Ibn Al-Mubarak’s Kitāb Al-Jihād and Early Renunciant Literature

ʿAbd Allāh b. al‑Mubārak (d. 181/797) was a famous traditionist, born in Marv in 118/736–7 or 119/737.1 He was a client to the Banī Ḥanẓala, and the Kufan traditionist al‑ Aʿmash is said to have declared: ‘I will not relate ḥadīth to a group that includes this Turk.’2 (This story may have come from speculation as to why he related so little of al‑Aʿmash, yet be nonetheless accurate as to his ethnic identity and prejudice against it.) He first visited Iraq in 141/758–9 in his early twenties.3 He collected ḥadīth in Yemen, Syria, Egypt, Basra and Kufa. Several stories of his munificence indicate that he was a wealthy trader.4 Numerous stories indicate an early adherence to Kufan jurisprudence or Abū Ḥanīfa in particular, from which he broke off late in life; for example, half of the biography of al‑ʿIjlī (d. 261/874–5) is taken up by evidence of Ibn al‑Mubārak’s having renounced his early acceptance of nabīdh (date wine) – a notorious Kufan position.5