Ibn al-Mubarak

ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak (118/726-797 AH/CE; Arabic: عبد الله بن المبارك) [1] was born during the reign of Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik. ‘Abdullah ibn Mubarak was an early, pious Muslim known for his memory and zeal for knowledge, collected hadīth (muhaddith), and was remembered for his asceticism.[2] He earned the title Amir al-Mu'minin fi al-Hadith. His father, named Mubarak, was Turkmanish from Khurasan and became a client (mawālī) of an Arab trader from the tribe of Banī Hanẓala in the city of Hamadhān, and his mother was said to have been from Khwārizm.[3] Mubarak later married Hind, the trader's daughter.[3] It is said that ‘Abdullah ibn Mubarak left his hometown of Merv, and while living in Hamadhān, went on to visit and speak often in Baghdād.[2] Imam Ahmad said about Abdullah ibn Mubarak that there was no one more eager to travel for seeking knowledge than him. His teachers included Sufyān al-Thawrī and Abū Hanīfa.[4] He wrote Kitāb al-Jihād, a collection of hadīth and sayings of the early Muslims on war, and Kitāb al-Zuhd wa al-Rāqa’iq, a book on asceticism. He was also known for defending Islamic borders (see Ribat) on the frontiers of Tarsus and al-Massisah, and later died at Hīt, near the Euphrates, in the year 797 CE.[4][5]