The Madīnan School: ʿUbaydullāh ibn ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUtbah
He is Abū ʿAbdillāh ʿUbaydullāh ibn ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUtbah ibn Masʿūd al-Hudhalī al-Madanī (raḥimahullāh), one of the Seven Fuqahāʾ of Madīnah, known as the blind scholar of the city. Born in Madīnah during the caliphate of ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb or shortly thereafter (around the mid-20s AH or earlier). His grandfather ʿUtbah was the full brother of ʿAbdullāh ibn Masʿūd.
His father was ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUtbah, and his brothers included the noted worshipper and narrator ʿAwn ibn ʿAbdullāh, as well as Ḥamzah and others. His mother was an umm walad.
He sought knowledge from the senior Companions with long companionship, especially from Ibn ʿAbbās, whom he accompanied for an extended period. He also narrated from ʿĀʾishah, Abū Hurayrah, Ibn ʿUmar, Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī, Fāṭimah bint Qays, Umm Salamah, and others. He became one of the most learned men of Madīnah in ḥadīth, fiqh, and poetry. He served as a tutor and close advisor to ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz in his youth, shaping the future caliph’s understanding and character. ʿUmar later said that a single sitting with ʿUbaydullāh was more beloved to him than the world, and that he would purchase a night of his company with a thousand dīnārs from the bayt al-māl because of the lasting benefit it brought to the Muslims.
His major students included Muḥammad ibn Shihāb az-Zuhrī, Abū az-Zinād, Ṣāliḥ ibn Kaysān, and others. Az-Zuhrī said of him: “He was an ocean of the oceans of knowledge,” and that he never sat with him without finding fresh knowledge. He was known for prolonging his prayers and not cutting them short for anyone.
He was known for his words of wisdom and knowledge. He composed poetry and prose and was a man of high intellect.
Among the trials of his later life was the gradual loss of his eyesight, after which he continued teaching.
His transmissions, fatāwā, and influence on ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz form part of the core of the Madīnan school. He died in Madīnah around the year 98 or 99 AH (some reports say 94 AH – the Year of the Fuqahā).
(Named by an-Nasāʾī among the Tābiʿīn of the fuqahāʾ of Madīnah, after Abū Salamah ibn ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān.)
