Biographies

'Abdur-Rahman ibn 'Ali ibn Jafar al-Jawzi was born in the city of Baghdad in approximately 1114CE and grew up studying under the leading scholars of the time, including his uncle, Muhammad ibn Nasir al-Baghdadi, a scholar of Hadith, Fiqh and Arabic grammar.

Ibn al-Jawzi became an outstanding scholar of the twelfth century especially in the Hadith sciences for which he was titled "Al-Hafidh". He also was noted for his scholarship in the fields of history, linguistics, tafsir and fiqh. In fact, he became the leading scholar of the Hanbali Madhhab of his time and played an important role in reviving and spreading it, especially after the become a favorite of the Abassid Caliph, Al-Mustadi (1142-1180CE). In the year 1179, he had five schools in the capital in which he used to lecture. However, his enthusiasm for his madhhab had created ill feeling and jealousies amongst the other scholars. During the reign of Mustadi's son, Caliph Nasir ud-Dinillah (1159-1225CE), he was banished to Wasit, where he remained for five years.

In the year 1199, he was released and returned to Baghdad, where he died two years later. Ibn al-Jawzi lived to the ripe old age of 87 and was a prolific writer throughout most of his life. Recently, Professor 'Abdul-Hamid al-Aluji, an Iraqi scholar conducted research on the extent of ibn al-Jawzi's works and wrote a reference work in which he listed Ibn al-Jawzi's works alphabetically, identifying the publishers and libraries where his unpublished manuscripts could be found. The number of Ibn al-Jawzi's books reached a staggering total of three hundred and seventy six texts.

However, even this large number cannot be considered surprising given Ibn al-Jawzi's high regard for time. He was reported to have said, "many people used to pay me social visits and I likewise until I realised that time is a most noble and precious thing, and hence began to dislike visiting. However, I became caught between two possibilities; if I refused their visits, I would ultimately feel lonely and miss something I had become accustomed to, but if I accepted their visits, my time would be wasted. Consequently, I began to avoid visits to the best of my ability and if it became unavoidable, I would limit my conversation in order to hasten the visit’s end. I also prepared work to do during my visits so that no time would pass idly by."

(s) Tablis Iblis

An excellent scholar who dedicated his life to educating Muslims in the 4th Century (Hijri) in Tunisia.

Ibn Abi Zayd was known for his outstanding scholarship, excellent character and earnest worship. Because he was a Maliki scholar, some called him the "Young Malik."

Abu Muhammad, 'Abdullah ibn Abi Zayd was born in 310H (921CE) in the city of Al-Qayrawan, which still carries the same name in today's Tunisia. And, even though biographers did not know much about his early childhood, they wrote much about his childhood experiences in his city.

Times were tough for the Muslims of North Africa, who were struggling under the reign of the Ubaydi governors. The Ubaydah, which controlled North Africa around 279H, was a heretical shi'ah sect that was determined to abolish Islam from the area. All scholars who dissented with the new religion were persecuted and killed. Those who survived either had to hide or did not show their scholarship. Another major deviation from true Islam was spread of extreme Sufism, which was encouraged by the Ubaydi governors.

Abu Muhammad devoted two of his books (Ar-Radd alal-Bakri and Kash at-Talbis) to answer some of the Bid'ah (innovations in the religion) believed by the Sufis. But, that era was also characterised by clear emphasis on education (tarbiyah) and spreading of knowledge ('ilm). And although most of that was done secretly, this trend represented the best way the Muslim scholars could devise to deal with the forces of evil that overwhelmed the area for about two centuries. Indeed, education was the objective that underlined all of Ibn Abi Zayd's work.

Abu Muhammad's strong interest in education was fostered and encouraged in his own city, Al-Qayrawan, which remained a major Islamic center for scholarship and education for many centuries. There, he had the opportunity of being the student of many scholars like Ibn al-Haddah, Ibn al-Labbad, Habib ibn ar-Rabi' among others. Also, many of his contemporaries were distinguished scholars in the various branches of knowledge. They all spoke highly of his knowledge and character. Most of Al-Qayrawan's masajid and schools were equivalent to modern-day universities. People came to this city seeking knowledge from everywhere, and many of them became Abu Muhammad's students and successors. Later, some of them wrote of his generosity and continuous efforts in helping his students pursue their studies.

Ibn Abi Zayd wrote about 35 books and treatises some of which consisted of a large number of volumes. One of the most famous books, An-Nawader wa'z-Ziyadat, was recently published in a 15-volume edition that exceeded 8,000 pages. This book is considered an important encyclopedia of Fiqh. Abu Muhammad wrote it with the purpose of putting together a book that covers all aspects of the Islamic Fiqh and includes summaries of all of the Maliki scholars up to his time. This encyclopedia truly reflects the profound scholarship and broad knowledge of its author.

