The life of Imam Muhammad Ibn Sirin

Many people of Allah have passed through this Ummah, whom Allah Almighty granted knowledge of the reality of things and the secrets of the universe. Among these great personalities, the position of Imam Muhammad bin Sirin (may Allah have mercy on him) is very high. He was not only a great saint but also had unparalleled expertise in the interpretation of dreams. This is why very few people have attained a position like his in the knowledge of the interpretation of dreams.

During the time of Imam Muhammad ibn Sirin (may Allah have mercy on him), if a person had a dream that other scholars and righteous people could not interpret, they would eventually turn to him. The interpretation he gave would prove to be correct, and even great scholars would praise his insight and insight.

According to Imam Suyuti, Imam Dhahabi compiled a list of the most prominent and excellent people in every field of knowledge. In this list, Imam Ibn Sirin (may Allah have mercy on him) is mentioned as the most prominent scholar of dream interpretation.

Early life

Imam Muhammad bin Sirin (may Allah have mercy on him) was a freed slave of Hazrat Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him), who was a servant of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). His mother, Safiya, was the slave of Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddique (may Allah be pleased with him). His surname was Abu Bakr, and he served as the secretary of Hazrat Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) for a long time.

Your life is a perfect example of how Allah Almighty grants honor and high status to whomever He wills. Despite being a common slave, you reached such a high position in the field of knowledge, piety, and especially the interpretation of dreams that your name has been preserved in history forever.

He was born in a place called Jarjaraya near Basra. Later he settled in Basra. According to his younger brother, Anas bin Sirin (may Allah have mercy on him), Imam Muhammad bin Sirin was born about two years before the martyrdom of Hazrat Uthman bin Affan (may Allah have mercy on him), while he himself was born a year after.

Piety and fear of God

Imam Muhammad ibn Sirin (may Allah have mercy on him) was a very pious, worshipful, and God-fearing elder. He was a famous Tabi’i and held a very high position due to his piety, good morals, and knowledge.

Ibn Aun (may Allah have mercy on him) says that he saw three such saints who have no equal: Imam Muhammad ibn Sirin, Qasim ibn Muhammad, and Raja ibn Haywa (may Allah have mercy on him).

According to Khalaf bin Hisham, Allah Almighty had endowed Imam Ibn Sirin with excellent morals, gentleness, humility, and good manners towards people. People would remember Allah upon seeing him.

Ash’ath (may Allah have mercy on him) says that when Imam Ibn Sirin was asked a question about what was lawful and what was unlawful, his face would change color, because he was very cautious in matters of religion.

Sufyan al-Thawri (may Allah have mercy on him) narrates that when death was mentioned to him, he would be so overcome with fear of Allah that he would become silent and indifferent.

Mahdi (may Allah have mercy on him) narrates that a scholarly discussion was taking place in a gathering. Suddenly, someone mentioned death, and Imam Ibn Sirin’s face turned yellow and he became as if he were seriously ill. After a long time, when the subject was changed, his health improved.

Imam Ibn Hibban (may Allah have mercy on him) says that Imam Muhammad ibn Sirin was the most pious among the people of Basra. Some scholars have even given him precedence over Imam Hassan al-Basri (may Allah have mercy on him) in terms of piety.

A rare example of perfection of piety

The life of Imam Muhammad ibn Sirin (may Allah have mercy on him) was a perfect example of piety and honesty. Just as Prophet Joseph (peace be upon him) endured the ordeal of imprisonment due to his piety, similarly Imam Ibn Sirin also faced imprisonment on one occasion.

Ibn Sa’d (may Allah have mercy on him) narrates that Imam Ibn Sirin bought forty thousand dirhams worth of grain for trade. Later, he came to know that some methods were used in the production of this grain that were questionable from a Sharia perspective.

After learning this, he distributed all the grain among the poor and needy and accepted its value as a loan on his own responsibility. When the loan could not be repaid on time, the woman who had given the loan filed a claim in court, as a result of which he was imprisoned.

Imam Ibn Sirin (may Allah have mercy on him) accepted imprisonment and remained in prison until the entire debt was paid. This incident is a clear proof of his extraordinary piety, honesty, and strict adherence to what is permissible and forbidden.

