Name and lineage
Al-Aʿmash was Sulaiman ibn Mihran, an imam and Shaykh al-Islam, and a leading teacher of reciters and hadith scholars. His kunya was Abu Muhammad al-Asadi al-Kahili, the freedman of Banu Kahil, based in Kufa. He was originally from the region of al-Ray, and it is said he was born in one of his mother’s villages in the province of Ṭabaristan in 61 AH. He was brought to Kufa as a child, possibly even as an infant.
His encounter with the companions
He saw Anas ibn Malik and narrated from him, and from ʿAbd Allah ibn Abi Awfa, though his narration from them involved tadlis. Despite being a great imam, he was a mudallis.
Who He Narrated From
He narrated from many major tabiʿin and their peers, including Abu Waʾil, Zayd ibn Wahb, Abu ʿAmr al-Shaybani, Ibrahim al-Nakhaʿi, Saʿid ibn Jubayr, Abu Salih al-Samman, Mujahid, Abu Dhubyan, Khaythamah ibn ʿAbd al-Rahman, Zur ibn Hubaysh, ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn Abi Layla, Kumayl ibn Ziyad, al-Maʿrur ibn Suwayd, al-Walid ibn ʿUbadah ibn al-Samit, Tamim ibn Salamah, Salim ibn Abi al-Jaʿd, ʿAbd Allah ibn Murrah al-Hamdani, ʿAmarah ibn ʿUmayr al-Laythi, Qays ibn Abi Hazim, Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn Yazid al-Nakhaʿi, Hilal ibn Yasaf, Abu Hazim al-Ashjaʿi (Salman), Abu al-ʿAliyah al-Riyahi, Ismaʿil ibn Rajaʾ, Thabit ibn ʿUbayd, Abu Bishr, Habib ibn Abi Thabit, al-Hakam, Dharr ibn ʿAbd Allah, Ziyad ibn al-Husayn, Saʿid ibn ʿUbaydah, al-Shaʿbi, al-Minhal ibn ʿAmr, Abu Sabrah al-Nakhaʿi, Abu al-Safar al-Hamdani, ʿAmr ibn Murrah, Yahya ibn Wathab, and many others among the major tabiʿin and others.
Who Narrated From Him
He was narrated from by many including his peers and younger scholars: al-Hakam ibn ʿUtaybah, Abu Ishaq al-Sabiʿi, Talhah ibn Musarrif, Habib ibn Abi Thabit, ʿAsim ibn Abi al-Najud, Ayyub al-Sakhtiyani, Zayd ibn Aslam, Safwan ibn Sulaym, Suhayl ibn Abi Salih, Aʿban ibn Taghlib, Khalid al-Hadhdhaʾ, Sulaiman al-Taymi, Ismaʿil ibn Abi Khalid, Abu Hanifah, al-Awzaʿi, Saʿid ibn Abi ʿArubah, Ibn Ishaq, Shuʿbah, Maʿmar, Sufyan al-Thawri, Shayban, Jarir ibn Hazim, Zaydah, Jarir ibn ʿAbd al-Hamid, Abu Muʿawiyah, Hafs ibn Ghiyath, ʿAbd Allah ibn Idris, ʿAli ibn Mushir, Wakiʿ, Abu Usamah, Sufyan ibn ʿUyaynah, Ahmad ibn Bashir, Isḥaq ibn Yusuf al-Azraq, Saʿd ibn al-Salt, ʿAbd Allah ibn Numayr, ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn Mughirah, ʿUtham ibn ʿAli, Yahya ibn Saʿid al-Umawi, Yahya ibn Saʿid al-Qaṭṭan, Yunus ibn Bukayr, Yaʿla ibn ʿUbayd, Jaʿfar ibn ʿAwn, al-Khuraybi, ʿUbayd Allah ibn Musa, Abu Nuʿaym al-Fadl ibn Dukayn, and many others. The last to narrate from him before dying was Yahya ibn Hashim al-Simsar.
His Qur’an srudies
He studied Qur’an under Yahya ibn Wathab, the reciter of Iraq. He is also reported to have read to Abu al-ʿAliyah al-Riyahi. Among those who read to him were Hamzah al-Zayyat and Zaydah ibn Qudamah. Al-Kisa’i read from Zaydah using the reading of al-Aʿmash. It was said by ʿAli ibn al-Madini that al-Aʿmash had around 1,300 hadiths. Sufyan ibn ʿUyaynah said al-Aʿmash was the most proficient in reciting the Qur’an, the most knowledgeable in hadith, and the most learned in the laws of inheritance.
His piety and discipline
Yahya al-Qaṭṭan said he was a sign of Islam. Wakiʿ said that for nearly seventy years, he never missed the opening takbir of prayer. ʿAbd Allah al-Khuraybi said no one more devout than al-Aʿmash was left behind. Ibn ʿUyaynah saw him wearing a reversed fur coat and torn clothing and quoted him saying: “Had I not learned knowledge, who would have come to me if I had been a grocer?”
His rise after Yahya ibn Wathab
Abu Nuʿaym reported from al-Aʿmash that after Yahya ibn Wathab died, people turned to him to read Qur’an. He once said, “You never leave anyone alone without accusing him of lying.”
