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ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUtba

أَبُو عَبْدِ اللهِ عُبَيْدُ اللهِ بْنُ عَبْدِ اللهِ بْنِ عُتْبَةَ بْنِ مَسْعُودٍ الْهُذَلِيُّ الْمَدَنِيُّ

Savant

ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUtba is one of the seven jurists of Medina. Great-nephew of the Companion ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd and a devoted student of Ibn ʿAbbās and ʿĀʾisha, he was tutor to the future caliph ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz and teacher of az-Zuhrī, who compared him to an ocean. Blind at the end of his life, he was also an admired poet. أَبُو عَبْدِ اللهِ عُبَيْدُ اللهِ بْنُ عَبْدِ اللهِ بْنِ عُتْبَةَ بْنِ مَسْعُودٍ الْهُذَلِيُّ الْمَدَنِيُّ At a glance Full name: Abū ʿAbd Allāh ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUtba ibn Masʿūd al-Hudhalī al-Madanī. Birth: in Medina, under the caliphate of ʿUmar (13–23 AH / 634–644) or shortly after. Death: in Medina, in 98 AH (716–717) according to al-Wāqidī; 99 AH according to others. Family: his grandfather ʿUtba was the brother of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd; his brother ʿAwn was also a hadith transmitter. Rank: one of the seven jurists of Medina; "the mufti of Medina and its scholar" according to adh-Dhahabī. A family of Companions The family belongs to the tribe of Hudhayl, allies of Quraysh. His great-great-uncle, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd, is one of the greatest jurists among the Companions. His grandfather, ʿUtba ibn Masʿūd, also emigrated to Abyssinia; az-Zuhrī said that ʿAbd Allāh was no greater a jurist than ʿUtba, but that ʿUtba died early. His father, ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUtba, was born in the lifetime of the Prophet ﷺ. The legal legacy of Ibn Masʿūd is one of the foundations of the Ḥanafī school, through ʿAlqama, Ibrāhīm an-Nakhaʿī and Ḥammād ibn Abī Sulaymān. Through ʿUbayd Allāh, a branch of this family also carried fiqh in Medina. His education ʿUbayd Allāh narrates from ʿĀʾisha, Abū Hurayra, Fāṭima bint Qays, Abū Wāqid al-Laythī, Zayd ibn Khālid al-Juhanī, Ibn ʿUmar, Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī, an-Nuʿmān ibn Bashīr, Maymūna and Umm Salama. But his main teacher was ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās, with whom he stayed a long time. Az-Zuhrī relates that Abū Salama ibn ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān questioned Ibn ʿAbbās bluntly, and Ibn ʿAbbās would close up; ʿUbayd Allāh questioned him gently, and Ibn ʿAbbās opened his knowledge to him. He had a remarkable memory: مَا سَمِعْتُ حَدِيثًا قَطُّ فَأَشَاءُ أَنْ أَعِيَهُ إِلَّا وَعَيْتُهُ "I never heard a hadith that I wished to retain without retaining it." Famous hadiths Several of the best-known hadiths in al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ pass through the chain "az-Zuhrī, from ʿUbayd Allāh, from Ibn ʿAbbās". This is the case of the long account of the meeting between Heraclius and Abū Sufyān, placed at the beginning of the Ṣaḥīḥ, and of the account of the Prophet's ﷺ final illness, when he asked for something to write with. He also narrates from Ibn ʿAbbās this memory of youth: Ibn ʿAbbās once arrived on a donkey while the Prophet ﷺ was leading the prayer; he passed in front of part of the row, dismounted and let the donkey graze, and the Prophet ﷺ did not reproach him. Jurists use this hadith on the question of what interrupts the prayer. Az-Zuhrī's teacher Ibn Shihāb az-Zuhrī, the great transmitter of Medina, entered his service: "I served ʿUbayd Allāh to the point of drawing brackish water for him." When he knocked at the door, the maid would announce: "It is your young servant with the bleary eyes." Az-Zuhrī said of him: كَانَ عُبَيْدُ اللهِ بْنُ عَبْدِ اللهِ بَحْرًا مِنْ بُحُورِ الْعِلْمِ "ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿAbd Allāh was one of the oceans of knowledge." And again: "I have sat with no scholar without feeling I had exhausted what he knew. I went to ʿUrwa until I heard from him only what I had already heard. ʿUbayd Allāh alone was the exception: each time I came, I found new knowledge with him." Tutor of ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz Al-ʿIjlī reports that ʿUbayd Allāh was the tutor of ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, the future caliph known for his justice. As caliph, ʿUmar continued to honour him. ʿUbayd Allāh wrote him verses of counsel, reported by Abū az-Zinād: بِسْمِ الَّذِي أُنْزِلَتْ مِنْ عِنْدِهِ السُّوَرُ ... وَالْحَمْدُ لِلهِ، أَمَّا بَعْدُ يَا عُمَرُ إِنْ كُنْتَ تَعْلَمُ مَا تَأْتِي وَمَا تَذَرُ ... فَكُنْ عَلَى حَذَرٍ، قَدْ يَنْفَعُ الْحَذَرُ وَاصْبِرْ عَلَى الْقَدَرِ الْمَحْتُومِ وَارْضَ بِهِ ... وَإِنْ أَتَاكَ بِمَا لَا تَشْتَهِي الْقَدَرُ فَمَا صَفَا لِامْرِئٍ عَيْشٌ يُسَرُّ بِهِ ... إِلَّا سَيَتْبَعُ يَوْمًا صَفْوَهُ كَدَرُ "In the name of Him from whom the surahs were sent down, and praise be to Allah. Now then, O ʿUmar: if you know what you do and what you leave, be on your guard, for caution is sometimes of use. Endure the decreed destiny and accept it, even if it brings you what you do not desire. For no life has ever been clear for a man who rejoiced in it without some day a trouble following its clarity." The jurist and the poet Al-Wāqidī: "Trustworthy, learned, a jurist, rich in hadith and versed in poetry. He had lost his sight." Al-ʿIjlī: "One of the jurists of Medina, trustworthy, a righteous man who combined knowledge." Abū Zurʿa ar-Rāzī: "Trustworthy, reliable, an imam." People were surprised that a jurist of his rank composed verse. He…