His most important contribution, however, has been the book of Ar-Risalah or the Epistle. This book, devoted to the education of the young, reflects the strong interest Abu Muhammad had in education, and thus gives him the prominent position one of the earliest proponents of education in history. The book is a summary of the main aspects of 'Aqidah (Faith), Fiqh (Jurisprudence) and Akhlaq (character) and thus it explains the essences of education in terms of these three principles. It was divided into 45 small, easy to read and understand chapters. Abu Muhammad wrote this book, which was his first, at the age of seventeen. The book was well received at the time but scholars' interest in it never subsided.

Today there are at least 50 books that were wrote at different times to interpret Ar-Risalah, explain it or elaborate on it. Orientalists and other Western scholars have also shown wide interest in this book and its education methodology and the fact that it describes the educational stands of those times. Later, it was translated into English in 1906CE by British Orientalist Russell, and into French by Fagnan in 1914 and Barcher in 1945.

Abu Muhammad died in the year of 386H (997CE) in Al-Qayrawan where he was buried. May Allah have mercy on him.

(s) From Al-Jumuah Magazine, Volume 12, Issue 9

It is a well-known fact that Muslims follow some basic schools of thought in matters of Islamic Jurisprudence, other than questions of faith and fundamentals of worship and legal practices. For the latter are not subject to controversy, since they have been clearly defined in the Qur'an and in the teachings of Prophet Muhammad, sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam.

The renowned scholars of the four basic schools were Abu Hanifah, Malik ibn Anas, Muhammad ibn Idris ash-Shafi'i and Ahmad ibn Hanbal. Now we will try to shed some light on the personality of Abu Hanifah, whose school of thought is widely spread especially in Asia (including the Indian subcontinent, the whole of Central Asia and countries like Turkey and Afghanistan).

Abu Hanifah an-Nu'man was born in Kufa, Iraq, in the year 80H. He was lucky to be born in the second generation of Islam, since he had the opportunity to learn from some companions of Prophet Muhammad, sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam, and many renowned scholars of the second generation. It has been pointed out that Abu Hanifah was the first to codify Islamic law or jurisprudence (commonly known as Fiqh) compiled from the Qur'an and the Sunnah.

Our hero was a merchant by profession, but he spent both ends of the day in teaching in the mosque. He was exemplary in his conduct both as a merchant and a teacher. For he was not only very honest in his commercial dealings, but he was very conscientious as well, to the extent that he would refuse any profit he felt uneasy about, even if it was a legitimate one. Once a lady came to his store and requested him to sell a silk dress for her. He asked her about the suggested price for the dress. When she told him "100 dirhams", he told her that it was worth more than that. She could not believe that until it was sold for her before her own eyes for 500 dirhams. On another occasion our hero warned his partner not to sell a certain garment due to some defects in it. Somehow his partners forgot and sold that garment. When our hero knew that, he decided to give out in charity all the money earned that day, and he broke the partnership with his friend who sold the defective garment even though inadvertently.

As a teacher, our hero used to support all his needy students in order for them to devote all their time to learning. His encouragement of education made him very generous even to scholars. It is reported that when he wanted to buy clothes for himself or his family, he would do the same for some of the scholars he knew. In fact, our hero's generosity reached everyone that came in contact with him. One day he was walking down the street when he noticed a man trying to hide from him. Abu Hanifah asked the man, "Why are you trying to hide from me?" When he was told that he owed our hero 10,000 dirhams and was embarrassed because he could not pay the money to him, our hero informed the man that he no longer wanted the loan back. He further asked the man to forgive him for causing him so much trouble and feeling of embarrassment!

As a typical man of piety our hero was very kind to all his acquaintances, whom he visited when ill and inquired about when absent. A very interesting case is reported in the encounter between our hero and his drunkard neighbour, who would get drunk and keep singing aloud all night long causing so much annoyance to Abu Hanifah. Once the police caught the man (the noisy neighbour) and took him to prison. Abu Hanifah noticed that night that the neighbourhood was quiet. So he inquired about his noisy neighbour. Upon knowing of his neighbour's imprisonment, he rushed to the governor of the city interceding for his neighbour who was immediately released. Not only that, Abu Hanifah gave the man some money to compensate for the earnings he lost due to imprisonment. The drunkard was so impressed with this kind attitude and treatment that he decided to repent and devote his time to learning the message of Islam in the mosque.

Abu Hanifah's fear of falling into fault made him refuse all the offers made by governors and the Caliph to appoint him in public offices, including the post of a judge. For that reason Caliph Abu Ja'far al-Mansur ordered that Abu Hanifah be put in jail where he died in the year 150H.

But even if our hero died in prison, his name is still very much alive in the memory of Islamic history and millions of the followers of his school of thought and others all over the world.

(s) Heroes of Islam, Darussalam, 2000CE (originally posted on islaam.com)