Abu Abd al-Rahman Baqi ibn Makhlad al-Andalusi or simply known as Baqi ibn Makhlad (820-889), was a Spanish jurist, mufassir, soldier, and the founder of the earliest hadith school in Islamic Spain.Nuri Mu'ammar, al-Imam Abu 'Abd al-Rahman Baqi ibn Makhlad, Manshurat 'Ukaz, Casablanca, 1988Muhammad bin Wadah al-Qurtubi, Founder of the School of Hadith in Andalusia with Baqi ibn Makhlad, by Dr. Nuri MuammarAl-Mizzi, Tahdhib al-Kamal fi Asma’ al-Rijal Nicknamed as the Pillar of hadith in the West ,Al-Dhahabi, Siyar A‘lam al-Nubala’, Vol. 13 ibn Makhlad compiled the Musnad Baqi ibn Makhlad, the largest hadith book collection ever compiled,Ibn ʿAsākir: Taʾrīḫ madīnat Dimašq. Ed. ʿUmar ibn Ġarāma al-ʿUmarī. Bd. 10. Dār al-Fikr, Beirut, 1995. S. 354–359. containing over 100,000 narrations,Baqi b. Makhlad — Encyclopaedia of Islam, Brill Online. which included narrations from more than 300 companions of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Most of its collections were lost following the Spanish Reconquista, resulting in the disappearance of one of the most significant western contributions to hadith literature.Isabel Fierro Bello: La Heterodoxia en Al-Andalus durante el periodo Omeya. Instituto Hispano-Arabe de Cultura, Madrid, 1987. S. 80–88.Maher Jarrar: Die Prophetenbiographie im islamischen Spanien. Ein Beitrag zur Überlieferungs- und Redaktionsgeschichte. Peter Lang, Frankfurt/Main, 1989. S. 88–91Manuela Marín: "Baqī b. Majlad y la introducción del estudio del ḥadīt̲ en al-Andalus" in Al-Qanṭara 1 (1980) 165–208Yāqūt ar-Rūmī: Kitāb Iršād al-arīb ilā maʿrifat al-adīb al-maʿrūf bi-Muʿǧam al-udabāʾ wa-ṭabaqāt al-udabāʾ. Ed. by D. S. Margoliouth. Brill, Leiden, 1907–1926. Bd. II, S. 368–371Charles Pellat: Art. Baḳī ibn Makhlad. In: The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition. Bd. I, S. 956b-957a.Walter Werkmeister: Quellenuntersuchungen zum Kitāb al-ʿIqd al-farīd des Andalusiers Ibn ʿAbdrabbih (246/860 - 328/940): ein Beitrag zur arabischen Literaturgeschichte. Schwarz, Berlin 1983, S. 267–270.A. N. M. Raisuddin: Baqī b. Makhlad al-Qurtubī (201–276/818–889) and his contribution to the study of ḥadīth literature in Muslim Spain. In: Islamic Studies 27/2 (1988), 161–8Carl Brockelmann: Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur. Brill, Leiden 1937–1949. Bd. I², S. 172, Supplementband I, S. 271. A student of Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Baqi ibn Makhlad also authored Tafsir al-Baqi, which according to Ibn Hazm was the greatest tafsir ever to be written,al-Suyūṭī, J. (1916). Ṭabaqāt al-Mufassirīn. Hyderabad: State Central Library.Nastiar, M.A. and Miski, M. (2023). Ṭabaqāt al-Mufassirīn by al-Suyūṭī and the Affirmation of Non-Sunni Mufassir Authority: A Historiographical Analysis. QOF: Jurnal Studi Al-Qur’an dan Tafsir, 7(2), pp.143–162al-Bakri, Z.M. (n.d.). Chapter 31: Stopover in Jordan. even greater than Tafsir al-Tabari.Ibn Hazm, al-Ihkam fi Usul al-Ahkam, Vol. 1Ibn Katheer, al-Bidaya wa al-Nihaya 11/94Nafh al-Teeb 2/519Rohman, Abdul, Barikli Mubaroka, and Qoree Butlam. 2023. “Methodology of Tafseer Al-Qurtubi: Sources, Styles and Manhaj.” QiST: Journal of Quran and Tafseer Studies 2 (2)Ibn ʿAsākir: Taʾrīḫ madīnat Dimašq. Ed. ʿUmar ibn Ġarāma al-ʿUmarī. Bd. 10. Dār al-Fikr, Beirut, 1995. S. 354–359
He had a close relationship with Emirs such as Muhammad I and al-Mundhir ibn Muhammad, who often protected him when some Maliki scholars were against him. Later, al-Mundhir also offered Baqi ibn Makhlad the role of judge, but Baqi declined the offer.Manuela Marín: "Baqī b. Majlad y la introducción del estudio del ḥadīt̲ en al-Andalus" in Al-Qanṭara 1 (1980) 165–208Yāqūt ar-Rūmī: Kitāb Iršād al-arīb ilā maʿrifat al-adīb al-maʿrūf bi-Muʿǧam al-udabāʾ wa-ṭabaqāt al-udabāʾ. Ed. by D. S. Margoliouth. Brill, Leiden, 1907–1926. Bd. II, S. 368–371Charles Pellat: Art. Baḳī ibn Makhlad. In: The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition. Bd. I, S. 956b-957a.
