Ibn Rajab moves to Damascus with his father, 744

Ibn Rajab's father, the shaykh Shihab al-Din Ahmad ibn Rajab al-Baghdadi, moved with his children from Baghdad to Damascus in 744 AH, when Ibn Rajab was about eight years old; the father had already heard from the masters of Baghdad before the move. ^{1 2}

His father saw to his education, above all in hadith, and Ibn Rajab became a master of isnad-craft and the science of hidden defects before rising to the front rank of the Hanbali school, joining hadith and fiqh. ^{3 2}