Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri

Muhammad ibn Muslim ibn Ubaydullah ibn Shihab al-Zuhri (Arabic: ابن شهاب الزهري‎‎) (died AH 124/741-2), usually called simply Ibn Shihab or al-Zuhri. He was a central figure among the early collectors of sīra—biographies of the Islamic prophet, Muhammad.

Ibn Sa'd has an account purporting to be in al-Zuhri's own words describing how he left his home in Medina, went to Damascus to standardise the application of law and was recruited into the administration of the Caliph Abd al-Malik. The Caliph observed that his father had supported Ibn al-Zubayr against him in the recent civil war. But the Caliph's policy toward the Zubayrites was reconciliation and his father's politics were not held against him.

No connected account of al-Zuhris life after that has come down to us. There is no evidence he ever again lived in Medina. Abd al-Malik died in AH 86 (705 CE) and al-Zuhri continued to serve the Umayyad court the rest of his life. He died in AH 124 (741–2 CE).

In the initial conversation with Abd al-Malik the names of earlier Islamic scholars whom al-Zuhri had come in contact with in Madinah are mentioned: 'Abdullah ibn Tha'laba al-'Adawi (though he is disparaged), Said ibn al-Musayyib, Urwah ibn Zubayr, 'Ubaydullah ibn 'Abdullah ibn 'Utba, Abu Bakr ibn 'Abdul-Rahman ibn al-Harith, Kharija ibn Zayd ibn Thabit and 'Abdul-Rahman ibn Yazid ibn Jariya. There are many stories about the strength of al-Zuhri's learning and all the scholar's in the west who were alive when he died quoted from him in their own works.

Some sources, but not Ibn Sa'd, say that he had a son named Ahmad ibn Abu Bakr al-Zuhri.

Many of the areas under the Umayyads had previously been under the Romans or the Persians and previously had their own legal systems. The Qazis used as judges by the Umayyads did not implement a standardised version of jurisprudence. To standardise the legal systems and in complex legal cases, many scholars in Madina would advice these judges. To enhance their education, many Umayyad rulers also sent their children to Madina for education. Shihab al-Zuhri later worked in Damascus and also taught the son of Caliph Hisham (died AH 125/743). This does not mean that he supported the Umayyads. Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri felt that his student Walid would become a corrupt and oppressive ruler. His relationship with the spoilt prince Walid (ruled for one year 125 after al-Zuhri's death) got so bad that Walid only survived after his father restrained Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri from killing his spoilt son

Sunni view

Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri is regarded as one of the greatest Sunni authorities on Hadith. The leading critics of Hadith such as Ibn al-Madini, Ibn Hibban, Abu Hatim, Al-Dhahabi and Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani are all agreed upon his indisputable authority. He received ahadith from many Sahaba (Companions) and numerous scholars among the first and second generations after the Companions narrated from him.

In his famous letter to Malik ibn Anas, Laith ibn Sa`d writes:

Ibn Shihab would give many contradicting statements, when we would meet him. While if any one of us would ask him something in writing, he, in spite of being so learned, would give three contradictory answers to the same question. He would not even be aware of what he had said about the issue in the past. This is what prompted me to give up what you do not approve of [i.e. quoting a narrative on the authority of ibn Shihab].

Non-Muslim view

Harald Motzki regards al-Zuhri as reliable.