His humility and How He Dressed
He sometimes wore a torn gown. When Malik ibn al-Harith asked him to wear something better, he replied: “Walk on. Your need is with Allah.” Malik later said: “I felt like a child walking next to Sulaiman.”
His poetry
He used poetry and sarcasm to reply to people who pressured him. When asked persistently for a hadith, he compared it to a dishonest exchange at a money changer’s shop. He was known for responding with humour and parables.
His refusal to narrate for money
When ʿIsa ibn Musa sent him 1,000 dirhams with a blank scroll requesting hadith, he wrote only “Say: He is Allah, the One,” and returned it. When ʿIsa complained, he replied, “Did you think I would sell the hadith?”
His stance on hadith teaching
He sometimes refused to narrate unless he was confident the listeners were deserving. He once said, “Who hangs pearls on pigs?” When asked to teach poor people who had come to him. When someone compared his knowledge to others’, he replied with contempt: “You want me to sweep the streets with my garment so I pick up dung and bugs?”
His Seriousness and Disliked For Insincerity
He refused to answer if he felt the person asking was not sincere. He also disliked careless attitudes. When he was tricked into answering by someone writing on the ground, he noticed the rudeness of the listeners and stopped. He disliked joking during serious matters, even once fleeing from a barber who interrupted a haircut to ask a hadith question.
His knowledge of Ibn Masʿud
He was regarded as the most knowledgeable of the hadiths of Ibn Masʿud. He once said he would avoid narrating because of the presence of a Turk among the listeners. Ibn al-Mubarak quoted him swearing not to narrate when such people were present.
His Rejection Of Wanting Fame
He was deeply averse to being known and said he would have preferred to hide if it were not for the fame of knowledge. He once said he would pray Fajr and eat suhur in secret if not for being known.
His simplicity and frugality
Despite being poor, the wealthy humbled themselves before him. He lived with contentment and had a stipend of five dinars per month in his later years. Wakiʿ’s father was responsible for distributing it. Wakiʿ once had to narrate five hadiths to collect it.
His narrations from Anas
He narrated several hadiths from Anas ibn Malik, including:
- That Anas urinated, washed himself thoroughly, wiped over his socks, led them in prayer, and narrated hadith in his house.
- That Anas straightened his back completely after rising from rukūʿ in the Masjid al-Haram.
- That the Prophet ﷺ warned against idle speech and miserliness.
- That the Prophet ﷺ likened the dhikr of Allah to the shedding of leaves from a tree.
- That the Prophet ﷺ said: “Woe to the master from his servant, and to the servant from his master…”
- A munkar narration from Abu Muslim that Jibril said between him and Allah are 90 veils.
- The Prophet ﷺ said: “The Khawarij are the dogs of the fire.”
- That true poverty is when one is not noticed or asked about, even if he does not beg.
His sense of honour
When people asked him why he did not narrate to them while he might die, he said: “How many Isfahani jugs have been broken over their owners’ heads.” He refused to narrate for fame or out of compulsion.
His reading and eloquence
He was extremely fluent and never made a grammatical mistake. He was a master of inheritance laws. Though he had some shiʿi leanings, he was a Sunni. Only three people completed the Qur’an under his instruction via talqin: Talhah ibn Musarrif, Aban ibn Taghlib, and Abu ʿUbaydah ibn Maʿn. Others such as Hamzah completed it via listening.
His speech and behaviour
He would wear simple clothes and sometimes cook for himself. He once joked that he must be mad like people who wear rough cloth against their skin. When his son asked for a laundry rope and questioned the dimensions, he said: “Its width is the width of my suffering from you.”
Al-Nasaʾi classified his students into seven levels:
- Sufyan, Shuʿbah, Yahya al-Qaṭṭan
- Zaydah, Yahya ibn Abi Zaydah, Hafs ibn Ghiyath
- Abu Muʿawiyah, Jarir ibn ʿAbd al-Hamid, Abu ʿAwanah
- Ibn al-Mubarak, Fudayl ibn ʿIyad, Qutbah ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAziz, Mufaddal ibn Muhalhil, Dawud al-Taʾi
- ʿAbd Allah ibn Idris, ʿIsa ibn Yunus, Wakiʿ, Humayd ibn ʿAbd al-Rahman al-Ruʾasi, ʿAbd Allah ibn Dawud, al-Fadl ibn Musa, Zuhayr ibn Muʿawiyah
- ʿAbd al-Wahid ibn Ziyad, Abu Usamah, ʿAbd Allah ibn Numayr
- ʿUbaydah ibn Humayd, ʿUbadah ibn Sulayman
His death
He died in Rabiʿ al-Awwal in 148 AH in Kufa. In the same year, other great scholars died: Jaʿfar al-Sadiq in Madinah, ʿAmr ibn al-Harith in Egypt, Muhammad ibn al-Walid al-Zubaidi in Hims, al-ʿAwwam ibn Hawshab in Wasit, and the judge and mufti of Kufa, Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn Abi Layla.
Siyar A’lām al-Nubalā By Ad Dhahabi (6/226-247)
