The Tabi‘i Ismail ibn Ubayd Allah ibn Abi al-Muhajir Al-Makhzumi and His Political and Religious Role

Abstract

This study addresses an important personality in Islamic history, one of the Tabiun who played a significant and influential role during the Umayyad period, particularly in Bilad al-Sham and North Africa in the second century AH. Within this context, the Tabi and hadith transmitter Ismail ibn Ubayd Allah ibn Abi al-Muhajir al-Makhzumi gained distinction and prominence among scholars as one of the leading narrators who contributed to transmitting hadith from the generation of the Companions, with whom he interacted and from whom he received religious knowledge. He earned the trust of hadith scholars and, in addition, transmitted historical accounts concerning the Umayyad caliphs as documented in historical works and biographical dictionaries.

The significance of this research lies in highlighting the scholarly status of this figure through a study of his intellectual and academic career in Bilad al-Sham, and in examining his religious and political role in North Africa. He made a notable contribution to hadith and jurisprudence, to the extent that he was counted among the most reliable scholars of al-Sham. This scholarly credibility earned him the confidence of the Umayyad caliphs. Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan entrusted him with the task of educating and training his sons due to his wisdom, purity of heart, eloquence, and mastery of religious sciences.

His political role emerged when Caliph Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz appointed him as governor of North Africa, where he combined the administration of the province with calling the Berbers to Islam. He succeeded in fully integrating them into Islam, thereby establishing political and social stability in the province.

Keywords: Ismail ibn Ubayd Allah , Ifriqiya  ,  Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf , Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz

Research Objectives

1. To highlight the personality and scholarly status of Ismail ibn Ubayd Allah.
2. To analyze his historical narrations and link them to the political and social context of the Umayyad period.
3. To clarify the role of the Tabiun in preserving and documenting the events of early Islamic history.

Methodology
The study employs an inductive-analytical method by collecting narrations related to Ismail from historical sources, biographical dictionaries, and hadith literature, and then analyzing them using a critical comparative approach. It also draws on the evaluations of hadith critics in al-jarh wa al-tadil (criticism and accreditation), in order to assess the reliability of these narrations and their impact on the writing of early Islamic history.