Uthman bin Sa`eed Ad-Darimi (200 – 280H)

Uthman bin Sa`eed Ad-Darimi
(200 – 280 H.)

Prepared by: Um Abdullah al-Misawi
for : as-salaf.com

Al-Hafidh Uthman bin Saeed bin Khalid Ad-Darimi As-Sijistani
His Kunya: Abu Saeed (1).
His Birth: Shortly before 200 Hijri. (2)
He lived in Herat, and traveled many regions, he traveled to Hijaz, Iraq, Sham (3), Egypt, and other countries. He stayed in Jurjan (4) in 273 H. (5)

He met in those lands the prominant Huffadh (scholars of hadith) and Imams, the ones that he learned from:

* In Hijaz:
– Ibn Abi Owais.

* In Iraq:
– Musa bin Ismail At-Tabudhaki
– Sulaiman bin Harb
– Ahmad bin Yunus
And others.

In Sham:
– Yahya bin Saleh
– Yazid bin Abd Rabeh
– Haywah bin Shuraih
And others.

* In Egypt:
– Saeed bin Abi Maryam
– Abdel Ghaffar bin Dawud
– Nuaim bin Hammad
And others. (6)

He learned Hadith and its sciences from:
– Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal
– Ishaq bin Rahwaih
– Yahya bin Ma’een
– Ali bin al Madini
And others.

He studied Fiqh under Al-Buwaiti, the companion of Imam Shafi’i, and Arabic linguistics from Abu Abdullah Ibn Al-A`rabi. (7)

His Students:
– His son: Muhammad bin Uthman. (8)
– Al Mu’ammal bin Al-Hasan bin Isaa.
– Abul Abbas Ahmad bin Al-Azhar.
– Ahmad bin Muhammad bin Abdoos At-Tara’ifi.
– Hamed Ar-Rafa’
And others. (9)

His Life And Scholars’ views of Him:

– Ibn Hibban mentioned him in Thiqat (Trustworthy ones), and said: “One of the Imams of the world, he narrates from Abu al Waleed and the people of Iraq.” (10)
– Ya’qub al Qarrab said: “I have not seen the like of Uthman b. Sa`id neither has he seen the like of himself. He studied Literature under Ibn Al-A’rabi, Fiqh under Abu Ya’qub al-Buwaiti, and Hadith from Yahya bin Ma’een and Ali bin al Madini. He was leading in these sciences, may Allah have mercy on him.”
– Muhammad bin al Mundhir said: “I heard Abu Zur’ah Ar-Razi, and I asked him about Uthman bin Saeed, so he said:’ He has been gifted in authoring fine works.’ ”
– Abul-Fadl al-Jarudi said: “He was an Imam to be followed in his lifetime and after his death.”
Al-Hasan bin Saheb Ash-Shashi said: “I asked Abu Dawud As-Sijistani (11) about Uthman bin Saeed, so he said: ‘ From him we learned Hadith.’ ” (12)
Abu Hamid Al-A’mashi said: “I have not seen from the Muhaditheen anyone like Muhammad bin Yahya, Uthman bin Saeed [Ad-Darimi], and Ya’qbu bin Sufyan.” (13)

Abu Uthman As-Sabuni narrated with his own chain that Imam Qutaibah bin Saeed said at the end of his book “al Iman”:
“If you see a man loving Sufyan Ath-Thawri, Malik bin Anas, Al-Awza’i…” and he mentioned a number of Imams, then he said: “Then know that He is upon the Sunnah.” Then Abu Uthman As-Sabuni said: “And I added to those that Qutaibah rahimahulllah mentioned: That whomever loves them, he is upon the Sunnah, from the Imam of Hadith whom are to be followed, and to be upon their guidance… from them are: Muhammad bin Idrees Ash-Shafi’i…” and he mentioned a number of scholars, from them was: Uthman bin Saeed Ad-Darimi. (14)

