Yahya ibn Urwa

Yahya ibn Urwa ibn al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam (may God be pleased with him) al-Asadi, Abu Urwa of Medina, one of the transmitting sons of Urwa ibn al-Zubayr; al-Taqrib grades him "trustworthy, of the sixth layer" ¹.

Ibn Hajar writes in al-Taqrib: Yahya ibn Urwa ibn al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam al-Asadi, Abu Urwa of Medina — trustworthy, of the sixth layer; al-Bukhari, Muslim and Abu Dawud narrate from him ¹. The Kashif al-Dhahabi material embedded in this edition adds: he transmitted from his father, and his son Muhammad, his brother Hisham, and Ibn Ishaq transmitted from him — a reliable narrator ¹.

He belonged to a Medinan family famed for transmitting from Aisha and for recording hadith and the Prophet ﷺ's biography: his father Urwa ibn al-Zubayr is counted by many historians among the seven jurists of Medina, his brother Hisham ibn Urwa was one of the principal carriers of his father's knowledge, and his son Muhammad narrated from him ¹.

Yahya ibn Urwa was a Medinan scholar of the Successors; his father Urwa ibn al-Zubayr was one of the greatest scholars of Medina, so Yahya learned from his father and his brother and son learned from him — one link in a single chain of knowledge.

• Taqrib al-Tahdhib, entry 7608 (Majmu'at al-kutub scan, p. 665).
• Other sources give the life of his father Urwa and the deaths of his brothers at length; al-Taqrib reduces the entry to grading and layer.
• "Of the sixth layer" is al-Taqrib's ranking; narrators of that layer in Ibn Hajar's scheme are the younger Successors.