The Madīnan School: Sālim ibn ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUmar
He is Abū ʿUmar (or Abū ʿAbdillāh) Sālim ibn ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb al-ʿAdawī al-Qurashī (raḥimahullāh), one of the leading fuqahāʾ and ḥuffāẓ of Madīnah. Born in Madīnah during the Khilāfah of ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān. His father was the great Companion ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUmar (raḍiyallāhu ʿanhumā). His mother was an umm walad. He was named Sālim in honour of Sālim mawlā Abī Ḥudhayfah.
He grew up in the household of his father, absorbing the knowledge, the strict adherence to the Sunnah, and the careful following of the footsteps of the Prophet ﷺ that characterised Ibn ʿUmar. He narrated extensively from his father — so much so that Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah said he transmitted from him what cannot be counted for its abundance — as well as from other senior Companions. He became one of the most reliable transmitters of the knowledge of Ibn ʿUmar, and the chain az-Zuhrī → Sālim → Ibn ʿUmar is regarded by Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal and Isḥāq ibn Rāhawayh as among the most authentic chains.
He was counted among the great scholars of Madīnah whose fatwā was sought. Imām Mālik said of him: “There was no one in the time of Sālim more resembling those who had passed from the righteous, in zuhd, virtue, and way of living, than him.” The people of Madīnah used to dislike taking ummahāt al-awlād until there arose among them the noble masters ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn, al-Qāsim ibn Muḥammad, and Sālim ibn ʿAbdullāh, who surpassed the people of Madīnah in knowledge, piety, worship, and scrupulousness; thereafter people desired such mothers.
He was known for his zuhd and independence from the rulers. When Hishām ibn ʿAbd al-Malik entered the Kaʿbah and found Sālim there, he said to him, “Ask me for a need.” Sālim replied, “I am ashamed before Allāh to ask anyone other than Him in His House.” When they came out, Hishām repeated the offer. Sālim asked, “Is it a need of this world or of the Hereafter?” When Hishām said it was of this world, Sālim answered, “By Allāh, I have never asked this world from the One who owns it; how then should I ask it from one who does not own it?”
His major students included Muḥammad ibn Shihāb az-Zuhrī, his own sons, and many others. He died in Madīnah in Dhū al-Ḥijjah of the year 106 AH (some say 105). Hishām ibn ʿAbd al-Malik, returning from Ḥajj, prayed over him. The year was called “the Year of the Four Thousand” because of the great number of people who attended his funeral.
His vast transmissions from his father, his deep piety, and his standing among the scholars of Madīnah form an important part of the Madīnan school.
(Named by an-Nasāʾī among the Tābiʿīn of the fuqahāʾ of Madīnah, after al-Qāsim ibn Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr.)
