BALḴĪ, ABŪ ʿALĪ ABD-ALLĀH B. MOḤAMMAD B. ʿALĪ, a traditionist (moḥaddeṯ) and author. The date of his birth is not known, but may be placed around 220/835-225/840 because one of his teachers, Qotayba b. Saʿīd Abū Rajāʾ Ṯaqafī Balḵī, died at Baḡlān near Balḵ in 240/854. Also mentioned as Abū ʿAlī Balḵī’s teachers are ʿAlī b. Ḥojr Abu’l-Ḥasan Marvazī (d. 244/858) and Moḥammad b. Yaḥyā Abū ʿAbd-Allāh Ḏohlī Nīsābūrī (d. 258/272). Little is known about his life. He resided for a time at Nīšāpūr, where his pupil Aḥmad b. Moḥammad Abū Ḥāmed Šarqī Nīsābūrī (d. 325/937) probably studied with him, and in his later years at Baghdad, where he taught his best known pupils Moḥammad b. Maḵlad Abū ʿAbd-Allāh Dūrī (d. 331/943), ʿAbd-al-Bāqī b. Qāneʿ Abu’l-Ḥosayn Omawī (d. 351/962), Moḥammad b. ʿAbd-Allāh Abū Bakr Šāfeʿī (d. 354/965), and Moḥammad b. ʿOmar Abū Bakr Jeʿābī (d. 355/966). Finally he returned to his homeland Balḵ. He was murdered at Balḵ by Qarmaṭī assassins late in 295/907-08. Two works, now lost, are attributed to him; Ketāb al-taʾrīḵ on history and Ketāb al-ʿelal on flaws in Hadith transmission.
Bibliography:
Taʾrīḵ Baḡdād X, pp. 93-94.
Ebn al-Jawzī, al-Montaẓam fī taʾrīḵ al-molūk wa’l-omam VI, Hyderabad, 1357/1938, p. 79.
Ḏahabī, Ḥoffāẓ3 II, Hyderabad, 1376/1956, p. 690.
Idem, al-ʿEbar fī ḵabar man ḡabar II, Kuwait, 1961, p. 102.
ʿAbd-Allāh Yāfeʿī, Merʾāt al-janān II, Hyderabad, 1338/1919-20, p. 223.
Zereklī, Aʿlām2 IV, Cairo, 1374/1954, p. 261. Kaḥḥāla, VI, p. 132.
Search terms:
| بلخی، ابو علی عبدالله | balkhi abou ali abd allah | balkhy abou ali abd allah |
(H. Schützinger)
Originally Published: December 15, 1988
Last Updated: December 15, 1988
