Abdullah ibn Mubarak

ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak (118/726-797 AH/CE; Arabic: عبد الله بن المبارك) 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. He earned the title Amir al-Mu'minin fi al-Hadith. His father, named Mubarak, was Turkish 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. Mubarak later married Hind, the trader's daughter. 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. 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. 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.