The Unreliability of Ibn Baṭṭa al-ʿUkbarī: Critical Analysis of a Source Frequently Cited in Contemporary Salafī Literature

This comprehensive study examines the scholarly assessment of Ibn Baṭṭa al-ʿUkbarī’s (d. 387 AH) reliability as a transmitter through a chronological analysis of classical and modern scholarship. While respected as a prominent Ḥanbalī jurist, classical hadith experts consistently deemed him weak in hadith transmission and raised serious concerns about his reliability. The analysis reveals how his works contain problematic, weak, and even fabricated narrations, suggesting his standalone transmissions cannot always be relied upon. Of particular note is evidence showing distortion of his words by some contemporary Salafi authors, highlighting broader questions about the evolution of theological methodology between classical and contemporary thought. This research provides crucial context for evaluating Ibn Baṭṭa’s works, particularly those containing hadith narrations on divine attributes.

Table of Contents

PROLOGUE. 3

A biography of Ibn Baṭṭa al-ʿUkbarī from the Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanābila of Ibn Abī Yaʿlā al-Ḥanbalī (d. 526/1133) 5

Ibn Baṭṭa and the Scholarly Criticism [Jarḥ] of his Status as a Transmitter of Prophetic and Historical Narrations [Aḥādīth wa-Āthār]: 19

What al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī (d. 463 AH) mentioned in his Tārīkh Baghdād: 19

The verdict of Abū al-Ḥasan Ibn al-Athīr al-Jazarī (d. 630 AH) 22

Verdicts from Shams al-Dīn al-Dhahabī (d. 748 AH): 23

Verdicts from Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī (d. 852 AH): 27

The verdict of Taqī al-Dīn al-Subkī (d. 756 AH) on Ibn Baṭṭa: 35

The verdict of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Yaḥyā al-Muʿallimī al-Yamānī: 36

Al-Albānī on Ibn Baṭṭa: 37

The verdict of Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Maṣnaʿī al-ʿAnsī 44