ABŪ ḎARR HERAVĪ (full name: ABŪ ḎARR ʿABDALLĀH B. AḤMAD B. MOḤAMMAD HERAVĪ ANṢĀRĪ MĀLEKĪ), a traditionist known primarily for his role in the transmission of Boḵārī’s Jāmeʿ al-ṣaḥīḥ. Born in Herat about 355/966, he traveled to several centers of learning to study with well-known traditionists. In Baghdad he acquired a reputation in Malikite legal circles for his knowledge of both feqh and oṣūl al-feqh. At the same time, Abū Ḏarr studied dogmatic theology with Bāqellānī (d. 403/1013), the celebrated Malikite jurist who was a major figure in the systematization and popularization of Asḥʿarite theology. About 387/997, he settled in Mecca to become chief shaikh of the Ḥaram mosque and continue his study of traditions. He married and took up residence in Sarawāt, in the neighborhood of Mecca, and performed the pilgrimage annually until his death in 434/1042-43.
Abū Ḏarr is the author of several works. His biographers record a book of excerpts from Ṣaḥīḥs of Boḵārī and Moslem, and a collection of obscure traditions that he made for his own use. Two of his works, the Fawāʾed and Aḥādīṯ, are extant.
Bibliography:
Ebn al-ʿEmād, Šaḏarāt al-ḏahab, Cairo, 1350/1931, III, p. 254.
Ebn al-Jawzī, Montaẓam, ed. Krenkow, Hyderabad, 1357-59/1938-40, VIII, p. 115.
Yāqūt, III, p. 247 and index.
G. Makdisi, Ibn ʿAqīl et la résurgence de l’Islam traditionaliste au XIe siècle, Damascus, 1963, p. 190 and n. 3. Sezgin, GAS I, p. 231.
(J. A. Wakin)
Originally Published: December 15, 1983
Last Updated: July 19, 2011
This article is available in print.
Vol. I, Fasc. 3, p. 269
J. A. Wakin, “ABŪ ḎARR HERAVĪ,” Encyclopædia Iranica, I/3, p. 302; an updated version is available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/abul-hasan-ahwazi-astronomer-fl (accessed on 23 August 2012).