Adh-Dhahabi said about him: “The Imam, Allamah, the Hafidh, the Critic … he was persevere upon the Sunnah, and well-versed in debating.”
He also said: “Uthman ad-Darimi was like a tree trunk in the eyes of the innovators’ (15), and it was said that he is the one who stood up against Muhammad bin Karram – whom the sect al-Karramiyah are attributed to – and exiled him from Herat.” (16)

Taj Ad-Deen As-Subki said about him: “One of the Trustworthy scholars, and whom was mentioned by Al-Abbadi in his “Tabaqat” saying: ‘ The Imam of Hadith and Fiqh…) (17)

Al-Hasan Ahmad bin Muhammad bin Abdoos said:
“When I wanted to travel to Uthman bin Saeed Ad-Darmi, I came to Abu Bakr Muhammad b. Ishaq b. Khuzaimah, and I asked him to write to him for me, so he wrote to him. I entered Herat in Rabee’ al Awwal, 280 H. I went to Uthman bin Saeed, and delivered the letter to him. He read it and welcomed me, and asked me how Abu Bakr Ibn Khuzaimah was doing, then he said to me: ‘When did you arrive?’
I said: Tomorrow.
He said: ‘My son, go back to them, for you haven’t come yet.’
so I got embarrassed.
Then he said: ‘ Don’t be shy my son, for I have resided in your country for two years, and your shaikhs at that time were able to bear from me things like this.’ ” (18)

His Works:
– A large Musnad (19)
– Ar-Rad ala al-Jahmiya (Refuting Jahmiya)
– Naqd or Ar-Rad ala Bishr al Mirrisi (Replying to the heretic Bishr al Mirrisi d. 218 H.) (20)

His Death:
He passed away in Dhul Hijjah, 280 Hijri.

His Statments in Some Matters of Belief (Aqeedah) :

– Tawheed:
Uthman Ad-Darimi said: “And the meaning of Tawheed in the Ummah is saying: ‘La Ilaha Illa Allah Wahdahu La Sharika Lahu’ (21).” (22)

– Istiwa and Allah’s Elevation:
He said:
“And the Muslims have agreed that Allah is above His Throne, above His Heavens.” (23)
“And we knew, with no doubt, that Allah is above His Throne, above His Heavens, like He described Himself, separate from His creation.” (24)
“For Allah Tabaraka wa Ta’la is above His Throne, above His Heavens, separate from His creation, so whoever doesn’t know Him like this, then he doesn’t know His God Whom he worships.” (25)
He said in regards to Allah’s saying -translation of the meaning-: {And Pharoah said, “O Haman, construct for me a tower that I might reach the ways * The ways of the heavens, so that I may look at the God (Ilah) of Moses, but indeed, I think he is a liar.”} [40:36-37] :
“In these ayat is a clear explanation, and an obvious indicator that Musa was calling Fir’awn (Pharoah) to know that Allah is above the heaven, and because of that, he (Fir’awn) ordered to build a big tower, and wanted to see Him (Allah Ta’ala).” (26)

Allah being with His creation -Ma`iyyah-:
He said: «Some of them said: Let’s put aside the interpretation of scholars, we only depended on the Quran for evidence, so bring the Book of Allah. We said: ‘yes … however, you are ignorant of its meaning, so strayed from the straight path, and you clung to the middle of the ayah, and deliberately overlooked its beginning and its ending, because Allah –Azza wa Jal- began the verse with His knowledge of them, and ended it with that, He said: {Have you not seen that Allah knows whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is on the earth? There is no Najwa (secret counsel) of three, but He is their fourth…} until His saying: {and afterwards on the Day of Resurrection, He will inform them of what they did. Verily, Allah is the All-Knower of everything}, so this is evidence that He meant His knowledge of them and their deeds, not that He Himself is in every place with them as you claim.» (27)

