Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Uthman Athahabi was a scholar of Hadith and history. He was born in Damascus in 673 A.H, corresponding to A.D. 1275. His grandfather was a carpenter, but his father changed profession so as to work in the fine gold industry. That is how he derived his family name, Athahabi, which means “golden” or “working in gold.” The father excelled in his new profession, but also pursued his studies until he attained a distinguished position among scholars. He was of Turkman origin.
Muhammad ibn Athahabi grew up in a family that appreciated scholarship and encouraged its members to give it their full attention. He noticed that his father spent much of his evenings pursuing the study of Hadith and other disciplines, and also both his maternal uncle and paternal aunt were scholars of Hadith. In such a family that loved scholarship and pursued it with diligence, it was natural that the bright boy, Muhammad Athahabi, should be inclined to the pursuit of learning, and this was indeed what he did throughout his life.
At the age of 9, and after having spent four years in an elementary school, Athahabi moved to study the Qur’an and its recitation under Massood ibn Abdullah, an imam in the Shaghoor district of Damascus. This teacher was very kind to children learning the Qur’an and never resorted to corporal punishment. Under his supervision, Athahabi read the Qur’an not less than 40 times, acquiring a very high standard of knowledge and perfection of recitation.
At the age of 18, Athahabi started to seek the top authorities in various disciplines of Islamic studies. Thus, he read the whole of the Qur’an in its most famous seven methods of recitation under Ibn Jibreel Al-Masri who lived in Damascus. When he finished it, he started another reading in all authorized methods under Ibraheem ibn Dawood Al-Asqalani, the top scholar in this field. He completed nearly two-thirds of the Qur’an and stopped. There must have been a good reason for stopping, because he pursued this branch of study still further in his extensive travels, reading the Qur’an in various methods under An-Nussaibi, a scholar of wide fame in this particular area.
However, it was to Hadith that Athahabi paid his greatest attention, studying many books and collections by the highest authorities. He met a very large number of Hadith teachers, showing an unrivaled keenness to listen to Hadith from different authorities. Indeed he describes himself as having “unsatisfied hunger” in his pursuit of Hadith learning. It is estimated that the number of scholars from whom he learned Hadith might have topped 1200. His pursuit of Hadith took him on extensive travels in the area of Syria, Palestine and Egypt.
Athahabi was 26 when he returned from Egypt to Damascus, after numerous journeys devoted to scholarship. He soon had a teaching circle in the main mosque in the city, and acquired in no time wide fame as a scholar of immense knowledge. But he continued to pursue his studies and began to write and edit some books by major scholars. He studied under several scholars of the Hanbali school of thought, following its approach to matters of faith, but he was known as belonging to the Shafie school of thought in matters of Fiqh or Islamic jurisprudence.
During his lifetime he succeeded in teaching in many famous schools. He succeeded Imam Ibn Taimiyah as the head of the Sukkariyah school, and then he joined teaching at Dar Al-Hadith, and still later at Al-Nafisiyah school.
Athahabi’s approach to learning shows his profound faith and devotion to teaching and learning. He comes out clearly as an advocate of the principle that makes teaching and imparting knowledge a duty of the scholar. To conceal knowledge is, to him, a cardinal sin. He bases his argument on Qur’anic verses, such as 2: 159 and 3: 187, as well as several Hadiths which threaten with great suffering anyone who willfully conceals knowledge.
He also makes it clear that a scholar must have a clearly honest intention, making sure that by his pursuit of knowledge he aims at nothing more than pleasing God and spreading knowledge. He must never pursue knowledge in order to gain worldly advantages, whether financial or other privileges. It is sufficient for a scholar to please God through learning and teaching. He frequently mentions the Hadith that speaks of a scholar who is held to account on the Day of Judgment, and when he claims before God that he learned in order to spread knowledge of God, he is told that he is lying and he is thrown in hell. His intention is recounted to him, and his learning is shown to have been nothing other than gaining high reputation.
Furthermore, a scholar is expected to implement his learning in practical life. In this connection, he explains his argument, citing the Hadith which quotes the Prophet (peace be upon him) as saying: “A bad scholar may be brought up on the Day of Judgment and thrown in hell, where he is made to turn round in circles, just like an ass pulling a mill. He is asked: ‘How come this is done to you when you used to admonish us, and in fact we have followed the right path only because of your admonition.’ He says that he used to admonish people but not to implement his own teaching and admonition.”
Athahabi wrote extensively on the importance of scholarly honesty in all its aspects. He provides guidelines on how to distinguish a trustworthy scholar from those who are unreliable. He adds to that the importance of accuracy and taking every care to ensure that whatever one says is accurate and relies on solid evidence.
Much of the work of Athahabi has gone to producing summarized versions of highly acclaimed books that ran in several volumes. Thus, he summarized “Baghdad History” by Al-Khateeb Al-Baghdadi, “The History of Damascus” by Ibn Assakir, “The History of Naissapur” by Al-Hakim as well as his own history book titled, “The History of Islam”. He summarized other famous works on Hadith, as well as Ibn Hazm’s Al-Muhalla.
Athahabi felt that scholarship should be first and foremost directed to serve Islam, first by providing knowledge and also by implementing it. Thus when learning is used for a different purpose, it loses its value. When a scholar who has taken care to learn all the methods of reciting the Qur’an pays much attention to demonstrate his knowledge by repeating the verse several times, stressing the differences, and highlighting the weaker versions, he is unlikely to benefit by his recitation. His mind is drifting from thinking about what he reads to the way he produces it. Qur’anic learning should be sought to strengthen one’s faith and earn reward from God. Similarly any discipline learned to increase one’s reputation and gain personal advantage takes knowledge away from its rightful purpose to make it a means to worldly gains. Learning should be sought in order to enhance one’s position in the hereafter, which means in effect that it should be always placed at the service of God’s cause.
Athahabi has clear views about various disciplines. To him, the main sources of faith are the Qur’an and the Hadith. He rejects the addition of other disciplines such as logic, philosophy and the like, as sources of Islam. To him, neither logic nor philosophy is of any use in learning or explaining the religion of Islam. He derides the idea of closing the door of scholarly discretion in matters of religion. But such discretion should always be based on the Qur’an and the Hadith.
Athahabi lost his eyesight sometime before his death in 748, at the age of 75. May God bless his soul.