Zaynab bint ʿUmar b. al-Kindī

Who is Zaynab bint ʿUmar b. al-Kindī?

‘Zainab Bint ‘Umar Bin Kindi Bin Sa’eed Bin ‘Ali was a traditionist in 13th century Damascus and Baalbek.

She received permissions to narrate from Al-Muayid al-Tusi, Abu Ruh al-Harawi, Zainab al-Sha’riyah, Al-Qasim Ibn-al-Saaffar, Abdul-Baqa al-Uqbari, ‘Abdul-‘Adhim Bin ‘Abdal-Latif al-Sharabi and Ahmed Bin Zafar Bin Hubairah.

She was a teacher of al-Dhahabi, the Islamic historian and traditionist. Zainab was his teacher in Baalbek. Dhahabi learned the beginning of the Sahih Al-Bukhari from her as well as the beginning of the book of Al-Nikaah. He writes about her that she was "a righteous woman, generous, who possessed piety and charity. She built a hospice for the poor and she bequeathed religious endowments." Dhahabi also says that she was "without parallel in the time." He notes that his father, his maternal uncle, and many other people in Baalbek received the tradition from her.

Her husband was Nasir-al-Din Ibn Qarqin, the commissar of the Baalbek citadel. ‘Zainab died on the 29th of Jumadaa Al-Aakhirah at the Baalbek citadel at the age of ninety.