order’:
- Dhayl Tārīkh Baghdād li ‘l Khaṭīb(Supplement to the History of Baghdad).
In 400 manuscript fascicles (ṭāqahs).
Adh-Dhahabī said, “It appears to me that a ṭāqah is half a kurrās.” Az-Ziriklī transmitted this in al-Aʿlām. Ibn Khallikān said, “Approximately 15 volumes.”
- Tārīkh Marw(History of Marw).
500 manuscript fascicles.
Ibn Khallikān said, ‘It exceeds 20 volumes.’
- Ṭirāz adh-Dhahab fī Adab aṭ–Ṭalab(The Golden Embellishment Regarding the Etiquette of Seeking Knowledge).
150 manuscript fascicles.
- al-Isfār ʿan al-Asfār(The Unveiling Concerning Journeys).
25 manuscript fascicles.
- al-Imlāʾ wa ‘l-Istimlāʾ(Dictation and Auditory Transcription).
50 manuscript fascicles.
Published in Leiden and later reproduced in Beirut.
- at-Tadhkirah wa ‘t-Tabṣirah(The Reminder and Insight).
150 manuscript fascicles.
- Muʿjam al-Buldān(Lexicon of Lands).
50 manuscript fascicles.
- Muʿjam ash-Shuyūkh(Lexicon of Teachers).
80 manuscript fascicles.
- Tuḥfat al-Musāfir(The Traveller’s Gift).
150 manuscript fascicles.
- at-Tuḥaf wa ‘l-Hadāyā(Gifts and Presents).
25 manuscript fascicles.
- ʿIzz al-ʿUzlah(The Honour of Seclusion).
70 manuscript fascicles.
- al-Adab fī Istiʿmāl al-Ḥasab(Etiquette in Employing Noble Lineage).
5 manuscript fascicles.
- al-Manāsik(The Rituals of Pilgrimage).
60 manuscript fascicles.
- ad-Daʿawāt al-Kabīr(The Major Supplications).
40 manuscript fascicles.
- ad-Daʿawāt al-Marwiyyah ʿan al-Ḥaḍrah an-Nabawiyyah(Supplications Narrated from the Prophetic Presence).
15 manuscript fascicles.
- al-Ḥathth ʿalā Ghusl al-Yadayn(Encouragement Toward Washing the Hands).
5 manuscript fascicles.
- Afānīn al-Basātīn(The Varieties of Gardens).
15 manuscript fascicles.
- Dukhūl al-Ḥammām(Entering the Bathhouse).
15 manuscript fascicles.
- Faḍāʾil Ṣalāt at-Tasbīḥ(The Virtues of the Prayer of Glorification).
10 manuscript fascicles.
- at-Taḥāyā wa ‘l-Hadāyā(Greetings and Gifts).
6 manuscript fascicles.
- Tuḥfat al-ʿĪd fī ‘ṭ–Ṭabaqāt al-ʿĪdayn(The Gift of the Festival Regarding the Biographical Classes of the Two ʿĪds).
30 manuscript fascicles.
- Faḍl ad-Dīk(The Virtue of the Rooster).
5 manuscript fascicles.
- ar-Rasāʾil wa ‘l-Wasāʾil(Epistles and Means).
15 manuscript fascicles.
- Ṣawm al-Ayyām al-Bīḍ(Fasting the White Days).
15 manuscript fascicles.
- Salwat al-Aḥbāb wa Raḥmah al-Aṣḥāb(The Consolation of Loved Ones and the Mercy of Companions).
5 manuscript fascicles
- at-Taḥbīr fī ‘l-Muʿjam al-Kabīr(The Embellishment Concerning the Major Lexicon).
300 manuscript fascicles.
It was later printed in two large verified volumes. (This is what Shaykh ʿAbdul Fattāḥ Abū Ghuddah was quoting from. It was printed by Munīrah Nājī Sālim in 1395)
- Farṭ al-Gharām ilā Sākinī ash-Shām(Excessive Longing for the Inhabitants of Syria).
15 manuscript fascicles.
- Maqām al-ʿUlamāʾ Bayna Yaday al-Umarāʾ(The Position of Scholars Before Rulers).
11 manuscript fascicles.
- al-Musāwāh wa ‘l-Muṣāfaḥah(Equality and Handshaking).
13 manuscript fascicles.
- DhikrāḤabīb Raḥal wa Bushrā Mashīb Nazal (The Remembrance of a Departed Beloved and Glad Tidings of Descending Grey Hair).
20 manuscript fascicles.
- al-Amālī al-Khams Miʾah(The Five Hundred Dictations).
200 manuscript fascicles.
- Fawāʾid al-Mawāʾid(Benefits of Gatherings).
200 manuscript fascicles.
- Faḍl al-Hirrah(The Virtue of the Cat).
3 manuscript fascicles.
