Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj was born in the town of
Nishapur in the
Abbasid province of
Khorasan, in what is now northeastern
Iran. Historians differ as to his date of birth, though it is usually given as 202 AH (817/818), 204 AH (819/820), or 206 AH (821/822).
Al-Dhahabi said, "It is said that he was born in the year 204 AH," though he also said, "But I think he was born before that."
Ibn Khallikan could find no report of Muslim's date of birth or age at death by any of the
ḥuffāẓ "hadith masters", except their agreement that he was born after 200 AH (815/816). Ibn Khallikan cites
ibn al-Salah, who cites
al-Hakim al-Nishapuri's
Kitab ʿUlama al-Amsar, in the claim that Muslim was 55 years old when he died on 25 Rajab, 261 AH (May 875) and therefore his year of birth must have been 206 AH (821/822). Ibn al-Bayyiʿ reports that he was buried in Nasarabad, a suburb of Nishapur. According to scholars, he was of
Arab origin. The
nisba "al-Qushayri" signifies he belonged to the
Arab tribe of
Banu Qushayr, members of which migrated to the newly conquered Persian territory during the expansion of the
Rashidun Caliphate. According to two scholars, ibn al-Athīr and ibn al-Salāh, he was a member of that tribe. His family had migrated to Persia nearly two centuries earlier following the conquest. The author's teachers included Harmala ibn Yahya, Sa'id ibn Mansur, Abd-Allah ibn Maslamah al-Qa'nabi, al-Dhuhali,
al-Bukhari,
ibn Ma'in, Yahya ibn Yahya al-Nishaburi al-Tamimi, and others. Among his students were
al-Tirmidhi,
ibn Abi Hatim al-Razi, and
Ibn Khuzayma, each of whom also wrote works on hadith. After his studies throughout the
Arabian Peninsula,
Egypt,
Iraq and
Syria, he settled in his hometown of
Nishapur, where he met, and became a lifelong friend of al-Bukhari.
Sources Several sources became prominent loci for learning about the biography of Muslim. The
History of Baghdad by
al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, produced in the 11th century, formed the basis of all subsequent descriptions of his life in Islamic sources. For example, the complete biography of Muslim in the
History of Islam by
al-Dhahabi contains 27 reports, 11 of which (41%) come from Al-Baghdadi's
History. The second most important source for information about Muslim's life, was the
History of Nishapur of
al-Hakim al-Nishapuri. The
History of Baghdad itself, which contains 14 reports about Muslim, took half of them (7) from the
History of Nishapur. == Sahih Muslim ==