Imam Ibn Sirin’s teachers

Imam Muhammad ibn Sirin (may Allah have mercy on him) learned from many of his noble companions and great followers. Sheikh Ibn Hajar Asqalani (may Allah have mercy on him) has mentioned the names of his teachers in his book Tahzeeb al-Tahzeeb .

His famous teachers include Hazrat Anas bin Malik, Hazrat Hasan bin Ali, Hazrat Abdullah bin Umar, Hazrat Abdullah bin Abbas, Hazrat Abu Hurairah, Hazrat Abu Saeed Khudri, Hazrat Hudhayfah bin Yaman, Hazrat Jundub bin Abdullah Bajli, Hazrat Rafi bin Khadij, Hazrat Samura bin Jundub, Hazrat Imran bin Husayn, Hazrat Kaab bin Ujrah, Hazrat Muawiyah bin Abi Sufyan, Hazrat Abu Darda, Hazrat Abu Qatadah, Hazrat Uthman bin Abi Al-As, Hazrat Abu Bakra Thaqafi and the Mother of the Believers Hazrat Aisha Siddiqah (may Allah be pleased with her).

Similarly, he also learned from many prominent followers, including Humaid bin Abdur Rahman Al-Hamiri, Abdullah bin Shafiq, Abdur Rahman bin Abi Bakrah, Ubaidah Salmani, Qais bin Ibad, Kathir bin Aflah, Muslim bin Sayyar, Yunus bin Jubayr, Abu Muttalib Jarami, Mahlab, Hafsa, Yahya bin Abi Ishaq Al-Hadrami, and Khalid Zadda, may God have mercy on him.

In addition to these elders, Imam Ibn Sirin (may Allah have mercy on him) also acquired knowledge and hadith from many prominent followers, due to which he came to be considered one of the greatest scholars of his time.

Student of Imam Ibn Sirin

A large group of followers and followers of Imam Muhammad bin Sirin (may Allah have mercy on him) learned from him. His famous students include Ayub Sakhtiani, Khalid Zahabi, Dawood bin Abi Hind, Abdullah bin Aun, Yunus bin Ubaid, Jarir bin Hazim, Ash’ath, Habib bin Shaheed, Asim Ahul, Awf Al-Arabi, Qatadah, Sulayman Taymi, Qara bin Khalid, Malik bin Dinar, Mahdi bin Maimoon, Imam Awza’i and Ali bin Zaid bin Jadaan (may Allah have mercy on them).

It is narrated from Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal (may Allah have mercy on him) that Imam Muhammad bin Sirin narrated hadiths from Hazrat Imran bin Husayn, Hazrat Abu Hurairah and Hazrat Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with them), but he did not directly narrate any hadith from Hazrat Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them).

Khalid al-Dhahab (may Allah have mercy on him) states that when Imam Ibn Sirin used to say about a tradition, “It reached me from Ibn Abbas,” what he meant was that he had heard that tradition from ‘Ikrimah (may Allah have mercy on him), the disciple of Hazrat Abdullah ibn Abbas (may Allah have mercy on him), whom he had met during the time of Mukhtar al-Thaqafi.

According to Imam Bukhari (may Allah have mercy on him), Imam Muhammad bin Sirin performed Hajj during the reign of Hazrat Abdullah bin Zubair (may Allah be pleased with him). During this journey, he also narrated hadiths from Hazrat Abdullah bin Zubair and Hazrat Zaid bin Thabit (may Allah be pleased with them).

The Trustworthiness and Scholarly Status of Imam Ibn Sirin

Imam Muhammad ibn Sirin (may Allah have mercy on him) was a very credible, truthful, and trustworthy scholar of his time. Traditionists and jurists have always praised his honesty, knowledge, piety, and strong memory.

Sheikh Ibn Hajar Asqalani (may Allah have mercy on him) writes that Imam Ibn Sirin was perfect in knowledge, highly reliable in hadith, the master of dream interpretation, and held a high position in piety and piety. He was distinguished by his strong character and steadfastness.

Muriq Ijli (may Allah have mercy on him) says that he has not seen anyone like Imam Ibn Sirin in piety, jurisprudence, and caution.

Abu Qalaba (may Allah have mercy on him) used to say, "Where else could anyone have the ability like Imam Ibn Sirin!” He was extremely cautious in matters of religion, as if he were walking on the edge of a sword.

