A Confusion by Dr. ʿAbd al-Raḥīm al-Qashqarī in His Verification of Suʾālāt al-Barqānī!

It appears in Suʾālāt al-Barqānī (p. 69), verified by Dr. ʿAbd al-Raḥīm al-Qashqarī:

Al-Barqānī said: I heard Abū al-Ḥasan say:

(528) Yaḥyā al-Jābir: He is Ibn ʿAbdullāh al-Taymī, a Kufan, to be considered.

(529) Muḥabbar: He is not followed in his ḥadīths, and he hardly narrates from his shuyūkh except through him.

I say: This is how the doctor recorded these two entries, and this is a mistake. They are in fact one biography, and Muḥabbar has nothing to do with this. Al-Barqānī here was listing under the section of names beginning with yāʾ. If it were correct, he would have mentioned Muḥabbar under the section of names beginning with mīm.

The correct version is that this is one entry for Yaḥyā al-Jābir, and the correct statement of al-Dāraqutnī is:

“Yaḥyā al-Jābir is Ibn ʿAbdullāh al-Taymī, a Kufan, to be considered. Mujabbir, not followed in his ḥadīths, and he hardly narrates from his shuyūkh except through him.”

So the doctor misread the word mujabbir (bone-setter) as muḥabbar (with ḥāʾ), and thought it was a separate entry.

Ibn Ḥajar also transmitted al-Dāraqutnī’s wording — without mentioning mujabbir — in Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb (11/209) in the biography of “Yaḥyā ibn ʿAbdullāh al-Jābir.” He said:

“And al-Dāraqutnī said: A Kufan, to be considered; not followed in his ḥadīths, and he hardly narrates from his shuyūkh except through him.”

He did not include al-Dāraqutnī’s wording mujabbir because he had already mentioned at the beginning of the biography:

“He is also called al-Mujabbir al-Taymī al-Bakrī, their mawlā, Abū al-Ḥārith al-Kūfī, who used to set bones.”

Written by: Khālid al-Ḥāyik

3 Ramaḍān 1429 AH