Abū ʿĀṣim al-ʿAbbādī (985–1066), called al-Qāḍī al-Harawī,[1] was a Shāfiʿī judge and jurist from Herat.

Life

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

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

  1. ↑ Schacht 1960; Ephrat 2014. "al-Harawī" is a nisba meaning "from Herat".
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Haj Manouchehri 2015.
  3. ↑ 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.
  4. ↑ Ephrat 2014.
  5. ↑ Haj Manouchehri 2015; Schacht 1960; Ephrat 2014.
  6. 1 2 Schacht 1960.
  7. ↑ Schacht 1960; Ephrat 2014.
  8. ↑ 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."
  9. ↑ Haj Manouchehri 2015; Ephrat 2014.
  10. ↑ 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

  • Ephrat, Daphna (2014). "al-ʿAbbādī". In Fleet, Kate; Krämer, Gudrun; Matringe, Denis; Nawas, John; Rowson, Everett (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam (3rd ed.). Brill Online. ISSN 1873-9830.
  • Haj Manouchehri, Faramarz (2015). "Al-ʿAbbādī, Abū ʿĀṣim". In Farhad Daftary (ed.). Encyclopaedia Islamica. Translated by Rahim Gholami. Brill. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
  • Schacht, Joseph (1960). "al-ʿAbbādī". In Gibb, H. A. R.; Kramers, J. H.; Lévi-Provençal, E.; Schacht, J.; Lewis, B. & Pellat, Ch. (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam. Volume I: A–B (2nd ed.). Leiden: E. J. Brill. p. 5. OCLC 495469456.
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