Al-Sha’bi (may Allah have mercy on him) used to advise people to seek the company of Imam Ibn Sirin, because from him one can learn both knowledge and action.

Abdullah ibn Aun (may Allah have mercy on him) states that Imam Ibn Sirin used to be very careful with words when narrating hadiths. He would try to cite the original words instead of narrating the narration in his own words.

Hisham ibn Hassan (may Allah have mercy on him) used to say that he had never seen a more truthful and reliable narrator in his life than Imam Ibn Sirin.

Ibn Saad (may Allah have mercy on him) wrote that Imam Ibn Sirin was a very trustworthy, high-ranking, and highly-esteemed Imam.

According to Ibn Madini (may Allah have mercy on him), Imam Ibn Sirin was among the famous students of Hazrat Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him).

Abu Qalaba (may Allah have mercy on him) used to say that no matter from which perspective you look at Imam Ibn Sirin, he was honest, pious, and self-controlled in every respect.

Abdullah bin Aun (may Allah have mercy on him) says that he saw great men like Imam Ibn Sirin in Iraq, Qasim bin Muhammad in Hijaz, and Raja bin Haywa in Syria, but among all three, Imam Ibn Sirin was the most distinguished.

Uthman Taymi (may Allah have mercy on him) says that no scholar with greater knowledge of jurisprudence and jurisprudence passed through Basra than Imam Muhammad ibn Sirin.

Imam Ibn Sirin’s high position in the science of Hadith

The most important principle in the science of hadith is that a hadith or incident should be narrated by the person who saw the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) himself saying or doing that thing. If the narrator did not see the Prophet (ﷺ) directly, he narrates the names of all the narrators above him in order. This is called the chain of transmission .

The hadith scholars did not just narrate traditions, but also examined the life of each narrator. They investigated whether the narrator was honest and truthful, what was his memory, and what was the state of his piety, piety, understanding, and character, so that only the correct and reliable hadiths would come forward.

This task was very difficult, but the hadith scholars dedicated their entire lives to this purpose. They traveled to different cities and villages, met with narrators, learned about their circumstances, and investigated their truthfulness and trustworthiness.

To protect the Hadith, they did not care about the position or status of any person. Whether he was a ruler or a great scholar, if it was necessary to examine his narration, his circumstances would also be examined impartially. Thanks to this hard work, the Hadiths of the Prophet have reached the Ummah in a safe form today.

Imam Ibn Sirin’s principle in Hadith narration

Imam Muhammad ibn Sirin (may Allah have mercy on him) was considered one of the great Imams of Hadith. He not only narrated Hadiths himself, but also played an important role in their research and verification.

He adopted an important principle for the transmission of hadith. He used to say that hadith should be taken only from reliable scholars of Ahlus Sunnah wal Jama’ah. The traditions of Rawafidh, Khawarij, Mu’tazilah and other innovators should not be accepted, so that false things would not be added to the religion.

Imam Shams al-Din al-Dhahabi (may Allah have mercy on him) narrates that Imam Ibn Sirin said:

In the beginning, people did not pay much attention to the chain of transmission while narrating hadith, but when various seditions arose and the people of innovation also started narrating hadiths, we started checking the narrators. We accepted the narrations of the people of Sunnah and did not accept the narrations of the people of innovation.

This principle proved to be very important for the preservation of the science of hadith. If this method of researching and verifying narrators had not been adopted at that time, it would have been very difficult to distinguish between authentic and weak or fabricated narrations today.

Death of Imam Muhammad Ibn Sirin

In the last days of his life, Imam Muhammad ibn Sirin (may Allah have mercy on him) had separated himself from worldly affairs. He spent most of his time in worship of Allah Almighty, remembrance of Him, recitation of the Quran, austerity, and struggle.

During this time, he became seriously ill. Finally, on 4 Shawwal 110 AH, this great scholar, hadith scholar, and dream-teller departed from this world.

Muhammad bin Zaid (may Allah have mercy on him) states that Imam Hasan Basri (may Allah have mercy on him) passed away on the 1st of Rajab 110 AH, and he attended his funeral. About a hundred days later, Imam Muhammad bin Sirin (may Allah have mercy on him) also passed away at the age of 77.

With his death, the nation lost a great scholar who forever made his name known in the fields of Hadith, Jurisprudence, Taqwa, and especially dream interpretation.