Imām al-Nasāʾī

أبو عبد الرحمن أحمد بن شعيب النسائي - Imām al-Nasāʾī
known as: The Scholar of Ḥadīth Criticism and Compiler of al-Sunan al-Sughra (al-Mujtabā)

Early Life and Background

Imām al-Nasāʾī’s full name was Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Aḥmad ibn Shuʿayb ibn ʿAlī ibn Sinān ibn Bahr al-Khurāsānī al-Nasāʾī [أبو عبد الرحمن أحمد بن شعيب بن علي بن سنان بن بحر الخراساني النسائي].^1

He was born in 214 AH / 829 CE in Nasāʾ, a small town in the province of Khurasān (present-day Turkmenistan), a region that had produced many of the world’s greatest hadith masters — including al-Bukhārī and al-Tirmidhī.^2

From a young age, he was known for his sharp intellect and love for the Prophetic traditions. His early teachers in Khurasān recognized his rare talent for memorization, which led his family to send him abroad in pursuit of knowledge.^3

Youth and the Quest for Knowledge

At the age of about 15, al-Nasāʾī began his travels for knowledge (riḥlah fī ṭalab al-ʿilm - رحلة في طلب العلم).^4

He journeyed widely to the great centers of hadith learning: Kufa, Basra, Baghdad, Hijaz (Mecca and Medina), Syria, Egypt, and Transoxiana.^5

Among his most important teachers were:

Qutaybah ibn Saʿīd,
Ishāq ibn Rāhwayh - [إسحاق بن راهويه],
Hannād ibn al-Sarī [هناد بن السري],
ʿAlī ibn Ḥujr [علي بن حجر],
and Imām Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, from whom he narrated indirectly through intermediaries.^6

He met and learned from many of the same teachers as al-Bukhārī, Muslim, and al-Tirmidhī, giving him a distinguished place among their generation.

Through these journeys, he collected tens of thousands of ḥadīths, classifying and cross-verifying them with rigorous precision.^7

Scholarly Life and Teaching

After decades of travel, al-Nasāʾī eventually settled in Egypt, which at that time was a vibrant hub for hadith scholarship and jurisprudence.^8
He established himself as one of the leading ḥadīth critics (naqqād) of his generation.

His reputation in Egypt drew students from across the Islamic world, including:

Ibn Khuzaymah [ابن خزيمة],
Ibn al-Sunnī [ابن السني],
Abū Jaʿfar al-Ṭaḥāwī [أبو جعفر الطحاوي],
and Abū Bakr ibn al-Sunnī [أبو بكر بن السني].^9

He was also known for his humility, scrupulous piety, and personal asceticism. Contemporary biographers such as al-Dhahabī describe him as “one of the most righteous, elegant, and truthful of men.”^10

Works and Contributions

**1. Sunan al-Kubrā (The Major Sunan)**

Al-Nasāʾī’s magnum opus was the Sunan al-Kubrā, a monumental collection containing around 12 000 hadiths arranged by legal topics.^11
Its purpose was to be a comprehensive resource for scholars, including authentic narrations as well as those with minor weaknesses for comparative jurisprudence.

**2. Sunan al-Sughra (al-Mujtabā / al-Mujtana -** المجتبى / المجتنى)

At the request of scholars and students, Imām al-Nasāʾī later produced a refined selection from his Kubrā, called al-Mujtabā (literally “The Selected”).^12
This abridged version, containing about 5 700 hadiths, was compiled under the direction of scholarly peers to include only narrations that met his strictest criteria of authenticity.^13

It was this Sunan al-Sughra that ultimately entered the Kutub al-Sittah (Six Canonical Books) and became known simply as “Sunan al-Nasāʾī.”^14

3. Other Works

Work	Arabic Title	Subject	Notes
ʿAmal al-Yawm wa al-Laylah	عمل اليوم والليلة	Daily devotional acts and supplications	A detailed record of the Prophet’s ﷺ prayers and remembrances throughout the day and night, including morning and evening adhkār (أذكار).^15
Faḍāʾil al-Ṣaḥābah	فضائل الصحابة	Virtues of the Companions	Contains narrations on the merits of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib [علي بن أبي طالب] and other Companions. This work later stirred political controversy in Syria due to its impartial stance toward the early caliphs.^16
Tafsīr al-Nasāʾī (lost)	تفسير النسائي	Qurʾānic exegesis	Mentioned in classical bibliographical indexes (fihrasāt الكتب), but no complete manuscript has survived.
Khaṣāʾiṣ ʿAlī	خصائص علي	Exclusive virtues of Imām ʿAlī [الإمام علي]	Written amid sectarian polemics of his era; praised by later hadith critics for its fairness and moderation (iʿtidāl اعتدال).^17