Life and career Baqi ibn Makhlad was born in Córdoba, Spain, during the Islamic Golden Age.Muhammad bin Wadah al-Qurtubi, Founder of the School of Hadith in Andalusia with Baqi ibn Makhlad, by Dr. Nuri MuammarNoor Library Archive: Musnad Baqi ibn Makhlad Collection From a young age age, he was deeply committed to seeking religious knowledge. His on foot journey from Spain to Baghdad to study under the Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, who was under political restrictions at the time, became a prominent event among scholars.Vgl. Ávila: Nuevos datos. 1985, S. 341–367. To avoid detection, Baqi disguised himself as a beggar and secretly received hadith lessons from Imam Ahmad. Through this effort, he was able to collect around 300 hadiths directly from him.Ibn Hazm, al-Ihkam fi Usul al-Ahkam, Vol. 1A.N.M. Raisuddin, “Baqī b. Makhlad al-Qurṭubī (201–276/816–889) and His Contribution to the Study of Ḥadīth Literature in Spain,” Islamic Studies, Vol. 27, No. 2 (1988), pp. 161–168Nuri Mu'ammar, al-Imam Abu 'Abd al-Rahman Baqi ibn Makhlad, Manshurat 'Ukaz, Casablanca, 1988Al-Mizzi, Tahdhib al-Kamal fi Asma’ al-RijalMuhammad Abu Zahrah, Tarikh al-Madhahib al-Islamiyyah, Cairo: Dar al-Fikr al-‘Arabi
He was also active in defending Islam and reportedly took part in 72 battles.Al-Dhahabi, Siyar A‘lam al-Nubala’, Vol. 13Ibn Katheer, al-Bidaya wa al-Nihaya 11/94Al-Miftah: Imam Baqy Ibn Makhlad – A True StudentMaría Luisa Ávila: Nuevos datos para la biografía de Baqī b. Majlad. In: Al-Qanṭara 6 (1985) 321–68.
Abu Abdul Malik Ahmad bin Muhammad, a student of Imam Qurtubi, described Baqi ibn Makhlad as a man of great physical endurance and humility, stating that he was tall, strong, and had tough endurance in walking. He was never seed on a ride and was humble and unpretentious, and would always attend the funeral prayers.IslamiCity. (2007). Bound to the Sunnah – A Student of Sacred Knowledge.Abd al-Fattah Abu Ghuddah, Safahat min Sabr al-Ulama’ ‘ala Shada’id al-‘Ilm wa al-Tahsil.
Legacy Imam Baqi ibn Makhlad left a strong legacy in the field of Hadith sciences. His efforts helped preserve Hadith knowledge in Iberian Peninsula for five centuries and influenced scholars for later generations. After the Spanish Reconquista, many Islamic books and libraries were destroyed and most of Imam Baqi’s writings were lost. The resulted in the loss of one of the most essential European contributions to hadith literature.Akram Diya al-Umari, Baqī ibn Makhlad al-Qurṭubī wa-muqaddimat musnaduh, Beirut, 1984. Isabel Fierro Bello: La Heterodoxia en Al-Andalus durante el periodo Omeya. Instituto Hispano-Arabe de Cultura, Madrid, 1987. S. 80–88.Maher Jarrar: Die Prophetenbiographie im islamischen Spanien. Ein Beitrag zur Überlieferungs- und Redaktionsgeschichte. Peter Lang, Frankfurt/Main, 1989. S. 88–91Manuela Marín: "Baqī b. Majlad y la introducción del estudio del ḥadīt̲ en al-Andalus" in Al-Qanṭara 1 (1980) 165–208
Ad-Dahabi praised him highly, saying that no one of his time was like him in both knowledge and practice. He made Spain a center for hadith learning, along with Muhammad ibn Wadaah.Al-Dhahabi, Siyar A‘lam al-Nubala’, Vol. 13
There was an unconfirmed report in November 2014, circulated via social media, that a manuscript of the Tafseer of Baqi ibn Makhlad was discovered in Turkey.
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