Imam Ibn Hishām رحمه الله, while documenting the events of the Battle of Uḥud, preserves a detail that many overlook. Among those who attacked and wounded the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was a man named ʿAbd Allāh ibn Shihāb al-Zuhrī, who struck the Prophet ﷺ and caused a wound to his blessed forehead.
At Uḥud, in one of the most painful, blood-soaked moments of the entire Seerah, he stood among the enemies of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. And yet, SubḥanAllāh, Allah guided him later to Islam. Not only did Allah forgive and guide the very man who once raised his hand against His Beloved ﷺ, but Allah decreed that through his lineage would rise one of the greatest preservers of the Sunnah in human history:
Imam Muḥammad ibn Muslim ibn ʿUbaydillāh ibn ʿAbdillāh ibn Shihāb al-Zuhrī al-Qurashī al-Madanī (50-124 AH)
He belonged to the Quraysh clan of Banū Zuhrah, the same branch from which the mother of the Prophet ﷺ came.
Imam al-Zuhrī رحمه الله studied under a constellation of the greatest Ṣaḥābah and Tābiʿīn of his time. Among those he learned from were:
- Sahl ibn Saʿd al-Sāʿidī,
- Anas ibn Mālik,
- ʿUrwah ibn al-Zubayr,
- ‘Abbān ibn ‘Uthmān,
- ‘Ubaydullāh ibn ‘Abdullāh ibn ‘Utbah,
- ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn,
- Muḥammad ibn Nuʿmān ibn Bashīr,
- ʿAbdullāh ibn Kaʿb ibn Mālik,
- al-Sāʾib ibn Yazīd رضي الله عنهم أجمعين.
He spent eight transformative years in the company of the great tābiʿī Imām Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib رحمه الله - the undisputed jurist of Madīnah.
He also narrated directly from:
- Thumāmah ibn ʿAbdillāh, grandson of the caliph Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq رضي الله عنه,
- Sālim ibn ʿAbdillāh and ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAbdillāh, the sons of Ibn ʿUmar,
- ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib رضي الله عنه.
A Relentless Seeker of the Sunnah
Imam al-Zuhrī was not content with attending formal gatherings. His passion for the Sunnah drove him door-to-door through the alleys of Madinah. He would visit the homes of the Anṣār, asking elders and even their children about every detail they remembered of the Prophet’s ﷺ speech, conduct, and daily habits. His hunger for knowledge was described as insatiable, his documentation as meticulous, and his memory as unshakeably precise.
Imam al-Dhahabī رحمه الله recorded, “Ibrāhīm ibn Sa‘d said, ‘I once asked my father: “In what respects did al-Zuhrī surpass the rest of you?” He replied: “He used to enter the sessions from the front rather than from the back, and there would remain in the session not a single man, old or young, whom he had not queried. He would also visit the house of one of the Anṣār, and again, there would remain no one—man or elder, woman or young—whom he had not questioned. He even tried to ask questions of young ladies in their private quarters.’” [Siyar A‘lam al-Nubalā’,]
It is reported that when Imam al‑Zuhrī was at home, he would surround himself with his books, immersing himself completely in his pursuit of knowledge. Seeing this, his wife once remarked “By Allāh, surely these books are more burdensome to me than three co-wives.” [Wafayāt al-Ayān]
Maʿmar رحمه الله narrated from Ṣāliḥ b. Kaysān that he said, “I sought knowledge alongside Zuhrī and Zuhrī said: ‘Let us write ḥadīth.’ And we wrote the ḥadīth of the Prophet. Then, he said: ‘Come, let us write the ḥadīth of the Companions.’ He wrote, but I did not. Thus, he became successful while my efforts were futile.” [Tahdhīb al-Kamāl]
Abū al-Zinād رحمه الله narrated from his father that he said, "I would travel with Ibn Shihāb and he would carry slates and papers for studies. We used to chuckle at him.” And, in another narration, there is the following addition: “We would document the ḥalāl and the ḥarām while Ibn Shihāb wrote everything he heard. I knew that he was the most knowledgeable.” [Tahdhīb al-Kamāl]
He was not simply gathering reports, he was building the scaffolding of the Sunnah for all future generations. The Muwaṭṭa’ of Mālik, the Musnads, and eventually the Ṣaḥīḥayn all stand on foundations laid by Imam al-Zuhrī.
