IBN ḤIBBAN'S TRAVELS (RİḤLA) TO ANTIOCH AND HIS TEACHERS WHERE HE LISTENED TO HADITH

Abstract

The first five centuries, which are considered as narration periods in terms of hadith science, are considered as the most important period in terms of the time period in which the rules of narration and method of hadith science are born and formed. One of the important hadith scholars of this narration period is Ibn Ḥibbān al-Bustī (d. 354/965). After completing his first education in and around Bust, traveled to important science centers and collected science. During this scientific journey he visited Antioch (Anṭākiya), learned hadith from the hadith teachers here and narrated in his works. In his hadith book called al-Musnad al-ṣaḥīḥ, he aimed to collect ṣaḥīḥ hadiths. He is an expert scholar in determining the authenticity of hadith, and in identifying the ravies of the hadith in jarh and ta‘dīl. Antioch was reigned by muslims during the second Islamic caliph Omar. As of its location, it was a center of attraction for those who were willing to learn science. Its proximity to the centers of science such as Haleb, Mawṣil (Mosul), Damascus, Ḥarrān, Jazeera and Ṭarsūs has made Antioch an attractive city for those who want to learn science. Within the context of hadith history, Antioch is seen as one of the most popular destinations where scholars visit for learning hadith. In this article, Ibn Ḥibbān's journey to Antioch and the scholars from whom he was impressed and learned hadith will be studied and presented. Questions such as who these teachers learned hadith from, whom they met in these centers of science, their status in terms of hadith narrations, and who received hadith from them will be investigated and answered. This study will try to shed light on a period of the history of culture in Antakya as well as the history of the hadith.