On Tashbih in Allah’s Attributes:
He said:
«As there is nothing like Him (Allah), thus there is no hand like His Hand.» (28)
«As there is nothing like Him, there is no hearing like His Hearing, nor sight like His Sight, and there is nothing in creation that they can be compared, or likened or resembled to.» (29)
«All of these ahadeeth, and even more than it, mention the descending of the Lord, Most High; and the people of Fiqh and knowledge from our scholarly teachers are upon believing in them; none of them deny any of these ahadeeth or refrained from narrating them until this group (i.e. jahmiyyah) appeared, who then opposed the ahadeeth of the Messenger of Allah and expended great effort to oppose them, so they questioned: ‘How does He descend?’, to which we replied: ‘We were not commanded to know how He descends in our Religion, and our minds cannot comprehend/grasp it, and there is no creation that is equal to Him that we may equate His acts or attributes with.» (30)

On Seeing Allah in the Hereafter:
«When Allah put a restriction for seeing Him in the Hereafter with His saying: {Looking (ila) at their Lord (Allâh)} (i.e. with the preposition “ila” which means to/towards), we knew that it is the seeing of the eyes.» (31)

(1) “Abu” means: “The Father of”
(2) Siyar A’lam Nubala by Dhahabi (13/319)
(3) Sham consists of the following countries: Syria, Palestine, Jordan and Lebanon.
(4) also spelled “Gorgan”: is in North of Iran, East of the Caspian Sea
(5) Tarikh Jurjan (1/298)
(6) Tarikh Madinat Dimashq by Ibn Asakir (38/361); Siyar A’lam Nubala (13/319-320 &326); Tabaqat Shafi’ya Al Kubra by As-Subki (2/302-303)
(7) Al-Jarh wa Ta’deel by Ibn Abi Hatim (6/153); Tarikh Madinat Dimashq (38/365); Siyar A’lam Nubala (13/320)
(8) At-Thiqat by Ibn Hibban (8/455)
(9) Tarikh Madinat Dimashq (38/362); Siyar A’lam Nubala (13/320-321)
(10) Ath-Thiqat by Ibn Hibban (8/455)
(11) The author of the famous Sunan, know as “Sunan Abi Dawud”.
(12) Siyar A’lam Nubala (13/324-325)
(13) Tarikh Madinat Dimashq (38/363)
(14) Aqeedat As-Salaf Wa Ashab al-Hadeeth by As-Sabuni / Tahqiq: Abu Al-Yameen Al-Mansuri (p.112-113)
(15) In Arabic, the phrase “He is a speck in the eyes of so and so”, is an expression meaning that the person is a pain to them, causing them pain, harm or irritation, like a speck would irritate the eye. And here, Hafidh Adh-Dhahabi used the “tree trunk” instead of the “speck” as an exaggeration, to show how much pain he was to the people of innovation, because he stood up to them strongly, and was severe against their innovations.
(16) Siyar A’lam Nubala (13/320 & 322-323)
(17) Tabaqat Shafi’iya Kubra (2/302)
(18) Tarikh Madinat Dimashq (38/364-365)
(19) This is not the famous “Musnad Ad-Darimi” which was authored by Abu Muhammad Abdullah Ad-Darimi (181-255 H.)
(20) Siyar A’lam Nubala (13/319); Tabaqat Shafi’yah Kubra (2/304); Al-A’lam by Az-Zarkali (4/205)
(21) Translation: “None is worthy of worship except Allah, alone without associate.”
(22) Naqd Ad-Darimi (1/152)
(23) Naqd Ad-Darimi (1/340)
(24) Ar-Rad ala al-Jahmiya by Ad-Darimi (p.36)
(25) Ar-Rad ala al-Jahmiya (p.39)
(26) Ar-Rad ala al-Jahmiya (p.37)
(27) Ar-Rad ala al-Jahmiya (p.43)
(28) Naqd Ad-Darimi (1/299)
(29) Naqd Ad-Darimi (1/308)
(30) Ar-Rad ala al-Jahmiya (p.79)
(31) Naqd Ad-Darimi (2/821)