Abà « ÿAbdullÃÂh Muḥammad bin IsḥÃÂq Ibn Manda (d. 395/1004âÂÂ5) was an eminent Isfahani Sunni Hadith scholar of Persian origin.
In classical hadëth literature, the name "Ibn Manda" may refer to various individuals from a famous Iá¹£fahÃÂnë family dynasty of ḥadëtòhò scholars and historians which was active for nearly three centuries. The family descended from a Sassanian official, DòjòahÃÂrbukòhòt, said to have become a Muslim at the time of the Islamic Conquest of Persia, while the man after whom the family was named was IbrÃÂhëm (Manda) b. al-Walëd b. Sanda b. Buá¹Âá¹Âa b. UstandÃÂr al-FÃÂrà ÂzÃÂn b. DòjòahÃÂrbukòhòt. His death is placed during the caliphate of al-Mutasim. His son, Abà « ZakariyyÃÂþ YaḥyÃÂ, is counted as the first prominent scholar in the family. Two sons of Yahya are known, Abd al-RahmÃÂn (d. 320/932) and Muhammad (d. 301/913-14). Muhammad's son IshÃÂq (d. 341/953) was the father of the most renowned member of the family, Abu âÂÂAbdullÃÂh Muhammad b. IshÃÂq Ibn Manda, who was born in 310/922.
Abà « 'AbdullÃÂh Ibn Mandah was focussed on attaining religious education since his childhood and went on to receive instructions from venerable scholars as Ja'fer b. Muhammad ibn Musa `Alawi, Ahmad b. Zakariyya Maqdisi, `Abdullah b. Ahmad b. Hanbal and Ibn Hibban (d. 965). His travels are said to have spanned a period of thirty years and took him to places such as Marw, Bukhara, Egypt, TarÃÂblus, Nisapur and Mecca. He collected an extraordinary amount of hadith in his travels during which he supposedly encountered 1,700 shuyà «kh (teachers) and returned to IsfahÃÂn with roughly forty loads of books. The ImÃÂm Abu IshÃÂq ibn Hamzah commented that he did not find a peer among scholars of the stature of Ibn Mandah. The Sheikh of Herat, Isma`il Ansari (d. 375 A.H) said that Ibn Mandah was the chief scholar of his age.
Ibn Manda married late in life and had four sons, âÂÂAbdallah (d. 1070), âÂÂAbdal-RahmÃÂn (d. 1078), âÂÂAbdal-WahhÃÂb (d. 475/1082) and the little known âÂÂAbdal-Rahëm. Some of Abà « AbdullÃÂh's notable students were Al-Hakim Nishapuri and Ibn Mardaway (Mardà «ya) (323-410/935-1019). Abu-AbdullÃÂh died in Dhul-Hijja in 395 A.H (September 1005 CE). What follows is a list of some of the individual scholars associated with the Ibn Manda family:
His academic publications were primarily concerned history, biography and hadëth. He wrote on the history (seerah) of the Prophet Muhammad and, like his grandson, Yahyàb. âÂÂAbdal-WahhÃÂb, composed a History of Isfahan. Of his works there survive his comments on certain verses of the Quran and some prophetic traditions, under the title of ar-Radd ' ala al-Jahmiyya (Refutation of the Jahmites), but it may be noted that his son, âÂÂAbdal-RahmÃÂn, is credited with a similar if, apparently different work. Other additional works include at-Tawhëd wa-MaâÂÂrifat AsmÃÂâ Allah and parts of his MaâÂÂrifat al-sahÃÂba, which are both preserved in Damascus, and a treatise on "The men around Muhammad who lived 120 yearsâÂÂ.
Ibn Manda is reported to have been involved in a vicious dispute with his fellow âÂÂMuhaddith of the Age" and hometown rival, Abu NuâÂÂaym al-Isfahani (d. 1039), due to their differences in madhhab and theological contentions. He denounced Abu NuâÂÂaym on account of his supposed leanings toward kalÃÂm and banished him from the great congregational mosque of IsfahÃÂn, which was then dominated by Ibn Manda's Hanbali faction. Nevertheless, Ibn Manda taught hadëth to, and had an extremely close teacher-pupil relationship with, Abà « Mansur MaâÂÂmar ibn Ahmad al-IsfahÃÂnë (d. 1027), who was a prominent Hanbali Sufi and contemporary of Abu NuâÂÂaym in Isfahan who praised Ibn Manda as the model scholar of his age.