Description

First: His name, lineage, and family name:

He is Imam Abu Muhammad Yaqoob bin Ishaq bin Zaid bin Abdullah bin Abi Ishaq Al-Hadhrami. From Basra, an eloquent master of grammar and recitation, he was born in Basra in the year 117 AH.

Second: His status and knowledge:

He was an imam and reciter, a virtuous grammarian, and one of the ten reputable reciters. In his time, he was an imam and reciter for the people of Basra. 

He was from a house of knowledge of recitations, Arabic language, the words of the Arabs (literature) and jurisprudence. In recitations, he had a famous narration transmitted from him, and he was followed in his choice by all of the Basra people after Abi Amro bin Al-Ala. Taher bin Abdul-Moneim bin Ghalboun, the imam of the mosque in Basra, does not recite except with the reciting of Yaqoob.

Ali Bin Jaafar Al-Saeedi said: “Yaqoob was the most prominent reciter of the people of his time and Abu Hatim was one of his students.

In addition to his knowledge and virtue, he was pious, pure, and ascetic. Concerning his asceticism, it was reported that his robe was stolen from his shoulder while he was in prayer but he did not feel it and it was returned to him without him feeling it because he was so pre-occupied with the worship of his Lord (Allah).

Third: His teachers of recitation:

Yaqoob received the recitation by way of: Salam bin Suleiman Al-Taweel Abi Al-Mundhir, on the authority of Mahdi bin Maymoon, and Abi Al-Ash’hab Al-Ataridi, and Muslamah bin Muhareb, and Yunus bin Obaid, and Muhammad bin Zuraiq Al-Kufi, on the authority of Asim, as well as others.

As for the attribution of Yaqoob in the recitation to the Messenger of God (pbuh): he recited before Salam bin Suleiman Al-Mathkoor, and Salam recited before Asim bin Abi Al-Nujud, and Asim recited before Abi Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami, and Abu Abd al-Rahman recited before Ali Ibn Abi Talib, may God be pleased with him, and Ali recited before the Messenger of God (pbuh).

Fourth: Narrators of his recitations:

Yaqoob became among the first leaders in reciting, and many people recited before him, including: Al-Waleed bin Hassan Al-Tawzi and Ahmed bin Abdul-Khaleq Al-Makfoof and Kaab bin Ibrahim and Hamid bin Wazir and Abu Omar Al-Douri, and others. Among the most famous students of Imam Yaqoob bin Ishaq were: Rawh bin Abdul-Mu’min Al-Basri and Muhammad bin Al-Mutawakkil Al-Basri, known as Ruwais.

Fifth: The transformations of propagation and extinction:

The current map of the spread of recitations in the Islamic world has undergone great transformations since the crystallisation of this science in the second and third centuries AH. 

Before Imam Ahmad bin Mujahid, who wrote his famous book “The Seven” in the year 300 AH, the people of Basra were on the recitations of Abi Amro al-Basri and Yaqoob al-Hadrami.

In the fifth century AH, the reciting of Yaqoob was dominant among the people of Basra, as indicated by the saying of Al-Hafiz Abi Amro Al-Dani: “Yaqoob was chosen by the majority of the people of Basra after Abi Amro Al-Basri.” However, the reciting of Aba Amro Al-Basri returned to Basra and prevailed in most of the Islamic world after the end of the fifth century AH.

The places the recitation is widespread today:

This recitation is not recited by the general public, rather it is circulated among scholars and reciters.

Sixth: His death:

Yaqoob died in the month of Dhu al-Hijjah in the year 205 AH, and he lived, as did his father Ishaq, and grandfather Zaid, to the age of 88, may God have mercy on them all.