We have quoted from Imam Nu’aym’s “Kitab al Fitan wal Malahem”, The Book of Tribulations and War, through out this work so we considered that providing his biography is much needed, since some modern deviant sects have erroneously slandered his character.
His full name was Abu Abdillah Nu’aym ibn Ḥammad ibn Muawiyah al-Khuza’i al-Marwazi, he studied in Iraq and the Ḥijaz and settled in Egypt. He studied the science of hadith under many Ulamah (scholars) from amongst whom are: Abu Hamzah as-Sukkari, Abu Bakr ibn Ayyash, Ḥafṣ ibn Ghiyath, ibn Uyaynah, al-Faḍl ibn Musa, Abu Dawud al-Tiyalisi, Abdullah ibn Mubarak and others.
From amongst his most famous students are: Muḥammad ibn Ismail al-Bukhari the author of the famous “Sahih al Bukhari”, Yaḥyah ibn Ma’in, Abu Ḥatim ar-Razi, Abu Zur’ah ad-Dimashqi and there are many others.
Imam Nu’aym is considered to be the first person in Islam to have compiled a Musnad, a type of hadith collection were the narations it contains are arranged according to the name of the companion who narrated it, some famous Musnads are the Musnad of Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal and Musnad Abu Dawwud. This act is one of the most significant things in Islam, because the Prophet (saws) said who ever begins a sunnah, starts or invents something new, he will have the reward of it and the reward of every person after him who adopted and benefited from it, this tells us Imam Nu’aym’s status with Allah because he was one of the first compilers of Hadith collections which the entire Muslim Ummah later benefited from and emulated.
The Imam’s aḥadith are narrated in all the six famous books of Aḥadith besides Nasa’i, Imam Bukhari narrates from him in his celebrated al-Jami’ as-Ṣaḥih and Imam Muslim similarly narrates from him via al-Ḥasan al-Ḥalwani in the introduction of his Saḥiḥ Muslim.
What this means is that his character is established and beyond doubt because both Imam Bukhari and Imam Muslim narrated from him in their Sahih collection’s, these are the most rigorously authenticated collection’s in Islam, second in authority to only the Quran.
A hadith can only be found in them when all the men in it’s chain of narrators are beyond doubt, both Imam Bukhari and Muslim had the most stringent criteria of verification among all the scholars of Hadith and when a narration is found in both Bukhari and Muslim it is given a grading higher than Sahih and that is “Agreed upon”, it’s authenticity is therefor on par with the Quran becouse there is no doubt that it the prophets words himself (saws).
An example of this grading can be found in Imam Nawawi’s “Riyad al Saliheen” (Gardens of the Righteous), when the Imam Quotes a narration found in both Bukhari and Muslim it is given this grading.
Imam Nu’aym later in his life was imprisoned, in the year 223 Ah or 224 Ah, because of the fitna regarding the question of wether the Quran was created or not, this fitna was spread by the heretical Mutazilah sect, they forced scholars to declare their position on the matter after which they would either kill or imprison them if they held opposing views, hence he passed away in prison. Some scholars have recorded his passing in the year 228 Ah whilst other’s mentioned 229 Ah.
It is then beyond doubt that the Imam holds a very lofty place in the sight of Allah Ta’ala, as the prophet (saws) said “The best Jihad is proclaiming the truth in front of an oppressive ruler”. (Tirmidhi)