- al-Akhṭār fī Rukūb al-Biḥār(The Dangers of Sea Travel).
7 manuscript fascicles.
- al-Hadiyyah(The Gift).
3 manuscript fascicles
- Tārīkh al-Wafāh li ‘l-Mutaʾakhkhirīn min ar-Ruwāh(The History of the Deaths of Later Narrators).
15 manuscript fascicles.
- al-Ansāb(Lineages).
350 manuscript fascicles
- al-Amālī(The Dictations).
60 manuscript fascicles
- Bukhār Bakhūr Bukhārā(The Fragrance of the Incense of Bukhārā).
20 manuscript fascicles.
- Taqdīm al-Jifān ilā aḍ–Ḍayfān(Presenting Platters to Guests).
70 manuscript fascicles.
- Ṣalāh aḍ–Ḍuḥā(The Forenoon Prayer).
10 manuscript fascicles.
- aṣ–Ṣidq fī aṣ–Ṣadāqah(Truthfulness in Friendship).
- ar-Ribḥ wa ‘l-Khasārah fī ‘l-Kasb wa ‘t-Tijārah(Profit and Loss in Earning and Trade).
- Rafʿ al-Irtiyāb ʿan Kitābat al-Kitāb(Removing Doubt Regarding Letter Writing).
4 manuscript fascicles.
- an-Nuzūʿ ilā ‘l-Awṭān wa ‘n-Nizāʿ ilā ‘l-Ikhwān(Yearning for Homelands and Inclination Toward Brethren).
- Ḥathth al-Imām ʿalā Takhfīf aṣ–Ṣalāh maʿa ‘l-Itmām(Encouraging the Imām to Lighten the Prayer While Completing It Properly).
2 manuscript fascicles.
- Laftat al-Mushtāq ilā Sākin al-ʿIrāq(The Gesture of the Longing One Toward the Inhabitant of Iraq).
4 manuscript fascicles.
- as-Saʿd wa ‘l-ʿAdd li-man Iktanā bi-Abī Saʿd(Fortune and Enumeration for Whoever Adopted the Kunyah Abū Saʿd).
30 manuscript fascicles.
- Faḍāʾil ash-Shām(The Virtues of Syria).
2 manuscript fascicles.
- Faḍl Yāsīn(The Virtue of Sūrah Yāsīn).
2 manuscript fascicles.
- Kitāb al-Ḥalāwah(The Book of Sweetness).
- al-Muʿjam alladhī Allafahu li-Ibnihi Abī ‘l-Muẓaffar(The Lexicon He Authored for His Son Abū al-Muẓaffar).
18 volumes.
- ʿAwālī Ibnihi Abī ‘l-Muẓaffar(The Elevated Chains of His Son Abū al-Muẓaffar).
Compiled by Abū Saʿd for his son. Two volumes.
End of al-Muʿallimī’s words, may Allāh have mercy upon him.
Closing Reflection
These represent the greater part of Abū Saʿd as-Samʿānī’s works. 15 compositions remain extant.
He authored all of them within a period not exceeding 10 years, following his return from the final journey and his settlement in his homeland of Marw, from the year 552 to 562, the year of his death.
May Allāh have mercy upon him, be pleased with him, and honour him in the highest stations.
Those are the lands to which he journeyed to.
He traversed them on foot (or on an animal) nearly 900 years ago,
Since, there was no automobile, no plane, no steamship, and no train, the sole means of travel and movement was the foot alone for those without means, and the exhausting mount for those of means and how few of those were found among the people of knowledge.
I have not mentioned the names of his teachers from whom he received knowledge, for that would constitute an independent volume in itself, since they mentioned that they reach 7,000, as previously noted, he himself authored extensive works specifically on them, amounting to multi-volume books.
Tell me, by your Lord, what longing for knowledge resided in the heart of this scholar; this human, who traversed those lands, met those peoples, on weak and exhausting means when they were available at all, and he composed these books whose very names and the enumeration of their volumes astonish you?
He wrote them alone with his own pen; he gathered their material himself; he composed and verified them.
All praise is due to Allāh for what he endured of hardship and toil, and for what he expended of extraordinary effort and remarkable capacity in the service of knowledge and its attainment.
It is in Allāh that hope is placed, that He reward him on behalf of Islam and its sciences with the finest of rewards.
I ask pardon for this extensive elaboration in this biographical notice.
My intention was that it should itself serve as a spur to whoever reads it, and an impetus for whoever among the students of knowledge hears it: that it may bring him out from his laziness and lethargy into diligence in knowledge and complete devotion to it.
For reading a biography such as this; despite its brevity relative to the stature of Abū Saʿd as-Samʿānī; stirs the resolve of hearts, inspires longing to become wholly absorbed in the beloved pursuit of knowledge, and encourages the pursuit of a praiseworthy and lasting legacy. And Allāh is the Granter of success.