Abu al-Yusr al-Bazdawi

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Abu al-Yusr al-Bazdawi
أبو الْيُسر الْبَزْدَوي
TitleSadr al-Islam
صدر الإسلام
Personal
Born421 A.H. = c. 1030 A.D.
Died493 A.H. = 1100 A.D.
ReligionIslam
EraIslamic Golden Age
RegionMa Wara' al-Nahr (the land which lies beyond the river), Transoxiana (Central Asia)
DenominationSunni
JurisprudenceHanafi
CreedMaturidi
Main interest(s)Aqidah, Kalam (Islamic theology), Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence)
Notable work(s)Kitab Usul al-Din
Muslim leader
Influenced

Abu al-Yusr al-Bazdawi (Arabic: أبو الْيُسر الْبَزْدَوي) (c.1030-c.1100), who was given the honorific title of Sadr al-Islam, was a prominent Central Asian Hanafi-Maturidi scholar and a qadi (judge) in Samarqand in the late eleventh century. He was a teacher to several well-known Hanafi scholars, such as Najm al-Din 'Umar al-Nasafi and 'Ala' al-Din al-Samarqandi (who was a teacher to Al-Kasani).

Name[edit]

Abu al-Yusr Muhammad b. Muhammad b. al-Hussein b. 'Abd al-Karim b. Musa b. Mujahid al-Nasafi al-Bazdawi.[1]

The attribution al-Bazdawi indicates that he or his family originated from Bazda or Bazdawa, a small town with a castle on the road between Nasaf and Bukhara.[2]

He was the younger brother of Fakhr al-Islam Abu al-Hassan al-Bazdawi, the author of Kanz al-Wusul, also known as Usul al-Bazdawi.

Birth[edit]

He was born around the year 421 A.H. (1030 A.D.) and received his earliest education in Maturidism disciplines from his father.[3] His grandfather Abu Muhammad 'Abd al-Karim b. Musa al-Bazdawi (d. 390 AH/1000–1001 CE), who was a student of al-Maturidi, and his elder brother Fakhr al-Islam 'Ali b. Muhammad al-Bazdawi (d. 482–483 AH/1089–1090 CE) were leading Hanafi scholars and wrote many books.[4]

Teachers[edit]

Students[edit]

Some of his well known students were Najm al-Din 'Umar al-Nasafi and 'Ala' al-Din al-Samarqandi (who was a teacher to 'Ala' al-Din al-Kasani).[6][7]

Works[edit]

He was the author of several works on law, including a commentary on the major work of Abu Hanifa, after whom the Hanafi school was named, and a commentary on a work of Abu Hanifa's student Muhammad al-Shaybani, who was one of the founders of the Hanafi school.[8]

The most important of his books which remain is Kitab Usul al-Din (edited with a biographical introduction by Hans-Peter Linss).[9]

Al-Bazdawi's Kitab Usul al-Din, as described by Hans-Peter Linss, comprises:[10]

  1. a short review of all literature of the heretics on dogma and theology in Islam;
  2. a Hanafi-Sunni orthodoxy defence against the dissenting opinions and teachings of the heretical sects; and
  3. a study on the heterodox factions in Islam, their subdivisions and their most important leaders.

Al-Bazdawi was also the author of Ma'rifat al-Hujaj al-Shar'iyya (Arabic: معرفة الحجج الشرعية) in Usul al-Fiqh.[11][12]

Dr. Haytham Abdul-Hamid Khazna (Arabic: هيثم عبد الحميد خزنة) said in his book Tatawur al-Fikr al-Usuli al-Hanafi (Arabic: تطور الفكر الأصولي الحنفي) that this book should not be attributed to Abu al-Yusr al-Bazdawi, because the books of Tarajim (biographies and bibliographies) didn't mention it, and because the book is weak in style analysis.[13]

Death[edit]

After serving for a period of time as a magistrate in Samarqand, he eventually moved to Bukhara and died there in 493 A.H. (1100 A.D.).[14]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Siyar A'lam al-Nubala'". Islamweb.net.
  2. ^ Journal for the History of Arabic Science, Volumes 7-8. Institute for the History of Arabic Science, University of Aleppo. 1983. p. 4.
  3. ^ Wan Jamaluddin. "AL-PALIMBANI'S THOUGHT IN HIS SUFISTIC WORK" (PDF). Study on Manuscript in Saint Petersburg-Russia titled: «A Gift for those, who Seeks The Real Faith». p. 174.
  4. ^ "BAZDAWI ABU AL YUSR (421H/1030CE-493H/1100CE)". Islamic Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on 2019-03-29. Retrieved 2019-03-29.
  5. ^ Hanif, Sohail, 2019, "Al-Hadith al-Mashhur: A Hanafi Reference to Kufan Practice?", in Locating the Shari'a: Legal Fluidity in Theory, History and Practice by Sohaira Siddiqui (ed.), Brill Publications, Leiden, 2019.
  6. ^ Talal Al-Azem (2016). Rule-Formulation and Binding Precedent in the Madhhab-Law Tradition. Brill Publishers. p. 70. ISBN 9789004323292.
  7. ^ Sohaira Siddiqui (2019). Locating the Sharia: Legal Fluidity in Theory, History and Practice. Brill Publishers. p. 99. ISBN 9789004391710.
  8. ^ Journal for the History of Arabic Science, Volumes 7-8. Institute for the History of Arabic Science, University of Aleppo. 1983. p. 4.
  9. ^ The Pakistan Philosophical Journal, Volume 14. Pakistan Philosophical Congress. 1975. p. 18.
  10. ^ Wan Jamaluddin. "AL-PALIMBANI'S THOUGHT IN HIS SUFISTIC WORK" (PDF). Study on Manuscript in Saint Petersburg-Russia titled: «A Gift for those, who Seeks The Real Faith». p. 174.
  11. ^ The Pakistan Philosophical Journal, Volume 14. Pakistan Philosophical Congress. 1975. p. 18.
  12. ^ Arabic Edition & Index by M. Bernand & Eric Chaumond, IFAO, Cairo, 2003.
  13. ^ "A Brief Biography of Sadr al-Islam Abu al-Yusr al-Bazdawi, by Dr. Haytham Abdul-Hamid Khazna".
  14. ^ The Pakistan Philosophical Journal, Volume 14. Pakistan Philosophical Congress. 1975. p. 18.

External links[edit]

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