1. He Was Among the First to Systematically Compile Hadith
When the Umayyad Caliph ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz رحمه الله came to power (99–101 AH), he inherited an empire experiencing both territorial expansion and a gradual erosion in the transmission standards of knowledge. The generation of the tābiʿīn was thinning; major scholars were passing away; and fabricated narrations were beginning to circulate. This is the context in which he issued one of the most consequential directives in Islamic intellectual history: a formal, state-mandated order to collect and preserve the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ in written form.
Imam Ibn Saʿd رحمه الله recorded, "ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz wrote to Abū Bakr ibn Ḥazm: ‘Look carefully into the hadith of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and write them down, for I fear the loss of knowledge and the passing of the scholars.’ And he wrote again to all the lands, urging them to do the same.” [al-Ṭabaqāt al-Kubrá] In the same section, Imam Ibn Saʿd recrded, “ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz wrote to al-Zuhrī commanding him to collect the hadith of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.” Confirming this, Imam Ibn Kathīr رحمه الله narrated, “He (ʿUmar) was the first to command the writing of knowledge, and he wrote to al-Zuhrī to collect it.” [al-Bidāyah wa al-Nihāyah]
Imām Mālik ibn Anas رحمه الله said, “The first to systematically record knowledge was Ibn Shihāb (al-Zuhrī).” [Tadhkirat al-Ḥuffāẓ]
Imām Ibn al-Madīnī رحمه الله said, “If not for al-Zuhrī, most of the Sunnah would have been lost.” [Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ]
2. He Memorised and Transmitted a Monumental Portion of the Sunnah
His narrations form some of the core foundations of Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, Sunan al-Nasāʾī, Musnad Aḥmad, and virtually every major Hadith collection.
Imam Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal رحمه الله said, “The most authentic chain is: al-Zuhrī from Sālim from Ibn ʿUmar (رضي الله عنهم).” [al-ʿIlal]
Imam al-Nasāʾī رحمه الله said, “The finest chain is al-Zuhrī from ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn from al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī from ʿAlī (رضي الله عنهم).” [al-Bidāyah wa al-Nihāyah]
Imam al-Shāfiʿī narrated that Imam Mālik said, “Whenever Ibn Shihāb al-Zuhrī entered Madīnah, no scholar would narrate a ḥadīth there until he left.” [Tārīkh Dimashq]
It is narrated that Ibn Shihāb رحمه الله had a house in Madīnah where he would stay when residing there. When Eid came, he would prolong his stay in the city. Imām Mālik رحمه الله narrated, “It was the day of Eid and I thought to myself that Ibn Shihāb may be free. I went and sat at his door. Then, I heard him say to his maidservant: ‘Go see who is at the door.’ I waited and heard her say: ‘It is Mālik.’ He replied: ‘Let him in.’ I entered and he said: ‘You did not travel far from home?’ I said: ‘No.’ Ibn Shihāb asked me if I had eaten. And I replied in the negative. He said: ‘Eat.’ And I answered: ‘No thank you.’ Then, he asked me what I wanted. I told him: ‘Narrate ḥadīth to me.’ He said to me: ‘Come.’ I took out my slate to write and he narrated forty ḥadīth.”
It is well-known that Imām Mālik transmitted extensively from Imam al-Zuhrī and relied on his written collections. Many scholars note that Imam Mālik possessed a significant portion of Imam al-Zuhrī’s notebooks, which shaped early Madinan hadith scholarship.
3. He Was a Pioneer in Seerah and Maghāzī
Long before Ibn Isḥāq, al-Wāqidī, Ibn Saʿd, or anyone else compiled Seerah, Imām al-Zuhrī was one of the earliest authorities on the battles and life of the Prophet ﷺ. Large segments of the Seerah tradition today trace their roots back to his transmissions, often preserved through later historians.
