Imam Ibn Hibban’s Dedication in Hadith / Gaining Knowledge
Majalah Nabawi – Abu Hatim Muhammad ibn Hibban ibn Ahmad ibn Hibban was the real name of Imam Ibn Hibban. He was born in the village of Bost, Afghanistan in 270 H / 884 AD and died in 354 H / 965 AD. Since childhood he has mastered various islamic fields including: fiqh, tafseer, ethics, history, and hadith. This is because he lives in the middle of a family that is very thick with religious nuances. In addition, his parents taught him the basics of Islam.
Although he mastered several islamic disciplines, in the end he preferred to focus on hadith, so he concentrated on it and pursued any hadith lessons without neglecting other disciplines.
Imam ibn Hatim was very persistent in seeking knowledge. Without any hesitation, he would visit every teacher who is an expert in a particular field of learning. If he wants to learn tafseer, then he will go to a teacher who is an expert in the field and gain knowledge from him. When he wanted to pursue hadith, he also went to teachers who are experts in hadith. Likewise, when he wants to study other fields of learning.
Eagerly Searching for Hadith
In this case, it is necessary for us to follow his persistence. Especially the persistance he takes when it comes to exploring and gaining hadith. He really makes a lot of effort in it, starting from the hadith teachers in his village then taking a long journey to several countries far from home, all just for gaining hadith. We can still see the trace of his great journey in several hadith, including the below hadith:
أخبرنا إسحاق بن إبراهيم بن إسماعيل ببست، والحسن بن سفيان الشيباني بنسا، ومحمد بن العباس المزني بجرجان، وعمر بن محمد بن بحر الهمداني بصغد، ومحمد بن المعافي بن أبي حنظلة بصيدا، ومحمد بن الحسن بن قتيبة اللخمي بعسقلان، وعبد الله بن سلم ببيت المقدس، وعمر بن سعيد بن سنان الطائي بمنبج، والحسين بن عبدالله بن يزيد القطان بالرقة، ومحمد بن أحمد بن عبيد بن فياض بدمشق في اخرين، قالوا حدثنا هشام بن خالد الأزرق قال حدثنا الوليد بن مسلم عن ابن جابر عن إسماعيل بن عبيد الله بن أبي المهاجر عن أم الدرداء عن أبي الدرداء قال قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم: إن الرزق ليطلب العبد كما يطلبه أجله
In the chains of transmission, 10 of his teachers including names of their residence are mentioned, they are:
Ishaq ibn Ibrahim ibn Ismail in city of Bust
Al-Hasan ibn Sufyan al-Syaibani in city of Nasa
Muhammad ibn Al-Abbas al-Muzanni in city of Jurjan
Umar ibn Muhammad ibn Bahr al-Hamadani in city of Shughd
Muhammad ibn al-Mu’afi ibn Abi Handzalah in city of Shayda
Muhammad ibn al-Hasan ibn Qutaybah al-Lakhmi in city of Asqalan
Abdullah ibn Salmi in city of Baytul Maqdis
Umar ibn Sa’ad ibn Sinan al-Tha’i in city of Manbij
al-Husayn ibn Abdillah ibn Yazid al-Qatthan in city of Raqqah
Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Ubayd ibn Fayyadl in city of Damaskus
Although there are only 10 teachers, it does not count many of his teachers that he did not mention in this hadith.
Those are Only for One Hadith
The distance he traveled in searching for a hadith from the above 10 teachers was astonishingly long. It was about 6.204 km. This shows that he is very serious about pursuing hadith so much that he is willing to travel such a long distance. Hence, he has a great work in the field of hadith, namely the book of Sahih Ibn Hibban. IT has the original title “al-Musnad al-Sahih ‘ala al-Taqasim wa al-Anwa’ min Ghairi Wujud Qath’in fi Sanadiha wa La Tsubut Jarhin fi Naqiliha”.
