Ibn Rajab - Biography

Biography

Imam ibn Rajab was born in Baghdad in 1335 (736H). His grandfather was a scholar of Islam with a focus in Hadith. His father, also born in Baghdad, studied under a number of scholars. At the age of five ibn Rajab's family moved to Damascus, then traveled to Jerusalem where he studied under al-Alla'i, then back to Baghdad and from there to Mecca. While in Mecca his father arranged for him to study Islam as well. He then traveled to Egypt before returning to Damascus, where he taught students of his own. Some of the scholars he studied under were ibn an-Naqeeb (d. 769H), as-Subki, al-Iraqi (d. 806H), and Muhammad ibn Ismail al-Khabbaz. He also studied with Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah up to ibn Qayyim's death. Ibn Rajab's commentary on the forty hadith of Nawawi (Jami' al-Ulum wa al-Hikam) is the largest as well as generally being considered the best commentary available. Near the end of his life, Ibn Rajab began composing a commentary on Sahih Bukhari, but unfortunately only reached the chapter on the funeral prayers before he died. He had named his work Fath al-Bari and what he did write has been published by Dar Ibn al-Jawzi in seven volumes. This amounts to less than a sixth of Sahih Bukhari. Twenty years after Ibn Rajab's death, Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani began his commentary on Sahih Bukhari and gave his own work the same title in honour of Ibn Rajab.