Aswhab al-Wujuh: Imam Abu ‘Ali al-Hasan ibn Muhammad az-Za’farani (r.a.) in Brief

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

The following is adapted and extracted from “Biographies of Some of the Aswhab al-Wujuh in the Shafi’i Madzhab.”  The Aswhab al-Wujuh are the scholars who developed and transmitted the Shafi’i madzhab from the time of the immediate students of Imam Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn Idris ash-Shafi’i (r.a.), circa 200 AH, to the time of Imam Abu Hamid Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Ghazali (r.a.), circa 500 AH.  Thereafter there was a pressing need for recension of all this development into a single body of work.  This task was met by Imam Abu al-Qasim ‘Abd al-Karim ibn Muhammad ar-Rafi’i (r.a.) and Imam Abu Zakariya Yahya ibn Sharaf an-Nawawi (r.a.), who became known as the Shaykhayn in the madzhab. 

Imam Abu ‘Ali al-Hasan ibn Muhammad ibn asw-Swabah al-Baghdadi az-Za’farani (r.a.) was the shaykh of the fuqaha’ and muhaditsin.  He was born in approximately 175 AH.  He narrated from Imam Abu Muhammad Sufyan ibn ‘Uyaynah, Imam Abu Mu’awiyah ad-Darir (r.a.), Imam Isma’il ibn ‘Aliyyah (r.a.), Imam ‘Ubaydah ibn Hamid (r.a.), Imam Abu Sufyan Waki’ ibn Jarrah al-Kufi (r.a.), Imam ‘Abd al Wahhab ibn ‘Abd al-Majid ats-Tsaqafi (r.a.), Imam Muhammad ibn Abu ‘Adiy (r.a.), Imam Yazid ibn Harun (r.a.), Imam Hajjaj ibn Muhammad (r.a.), Imam Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn Idris ash-Shafi’i (r.a.), and many others. 

Those who narrated from him include Imam Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn Isma’il al-Bukhari (r.a.), Imam Abu Dawud Sulayman ibn al-Ash’ats as-Sijistani (r.a.), Imam Abu ‘Isa Muhammad ibn ‘Isa as-Sulami at-Tirmidzi (r.a.), Imam Abu ‘Abd ar-Rahman Ahmad ibn Shu’ayb an-Nasa’i (r.a.), Imam Ahmad ibn ‘Abd al-Mun’im al-Qazwini (r.a.), Imam Abu Yahya Zakariyya ibn Yahya as-Saji (r.a.), Imam Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn Khuzaymah (r.a.), Imam Abu Hamid Ahmad ibn Abu Thahir Muhammad al-Iswfrayini (r.a.), Imam Abu Muhammad al-Husayn ibn Mas’ud al-Baghawi (r.a.), and many others.  Imam an-Nasa’i (r.a.) said that he is tsiqah. 

Imam az-Za’farani (r.a.) passed away in Sha’ban, in 260 AH.