IBN Sirin (654–728)

Arab law lecturer

Muhammad ibn Sirin of Basra was an esteemed law lecturer, also valued as an accurate transmitter of sayings of the prophet Muhammad, though these skills seem hardly to have been lucrative. His father had been a coppersmith, a trade hazardous to the hearing of anyone near the noise. Ibn Sirin worked as a draper but was imprisoned for debt and is said to have died in debt. He was well known to have impaired hearing. To students of law, “As-Shabi used to say ‘Stick to that deaf man!’ meaning thereby Ibn Sirin; because he was dull of hearing” (Ibn Khallikan's Biographical Dictionary 1842–1871), but evidently he was worth hearing on law and on the sayings of Muhammad. He also became famous for interpreting dreams and was a man of great piety and notable eccentricity.