Name, Lineage, and Origin

His name was ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUbaydullāh ibn Abī Mulaykah, whose full lineage is Zubayr ibn ʿAbdullāh ibn Judʿān ibn ʿAmr ibn Kaʿb ibn Saʿd ibn Taym ibn Murrah ibn Kaʿb ibn Luʾayy. He was a well-known imam, legal authority, and reliable transmitter of hadith, known by the kunyahs Abū Bakr and Abū Muḥammad. He was a Qurashi of the Taymi branch, from Makkah. He was also known as a judge, was cross-eyed (aḥwal), and served as the muʾadhin. He was born during or shortly before the caliphate of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib.

His Role and Who He Narrated From

Ibn Abī Mulaykah was considered among the elite of his generation, included in the same scholarly tier as ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Rabāḥ. He served as a judge under Ibn al-Zubayr and was a muʾadhin during that time. He was a jurist, mufti, and expert in hadith, known for accuracy and breadth of knowledge.

He transmitted from many major Companions: ʿĀʾishah the Mother of the Believers, her sister Asmāʾ, Abū Maḥdhūrah, Ibn ʿAbbās, ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAmr al-Sahmī, Ibn ʿUmar, Ibn al-Zubayr, ʿUqbah ibn al-Ḥārith, al-Musawwar ibn Makhramah, Umm Salamah, ʿAbdullāh ibn Jaʿfar. He also transmitted a mursal (interrupted) report from ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān.

Among his other teachers were his grandfather Abū Mulaykah, Ḥumayd ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Zuhrī, Dhakwān the freedman of ʿĀʾishah, ʿAbbād ibn ʿAbdullāh ibn al-Zubayr, ʿAbdullāh ibn al-Sāʾib, ʿAbdullāh ibn Muwallāh, ʿUbayd ibn Abī Maryam, ʿAlqamah ibn Waqqāṣ, al-Qāsim ibn Muḥammad, Yaʿlā ibn Mamlak, Yaḥyā ibn Ḥakīm ibn Ṣafwān ibn Umayyah, and a group of others.

Many major scholars narrated from him, including his close companion ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Rabāḥ (as found in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim), ʿAmr ibn Dīnār, ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Rufayʿ, Ayyūb al-Sakhtiyānī, Ḥumayd al-Ṭawīl, Ḥabīb ibn al-Shahīd, Ibn Jurayj, Abū al-ʿUmays ʿUtbah ibn ʿAbdullāh, ʿUmar ibn Saʿīd ibn Abī Ḥusayn, ʿUthmān ibn al-Aswad, ʿAbd al-Wāḥid ibn Ayman, Ḥātim ibn Abī Ṣughayrah,

ʿAbd al-Jabbār ibn al-Ward, Zunfal al-ʿUrfī, Abū Hilāl Muḥammad ibn Salīm, Nāfiʿ ibn ʿUmar al-Jumaḥī, al-Layth ibn Saʿd, Ibn Luhayʿah, Yazīd ibn Ibrāhīm al-Tustarī, Abū ʿĀmir al-Khazzāz, ʿAbdullāh ibn al-Muʾammal, ʿAbdullāh ibn Yaḥyā al-Tuʾām, his nephew ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Bakr al-Mulīkī, and many others.

Praise of Hadith Critics

Abū Zurʿah and Abū Ḥātim both declared him trustworthy. Al-Bukhārī and a group of other early hadith scholars recorded that he died in the year 117 AH. It was said that he lived to be in his eighties.

Judgement and Accuracy

Ibn Abī Mulaykah was known for precision in transmission and deep insight into the narrations of the Companions. Despite being born shortly before or during ʿAlī’s caliphate, he had the opportunity to meet and narrate from a number of Companions. He was meticulous in the reports he passed on and preserved many significant narrations, particularly from ʿĀʾishah and Ibn ʿAbbās. His position as a judge during Ibn al-Zubayr’s reign reflects the trust placed in his knowledge and judgment.

Famous Hadith

One of the well-known narrations he preserved is the hadith of the Prophet ﷺ concerning Fāṭimah and ʿAlī: Ibn Abī Mulaykah narrated from al-Musawwar ibn Makhramah who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ on the minbar say: “The sons of Hishām ibn al-Mughīrah have asked permission to marry their daughter to ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib.

I do not grant permission. Again, I do not grant permission—unless ʿAlī wishes to divorce my daughter and marry theirs. For she is a part of me, and what troubles her troubles me, and what harms her harms me.”

This hadith was reported by all the major compilers except Ibn Mājah through the narration of Qutaybah from al-Layth, from Ibn Abī Mulaykah.

Ibn Abī Mulaykah was a huge scholar in the transmission of hadith from the senior Companions of the Prophet ﷺ. His narrations, many of which were preserved in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim and other leading works, remain essential sources for scholars of Islam.

His life spanned the late era of the Companions and into the flourishing of the Tābiʿūn in Makkah. His careful judgement, legal authority, and high rank in hadith criticism secured his place among the great scholars of the first century of Islam.

Siyar A’lām al-Nubalā By Ad Dhahabi (5/89-91)