Abu Asim al-Abbadi
Abū ʿĀṣim al-ʿAbbādī (985–1066), called al-Qāḍī al-Harawī,[1] was a Shāfiʿī judge and jurist from Herat.
Life[edit]
Abū ʿĀṣim was born into a prominent family of Herat and, according to Ibn al-Samʿānī, could trace his ancestry back to a certain ʿAbbād al-Samʿānī.[2] His full name was Abū ʿĀṣim Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbād al-ʿAbbādī.[3] He began his studies in fiqh (jurisprudence) in Herat and continued them at Nishapur under ʿAbd al-Ghāfir al-Fārisī, Abū al-Ṭayyib al-Ṣuʿlūkī and Abū Isḥāq al-Isfarāyinī.[2]
According to the biographical dictionary of Tāj al-Dīn al-Subkī, al-ʿAbbādī belonged to the fourth generation of Shāfiʿīs.[4] He travelled widely to learn and transmit ḥadīth (tradition). Upon his return to Herat, he was appointed qāḍī (judge), in which position he served until his death.[5] He died in September 1066.[2] He left a son, Abu l-Ḥasan, who wrote a Kitāb al-Raḳm.[6]
Works[edit]
Al-ʿAbbādī wrote mainly on fiqh, but he also composed the first ṭabaqāt (biographical dictionary) devoted to a school of fiqh, in his case, the Shāfiʿīs. This book, Ṭabaqāt al-fuqahāʾ al-Shāfiʿiyya, is his only work to be independently preserved.[2] It survives in several manuscripts.[6] In addition, his Adab al-qaḍāʾ on the adab (etiquette) of judges, has survived in al-Ishrāf ʿalā Ghawāmiḍ al-Ḥukūmāt, a commentary written by his student, Abū Saʿd ibn Abī Aḥmad ibn Abī Yūsuf al-Harawī (died c. 1107).[7] The titles of other known works on judgeship include al-Aṭʿima and Aḥkām al-miyāh.[2]
In al-ʿAbbādī's lifetime, both Shāfiʿīs and Ḥanafīs were respected and influential in Greater Khurāsān and both received judgeships. Much of his work, therefore, was directed against the Ḥanafīs.[2] According to Ḥājjī Khalīfa, he wrote a thirty-volume compendium entitled al-Mabsūṭ.[8] The titles of several other works are known: Ziyādāt, Ziyādāt al-ziyādāt, Radd ʿalā al-Qāḍī al-Samʿānī and al-Hādī ilā madhāhib al-ʿulamāʾ.[9] All of these concerened the differences between the two schools of fiqh and the superiority of the Shāfiʿīs.[2]
Al-ʿAbbādī gained a reputation in his own time for his difficult style, which may explain the poor survival rate of his writings.[10]
Notes[edit]
- ^ Schacht 1960; Ephrat 2014. "al-Harawī" is a nisba meaning "from Herat".
- ^ a b c d e f g Haj Manouchehri 2015.
- ^ In this Arabic name, Abū ʿĀṣim is a kunya, the given name is Muḥammad, the four names which follow are a series of patronymics and al-ʿAbbādī is a family name. See Haj Manouchehri 2015; Schacht 1960; Ephrat 2014.
- ^ Ephrat 2014.
- ^ Haj Manouchehri 2015; Schacht 1960; Ephrat 2014.
- ^ a b Schacht 1960.
- ^ Schacht 1960; Ephrat 2014.
- ^ Haj Manouchehri 2015 defines the mabsūṭ genre as "a literary style which enters into great detail and argumentation, in contrast to mukhtaṣar, which synthesises and summarises."
- ^ Haj Manouchehri 2015; Ephrat 2014.
- ^ Haj Manouchehri 2015: "he wrote in a very abstruse manner", "during his lifetime he was notorious for his recondite style of expression"; Schacht 1960: "his dark and difficult style of expression"; Ephrat 2014: "his complicated style of literary expression".
Bibliography[edit]
- Ephrat, Daphna (2014). "al-ʿAbbādī". In Fleet, Kate; Krämer, Gudrun; Matringe, Denis; Nawas, John; Rowson, Everett (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam (3rd ed.). Brill Online. doi:10.1163/1573-3912_ei3_COM_24636. ISSN 1873-9830.
- Haj Manouchehri, Faramarz (2015). "Al-ʿAbbādī, Abū ʿĀṣim". In Farhad Daftary (ed.). Encyclopaedia Islamica. Translated by Rahim Gholami. Brill. doi:10.1163/1875-9831_isla_SIM_0008.
- Schacht, Joseph (1960). "al-ʿAbbādī". In Gibb, H. A. R.; Kramers, J. H.; Lévi-Provençal, E.; Schacht, J.; Lewis, B. & Pellat, Ch. (eds.). The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Volume I: A–B. Leiden: E. J. Brill. p. 5. doi:10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_0014. OCLC 495469456.