Imam al-Tabari رحمه الله summarized the role he played and said, “Muhammad ibn Muslim al-Zuhrī was foremost in knowledge of the Maghāzī of the Prophet ﷺ and reports about the Quraysh and Ansar, a great transmitter of narratives about the Prophet ﷺ and his companions.” [al-Muntakhab] Imām al-Sakhāwī رحمه الله reorts that Ḥajjāj ibn Abī Manf رحمه الله transmitted the maghāzī on the authority of Imam al‑Zuhri. Imam al‑Zuhrī employed both the terms seerah and maghāzī in his writings; however, the term sīrah does not appear to have been used as a formal title for his work. This indicates that while he conceptualized a broader biographical framework for the Prophet ﷺ, he primarily organized his material around the maghāzī — the military campaigns and expeditions — as the core narrative.
Regrettably, no complete copy of al‑Zuhrī’s Maghāzī survives to this day. What remains are fragments and selections, preserved in the works of later historians and biographers, including:
- Ibn Isḥāq رحمه الله, in his Sīrat Rasūl Allāh
- al‑Wāqidī رحمه الله, in his al-Maghāzī
- al-Ṭabarī رحمه الله, in Tārīkh al-Rusul wa al-Mulūk
- al-Balādhurī رحمه الله, in Ansāb al-Ashrāf and Futūḥ al-Buldān
- Ibn Sayyid al-Nas رضي الله عنه, in ‘Uyūn al-Athar
One of the major influences on Imam al-Zuhrī was ‘Urwah ibn al-Zubayr, the son of the illustrous al-Zubayr ibn al-‘Awwām رضي الله عنه. ‘Urwah played a crucial role in systematizing the recording of historical ḥadīth, particularly in the maghāzī (military expeditions) literature, and laid the methodological foundations for treating Islamic history as a structured and independent field of study. Being a student of ‘Urwah, Imam al-Zuhrī became the first to compile a proper, organized, and chronological history of the maghāzī, in contrast to the previously scattered and disconnected reports transmitted orally.
He begins by providing background on the pre‑Islamic era relevant to the life of Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ, including genealogy and signs of Prophethood. Then he moves to the Meccan period, narrating its most significant episodes, before covering the Hijrah to Madīnah, followed by a detailed treatment of the Prophet’s military campaigns (the maghāzī), the Conquest of Makkah, the envoys he dispatched, and the delegations that visited him for audiences. Finally, al‑Zuhrī discusses other aspects of the Prophet’s life, his final illness, and his departure from this world, all while strictly observing a chronological sequence and even providing dates for key events.
In addition to his work on the life of the Prophet ﷺ, Imam al‑Zuhrī also covered the era of the Rāshidūn Caliphs, meticulously documenting the important events and major challenges in the early history of the Ummah. His studies included the election of Abū Bakr as Caliph, the establishment of the dīwān system, the collection of the Qur’ān, the preparation of the shī‘rah, the occurrence of the fitnah, the assassination of ʿUthmān, the election of ʿAlī رضي الله عنه, the First Civil War (al‑Fitnah al‑Ūlā), and the transfer of political authority to the Umayyads.
One of Imam al‑Zuhrī's most significant innovations in the study of seerah and maghāzī was his introduction of the collective isnād (chains of transmission). Traditionally, ḥadīth and historical reports were transmitted as individual, isolated accounts: a narrator would report a single event, and another would transmit a different report of the same event, without connecting the two. This often resulted in a fragmented, disjointed record of history, where important events were scattered and sometimes repeated or confused. Imam al‑Zuhrī changed this by collecting multiple reports of the same event and linking them together under a single, continuous narrative. He carefully recorded the names of the transmitters for each piece of information, preserving the isnād for every detail, but organized the material so that the reader could follow the events chronologically and coherently.
4. He Became an Imām of Imāms
The list of his students reads like a who’s who of Islamic scholarship:
- Imām al-Awzāʿī
- Imām Mālik ibn Anas
- Imām Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah
- Imām al-Layth ibn Saʿd
- Imām Ibn Jurayj
- Imām Yūnus ibn Yazīd
- Imām Shuʿayb ibn Abī Ḥamza
- Imām Ayyūb al-Sakhtiyānī
Even the masters of Maghāzī and Siyar — Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah, Maʿmar ibn Rāshid, and Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq — sat at his feet. He was literally the teacher of those who would shape Islamic memory.
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