His Name and Lineage
Al-Qāsim ibn Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr al-Ṣiddīq was the exemplar, the memoriser, the proof, and the scholar of his time in Madinah, alongside Sālim ibn ʿAbd Allāh and ʿIkrimah (d. 105 AH). He was known as Abū Muḥammad and Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Qurashi al-Taymi al-Bakri al-Madani.
He was born during the caliphate of Imām ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib. His narration from his father from his grandfather was disconnected because neither al-Qāsim nor his father reached maturity during the life of Abū Bakr.
Al-Qāsim was raised in the household of his paternal aunt, the Mother of the Believers ʿĀʾishah, from whom he learned deeply and narrated extensively.
Those Who Narrated From Him
He narrated from Ibn Masʿūd, mursal, from Zaynab bint Jaḥsh, mursal, and from Fāṭimah bint Qays, from Ibn ʿAbbās, from Ibn ʿUmar, from his grandmother Asmāʾ bint ʿUmays, from Abū Hurayrah (d. 59 AH), from Rāfiʿ ibn Khadīj, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ḥabbāb, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr, from Muʿāwiyah, and from others. He also narrated from Ṣāliḥ ibn Khawwāt and from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān and Majmaʿ, the sons of Yazīd ibn Jāriyah.
Narrating from him were his son ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, al-Shaʿbī (d. 103 AH), Nāfiʿ al-ʿUmarī, Sālim ibn ʿAbd Allāh (d. 106 AH), Abū Bakr ibn Ḥazm (d. 120 AH), al-Zuhrī (d. 124 AH), Ibn Abī Mulaykah, Saʿd ibn Ibrāhīm (d. 126 AH), Ḥumayd al-Ṭawīl (d. 142 AH), Ayyūb al-Sakhtiyānī (d. 131 AH), Rabīʿah al-Raʾy (d. 136 AH), ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿUmar (d. 147 AH), Ibn ʿAwn (d. 151 AH), Rabīʿah ibn ʿAṭāʾ, Thābit ibn ʿUbayd, Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad (d. 148 AH), Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd al-Anṣārī (d. 143 AH) and his brother Saʿd ibn Saʿīd, Shaybah ibn Niṣāḥ, Ṭalḥah ibn ʿAbd al-Malik, ʿĀṣim ibn ʿUbayd Allāh, Abū al-Zinād (d. 130 AH), ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Abī al-Zinād (d. 168 AH), ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUrwah, ʿĪsā ibn Maymūn al-Wāsiṭī, Mūsā ibn Sargis, Aflah ibn Ḥumayd, Ḥanẓalah ibn Abī Sufyān, Usāmah ibn Zayd al-Laythī, ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-ʿAlāʾ ibn Zabr, Ṣāliḥ ibn Kaysān (d. 140 AH), Ayman ibn Nābil, ʿAbbād ibn Manṣūr, and many others.
His Character, Knowledge, and Virtues
Ibn al-Madīnī (d. 234 AH) said that al-Qāsim had numerous narrations.
Ibn Saʿd (d. 230 AH) said that his mother was a bondwoman named Sawdah, and that al-Qāsim was trustworthy, knowledgeable, noble, a jurist, an imam, scrupulous, and abundant in narration.
Muḥammad ibn Khālid ibn al-Zubayr narrated that when al-Qāsim entered upon ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr, he praised him highly, saying that among the descendants of Abū Bakr, none resembled him more than al-Qāsim.
Al-Qāsim himself said that ʿĀʾishah issued rulings independently throughout the caliphates of Abū Bakr and ʿUmar and remained a source of knowledge until she died. He remained close to her, even though he was young and sometimes distracted. He also sat extensively with Ibn ʿAbbās and with Abū Hurayrah and Ibn ʿUmar. He praised Ibn ʿUmar for his scrupulousness and vast knowledge, and for refraining from speaking without knowledge.
Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd (d. 143 AH) said that no one in Madinah was preferred over al-Qāsim.
Ayyūb al-Sakhtiyānī said he never saw a better man than al-Qāsim, and that al-Qāsim left behind one hundred thousand dirhams, earned lawfully and permissible for him.
Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah (d. 198 AH) narrated that the three most knowledgeable about the hadith of ʿĀʾishah were al-Qāsim, ʿUrwah ibn al-Zubayr (d. 94 AH), and ʿAmrah bint ʿAbd al-Raḥmān (d. 98 AH).
Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn (d. 233 AH) said that the narration of ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿUmar from al-Qāsim from ʿĀʾishah was like a thread of gold.
Ibn ʿAwn (d. 151 AH) mentioned that al-Qāsim, Ibn Sīrīn (d. 110 AH), and Rajāʾ ibn Ḥaywah (d. 112 AH) narrated hadiths word for word, unlike those who narrated only the meaning.
His Humility and Attitude Toward Knowledge
When a Bedouin asked him whether he or Sālim was more knowledgeable, al-Qāsim humbly avoided self-praise and directed the question to Sālim.
Mālik ibn Anas said that al-Qāsim was among the jurists of the ummah. He also narrated that Ibn Sīrīn would send pilgrims to observe al-Qāsim’s manners so that he could emulate him.
Muṣʿab al-Zubayrī and al-ʿIjlī (d. 261 AH) both described him as among the best of the Tabiʿin, trustworthy, upright, and pious.
Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd reported that al-Qāsim said that it was better to remain ignorant than to speak about Allah without knowledge.
He was cautious in his answers, speaking only about clear matters. Hishām ibn ʿAmmār narrated that al-Qāsim told an emir that part of honouring oneself was to only speak about what one knew.
He was known for disliking excessive fatwa and excessive narration, preferring few strong narrations.
His Asceticism and Conduct
Al-Qāsim refused to accept gifts of money even when offered large sums.
He disliked to criticise others, even when hearing Rabīʿah al-Raʾy speaking at length; he merely commented with humility that others were not heedless of such speech.
He was simple in clothing, but it was also reported that on one occasion he wore silk garments, and there is no contradiction, as this might have been before or after a change in ruling or exceptional circumstances.
He once refused political appointment despite being praised by ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz (d. 101 AH) as being worthy of leadership. When he heard this, he said that he was too weak to manage even his own family, so how could he manage the ummah.
Al-Qāsim was known for cursing the Qadariyyah alongside Sālim.
He said that the disagreement of the companions was a mercy for the ummah.
He instructed at his death that he be shrouded in his ordinary garments, just as Abū Bakr was shrouded.
He forbade any structure to be built over his grave.
His Death
There is some disagreement about the year of his death.
Ḥammād ibn Khālid reported from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar al-ʿUmrī that al-Qāsim and Sālim died one year apart, one in 105 AH and the other in 106 AH.
Khalīfah ibn Khayyāṭ said he died at the end of 106 AH or the beginning of 107 AH.
Al-Haytham ibn ʿAdī and Yaḥyā ibn Bukayr said he died in 107 AH at Qudayd.
Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn, ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī, al-Wāqidī, Abū ʿUbayd, and al-Fallās said he died in 108 AH. Al-Wāqidī added that he was about seventy or seventy-two years old and that he died blind.
Ibn Saʿd mentioned that he died in 112 AH, but this is weak and incorrect.
At his death, he was buried simply as he requested, with no structure over his grave, following the humble way of his grandfather Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq.
Siyar A‘lām al-Nubalā’ by Ad Dhahabi (5/54-60)
