Al-Hakim al-Nishapuri


Abu Abd-Allah Muhammad ibn Abd-Allah al-Hakim al-Nishapuri was a Persian Sunni scholar and the leading traditionist of his age, frequently referred to as the "Imam of the Muhaddithin" or the "Muhaddith of Khorasan."

Biography

Al-Hakim, from Nishapur, had vast numbers of teachers in Khurasan, Iraq, Transoxiana and elsewhere. His students included Imam al-Bayhaqi.
Al-Hakim wrote Al-Mustadrak alaa al-Sahihain. He started writing it in the year when he was 72 years old. He reputedly said: "I drank water from Zamzam and asked Allâh for excellence in writing books".

Death

On the 3rd of Safar 405 al-Hakim went into the bath, came out after bathing, said, "Ah," and died wearing but a waist-cloth before he had time to put on a shirt. Later, one of al-Hakim's students, Al-Hasan ibn Ash`ath al-Qurashî said: "I saw al-Hâkim in my dream riding a horse in a handsome appearance and saying: 'Salvation.' I asked him: `Al-Hakim! In what?' He replied: 'Writing hadith.'" His funeral prayer was led by :ar:أبو بكر الحيري|Abu Bakr al-Hiri, Qadi of Nishapur.

Legacy

stated that:
The Shafi'i hadith specialist Ibn al-Salah honours al-Hakim as one of the 'seven compilers of useful compilations' who has the distinction of being one of the few men to have compiled significant works in all three genres of hadith literature.
The Shafi'i historian al-Dhahabi calls him "the great hafiz and imam of the traditionists".
Despite this, he had been accused of being a Shi'a, but al-Subki stoutly denies this. He rejects the label of Shi`i as baseless because Ibn Asakir includes al-Hakim among the Asharis, who consider the Shias as innovators. Others noted to al-Hakim's sincerity in narrating hadith as the first hadith al-Hâkim narrated is:

Works

He authored the following works among others: