[1] Imam Ibn Al-Wazir [775H] – A Truthful and Noble Scholar

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

His Birth

Based on the well-known and correct (narrative), he was born in Rajab of the year 775 AH in Hijrat al-Zahrawayn within Shatab. However, the historian Abdul Wahhab ibn Abdir Rahman al-Burayhi, – while writing his biography in his historical work – stated:

“I say: I read the date of his birth as conveyed from his own handwriting. He said: ‘My birth was in the year 776 AH.”‘

So, even though it is commonly held that his date of birth is Rajab 775 AH, al-Burayhi reports that the Imam himself stated that he was born in 776 AH. This is backed by what Imam Sharaf al-Dīn stated in the introduction to the explanation of the book Al-Athmār fī Fiqh al-Aʾimmah al-Aṭ’hār when he mentioned Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Wazīr. He said:

“I saw a biography of his in his nephew’s handwriting. I lived long enough to witness the final period of his life during the beginning of my path in pursuit of knowledge. In it, I saw a biographical note about him in his own hand, wherein he stated that he was born in the month of Rajab. I found (this) in his own handwriting as the year 776 AH, at al-Ẓahrāwayn in Shaṭab- a lofty mountain in Yemen.'”

I say: If this is the biography relied upon by Imam Sharaf al-Din, and if it is the same one that in our possession at present, then it was not written by his nephew, but rather by his great-nephew, Muhammad ibn ʿAbdillah ibn al-Hadi ibn Ibrahim al-Wazir. He stated:

He was born in the month of Rajab in the year 775 AH, in the settlement of al-Zahrawayn in Shatab, a lofty mountain in Yemen. So, I copied it from his own handwriting and verified it through other members of the family.

As for what al-Sakhawi mentioned in Al-Daw’ al-Lami that he was born approximately in the year 765 AH, this is incorrect and was refuted by Imam  Muhammad al-Shawkani in his book Al-Badr al-Tali in his biography where he stated

“This approximation is far from accurate, and the correct view is the first one (i.e., that he was born in the year 775 AH)”.

Source: An Excerpt from Al-Awasim Wal Qawasim Fee Adh-Dhabbi An Sunnati Abee Al-Qasim 1/51-52

To be continued InShaaAllah.

May Allah bless my Salafi brother, close friend and confidant Ustaadh Abu Tasneem who narrated to me something from the biography of this truthful, steadfast, patient and great scholar, may Allah have mercy upon him, who endured much harm while defending the Sunnah of the Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.

(1) Shatab Mountain is located in the settlement of Bani Hajjaj, in the direction of Al-Sudah, northwest of Sana’a, at an estimated distance of about 100 kilometers.