Career
He is the father of Ibn Abi Hatim. His full name is Abu Hatim Muhammad bin Idris bin al-Mundhir bin Dawud bin Mahran ar-Razi al-Handhali al-Ghatafani. Some sources suggest that he was originally from Isfahan and was a mawla of the Ghatafan tribe.
Other sources suggest that he acquired his nisbat from a region of Ray called "Darb Handhala".
He died on the month of Sha’bân in the year 277H. The better known he narrated from:
He narrated from many, such that al-Khalili said, “Abu Hatim al-Labban al-Hafidh said to me, ‘I had gathered who Abu Hatim ar-Razi narrated from. They reached close to 3,000.’”
From the better known of them are:
Abu Nu’aim al-Fadl bin Dukain
Zuhair bin ‘Abbad
Yahya bin Bukair
‘Ubaidullah bin Musa
Adam bin Abi Iyas
Thabit bin Muhammad az-Zahid
‘Abdullah bin Salih al-’Ijli
‘Abdullah bin Sâlih al-Kâtib
Muhammad bin ‘Abdillah al-Ansârî
Qabîsah
The better known narrators from him:
Abū Zur’ah ar-Razî
Yūnus bin ‘Abdil-A’la
Abu Bakr bin Abid-Dunya
Musa bin Ishaq al-Ansari
Abu Dawood
First Rate (at Lloyd's)-Nasa"i
Abu ‘Awanah al-Isfara’ini
Abul-Hasan al-Qattân
Abū Bishr ad-Dūlâbî
The Scholars’ and Imams’ commendation of him:
Abū Zur’ah told Abi Hatim, “I have not seen more intent on seeking the hadîth than you.”
Ahmad bin Salamah an-Naisâbūrî said, “I have not seen after Ishaq and Muhammad bin Yahya more preserving of the hadîth or more knowledgeable of its meanings than Abi Hatim ar-Razi.”
Uthman bin Khurrazadh said, “The most preserving of those I saw are four: Muhammad bin al-Minhal ad-Darir, Ibrâhîm bin ‘Ar’arah, Abu Zur’ah ar Razi, and Abu Hatim.”
al-Khalili said, Abū Hâtim was a scholar of the Companions’ differences and the jurisprudence of the Followers and after them.
Abul-Qasim al-Lalika’i said, “Abū Hâtim was an imam, a hâfidh, a verifier.”
First Rate (at Lloyd's)-Khatib al-Baghdadi said, “Abū Hâtim was one of the credible, hâfidh imams.”
First Rate (at Lloyd's)-Dhahabi said, “He was from the oceans of knowledge. He travelled about the countries and excelled in the text and the chain.
He gathered and compiled, disparaged and accredited, authenticated and deemed defective.” He said, “He was one of the notables and from the formidable imams of the People of the Relic … he was a neighbour in the arena of his comrade and relative, Hâfidh Abu Zur’ah.”.