Abu al-Hasan 'Ali ibn Muhammad al-Bazdawi (Arabic: أبو الحسن علي بن محمد البَزدَوي) (c. 1010-1089 A.D.), known with the honorific title of Fakhr al-Islam (the pride of Islam), was a leading Hanafi scholar in the principles of Islamic jurisprudence. He is author of the acclaimed Kanz al-Wusul ila Ma'refat al-Usul (Arabic: کنز الوصول إلی معرفة الأصول, lit.'The Treasure of Obtaining in Knowledge of Legal'), popularly known as Usul al-Bazdawi, a seminal work in Hanafi Usul al-Fiqh.

Abu al-Hasan al-Bazdawi
أبو الحسن البَزدَوي
TitleFakhr al-Islam
فخر الإسلام
Personal life
Born400 A.H. = c. 1010 A.D.
Bazda (40 kilometers from the medieval town of Nasaf, near Bukhara)
Died482 A.H.= 1089 A.D.
EraIslamic Golden Age
RegionTransoxiana (Central Asia)
Main interest(s)Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), Usul al-Fiqh
Notable work(s)Usul al-Bazdawi
Religious life
ReligionIslam
DenominationSunni
JurisprudenceHanafi
CreedMaturidi
Muslim leader
Influenced by

'Abd al-Qadir ibn Abi al-Wafa' al-Qurashi (d. 775/1373) has praised him in his Hanafi biographical dictionary, Al-Jawahir al-Mudiyya fi Tabaqat al-Hanafiyya (Arabic: الجواهر المضية في طبقات الحنفية).[1]

Works

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His most famous book is Kanz al-Wusul ila Ma'refat al-Usul (Arabic: کنز الوصول إلی معرفة الأصول), popularly known as Usul al-Bazdawi, which is a seminal book in Hanafi Usul al-Fiqh and was a standard teaching text for centuries.[2]

In this work, he focuses on issues such as rules and methods of determining a variety of sources and methods for making the right decision and discourses on rules of working with texts, and so on. The Uzbek Academy of Sciences has more than a dozen copies of this work.

The book has generated numerous commentaries, the most popular of which being Kashf al-Asrar (Arabic: کشف الأسرار، شرح أصول البزدوي) by 'Abd al-'Aziz al-Bukhari (d. 730/1329).

His other works include:[3]

  • Sharh al-Jami' al-Kabeer, and Sharh al-Jami' al-Sagheer (Commentaries on al-Jami' al-Kabeer, and al-Jami' al-Sagheer by Muhammad al-Shaybani).
  • Sharh al-Jami' al-Sahih (Commentary on Sahih al-Bukhari).
  • Al-Mabsut fi Furu' al-Fiqh (An Extensive Book on Branches of Fiqh).
  • Kitab al-Muyassar fi al-Kalam (Elementary Hand-book for Dialectical Theology), a manuscript of which still survives.[4]

He also wrote on Tafsir (Qur'anic exegesis).

Teachers

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Al-Bazdawi studied under Shams al-A'imma 'Abd al-'Aziz al-Halwani (d. 456/1064) who was also a teacher to Al-Sarakhsi.[2]

Students

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ Al-Jawahir al-Mudiyya fi Tabaqat al-Hanafiyya, by 'Abd al-Qadir al-Qurashi. January 2005. ISBN 9782745147677.
  2. ^ a b 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.
  3. ^ A Brief Biography of Fakhr al-Islam al-Bazdawi. January 2005. ISBN 9782745129833.
  4. ^ Ahmad Hasan Dani, Vadim Mikhaĭlovich Masson, Clifford Edmund Bosworth (1992). History of Civilizations of Central Asia: The Age of Achievement. Part 2. Unesco. p. 128. ISBN 9789231036545.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)