[Biography of the Author]

[His Name and Lineage:]

He is Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad ibn Idris ibn al-Mundhir al-Hanzali al-Razi, known by the kunya Abu Muhammad, and famous as Ibn Abi Hatim.

His family's origin was from Isfahan, then they moved to Rayy, which is a large city among the cities of Daylam (1).

[His Birth:]

He was born in the year 240 AH (2).

[His Upbringing:]

Ibn Abi Hatim grew up under the care of his father, who planted in him the spirit of knowledge and piety, so he memorized the Noble Qur’an at a young age.

Ibn Abi Hatim said: "My father did not allow me to occupy myself with Hadith until I had read (recited) the Qur’an to al-Fadl ibn Shadhan; then I wrote down Hadith" (3).

[His Devotion and Piety]

Abu Abd Allah al-Qazwini said: (If you pray with Abd al-Rahman, then surrender yourself to him so he may do with it as he wishes).

And Ahmad ibn Abd Allah al-Naysaburi said: (We were with Abd al-Rahman while he was reading to us the [book of] al-Jarh wa al-Ta'dil which he had authored. Yusuf ibn al-Husayn al-Razi entered, sat down, and said: "O Abu Muhammad, what is this?

He replied: "I am clarifying the conditions of the scholars, who among them is reliable (thiqah) and who is not."

Yusuf said to him: "Are you not ashamed before Allah the Almighty to mention people who have settled their belongings in Paradise, or with Allah, for a hundred or two hundred years, and you backbite them?"