Character, Controversy, and Final Years

Al-Nasāʾī’s unwavering honesty occasionally brought him into conflict with rulers and partisans.
During his visit to Damascus, he was asked to recite ḥadīths extolling Muʿāwiyah ibn Abī Sufyān. Instead, he chose to narrate authentic reports emphasizing the virtues of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, explaining that there were few sound reports of similar strength about Muʿāwiyah.^18

This stance angered certain political factions, leading to his assault in the mosque of Damascus, after which he was severely beaten.^19

He was transported to Ramla (Palestine), where he died from his injuries in 303 AH / 915 CE. Some accounts state he was later buried in Mecca, where he had intended to travel for pilgrimage.^20

Legacy

Imām al-Nasāʾī is remembered as one of the six canonical hadith compilers and a master of hadith criticism (ʿilm al-jarḥ wa al-taʿdīl - علم الجرح والتعديل).

His ranking system and precision surpassed many of his peers in accuracy; Ibn Ḥajar later described him as “the most critical and the most careful of all the compilers.”^21

Among the Six Books, Sunan al-Nasāʾī is noted for being the most concise and refined, with fewer weak reports than Sunan Abī Dāwūd or al-Tirmidhī.^22
His methodology continues to shape hadith authentication, and his devotional work ʿAmal al-Yawm wa al-Laylah remains a cornerstone in spiritual practice worldwide.

For his truthfulness and fearless defense of integrity, scholars honor him with the title Imām al-Muḥaddithīn wa al-Naqqād [إمام المحدثين والنقاد] — “The Leader of the Hadith Scholars and the Critic of Narrations.”^23

References

Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd ed., s.v. “al-Nasāʾī, Aḥmad ibn Shuʿayb.”
Jonathan A.C. Brown, Hadith: Muhammad’s Legacy in the Medieval and Modern World (Oxford: Oneworld, 2009), 69.
The Muslim Vibe, “A Short Biography of Imam al-Nasai,” accessed October 2025, https://themuslimvibe.com/faith-islam/a-short-biography-of-imam-al-nasai.
IslamicFinder.org, “Story of Imam al-Nasa’i,” accessed October 2025, https://www.islamicfinder.org/knowledge/biography/story-of-imam-al-nasai.
Brown, Hadith, 70.
Al-Dhahabī, Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ, vol. 14 (Beirut: Muʾassasat al-Risālah, 1982), 133.
Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī, Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb, vol. 1 (Cairo: Dār al-Maʿārif, 1968), 94.
Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd ed.
IslamOnline.net, “Imam al-Nasa’i (214–303 AH),” accessed October 2025, https://islamonline.net/en/imam-al-nasai.
Al-Dhahabī, Siyar, vol. 14, 134.
Sunnah.com, “About Sunan al-Nasa’i,” accessed October 2025, https://sunnah.com/nasai/about.
Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd ed.
Brown, Hadith, 71.
Mohammad Hashim Kamalī, A Textbook of Hadith Studies (Oxford: Islamic Foundation, 2005), 102.
Al-Dhahabī, Siyar, vol. 14, 136.
Ibn Kathīr, al-Bidāyah wa al-Nihāyah, vol. 11 (Cairo: Dār al-Fikr, 1986), 221.
OnePath Network, “The Life of Imam al-Nasa’i,” accessed October 2025, https://onepathnetwork.com/the-life-of-imam-al-nasai.
Al-Dhahabī, Siyar, vol. 14, 137.
Ibn Kathīr, al-Bidāyah wa al-Nihāyah, vol. 11, 223.
Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd ed.
Ibn Ḥajar, Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb, 95.
Kamalī, Textbook of Hadith Studies, 104.
Al-Dhahabī, Siyar, vol. 14, 139.