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al-Dhahabi

al-Dhahabi

c. 1274 CE–c. 1348 CE · Damascus

Shams al-Din Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Dhahabi (c. 1274-1348 CE / 672-748 AH) was a Sunni scholar of the Mamluk period, remembered above all as a critic of hadith (reports of the Prophet Muhammad's words and deeds) and as a historian. He was born and died in Damascus. His byname al-Dhahabi, "the goldsmith," is traditionally said to reflect his father's trade. He followed the Shafiʿi madhhab (one of the four Sunni schools of law).

According to the biographical sources, he began travelling to study hadith around the age of eighteen, journeying through Syria, Egypt, and the Hijaz to collect reports and certificates of transmission from many teachers. Among those named as his masters are the hadith scholars al-Mizzi and al-Birzali, and he was also associated with the controversial theologian Ibn Taymiyya, though al-Dhahabi remained a Shafiʿi in law. He then settled in Damascus, where he taught and wrote.

His enormous output includes Taʾrikh al-Islam (a history of Islam organised by generations), the biographical dictionary Siyar Aʿlam al-Nubalaʾ ("Lives of the Noble Notables"), Tadhkirat al-Huffaz (on hadith memorisers), and Mizan al-Iʿtidal, a reference grading the reliability of hadith narrators. Sources report that he lost his sight near the end of his life. He died in Damascus in 748 AH / 1348 CE; he is traditionally said to have been buried in the Bab al-Saghir cemetery. His verdicts on narrators are still cited, while his sharp judgements on some contemporaries remain debated.

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Stop 1 of 91274Born

DamascusדמשקSyria

What they did here

Born in Damascus, c. 1274 CE (sources give 672 AH, some 673 AH; CE is firm, the exact AH is unsettled). His byname al-Dhahabi, 'the goldsmith,' is traditionally linked to his father's craft. He grew up and was first schooled there.

About Damascus

Damascus, the capital of Syria, is among the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. It was the seat of the Aramean kingdom of Aram-Damascus and later a Roman city. According to the Book of Acts, Ananias received the newly converted Saul (Paul) there, and the city remains the seat of several Eastern churches. Damascus was the capital of the Umayyad caliphate from 661 to 750, and under the Seljuks, Ayyubids and Mamluks its many madrasas made it a leading centre of Islamic learning; it was under Ottoman rule from 1516. Jews lived there from at least Roman times, and the kabbalist Hayyim Vital settled in the city in 1594.

Across the traditions, in Damascus at the same time

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In the same place & time

Sages whose lives overlapped with al-Dhahabi’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.

Across the traditions

The world in their lifetime

Thinkers and teachers of other traditions whose lives overlapped with al-Dhahabi’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.

Works(42)