Najm ad-Dīn Abū Ḥafṣ 'Umar ibn Muḥammad an-Nasafī ( ar, نجم الدين أبو حفص عمر بن محمد النسفي; 1067–1142) was a Muslim jurist, theologian,
mufassir
Tafsir ( ar, تفسير, tafsīr ) refers to exegesis, usually of the Quran. An author of a ''tafsir'' is a ' ( ar, مُفسّر; plural: ar, مفسّرون, mufassirūn). A Quranic ''tafsir'' attempts to provide elucidation, explanation, in ...
,
muhaddith
Hadith studies ( ar, علم الحديث ''ʻilm al-ḥadīth'' "science of hadith", also science of hadith, or science of hadith criticism or hadith criticism)
consists of several religious scholarly disciplines used by Muslim scholars in th ...
and historian. A
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
scholar born in present-day
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked co ...
, he wrote mostly in
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
.
Works
He authored around 100 books in
Hanafi
The Hanafi school ( ar, حَنَفِية, translit=Ḥanafiyah; also called Hanafite in English), Hanafism, or the Hanafi fiqh, is the oldest and one of the four traditional major Sunni schools ( maddhab) of Islamic Law (Fiqh). It is named a ...
jurisprudence,
theology
Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...
, Quran
exegesis
Exegesis ( ; from the Greek , from , "to lead out") is a critical explanation or interpretation of a text. The term is traditionally applied to the interpretation of Biblical works. In modern usage, exegesis can involve critical interpretation ...
,
Hadith
Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approva ...
and history.
Theology
* ''Al-'Aqa'id al-Nasafiyya'' ( ar, العقائد النسفية) or Aqa'id al-Nasafi'' ( ar, عقائد النسفي) is his most celebrated work in
Kalam
''ʿIlm al-Kalām'' ( ar, عِلْم الكَلام, literally "science of discourse"), usually foreshortened to ''Kalām'' and sometimes called "Islamic scholastic theology" or "speculative theology", is the philosophical study of Islamic doc ...
, which alongside ''Al-Fiqh Al-Akbar'' ( ar, الفقه الأکبر) of Abu Hanifa and ''Al-'Aqeedah al-Tahawiyya'' ( ar, العقيدة الطحاوية) of Abu Ja'far al-Tahawi is one of the three seminal works in Sunni Islamic creed. By 17th century, more than fifty commentaries were written on this work, of which the most famous is
al-Taftazani
Sa'ad al-Din Masud ibn Umar ibn Abd Allah al-Taftazani ( fa, سعدالدین مسعودبن عمربن عبداللّه هروی خراسانی تفتازانی) also known as Al-Taftazani and Taftazani (1322–1390) was a Muslim Persian po ...
's commentary named ''Sharh 'Aqaid al-Nasafi'' ( ar, شرح عقائد النسفي).
:Abu Hafs an-Nasafi wrote the ''Al-'Aqaid'' as a direct summary of ''Al-Tamhid le Qawa'id al-Tawhid'' ( ar, التمهيد لقواعد التوحيد) the famous book by his own teacher
Abu al-Mu'in al-Nasafi
Abu al-Mu'in al-Nasafi ( uz, Абул-Муин ан-Насафи; ar, أبو المعين النسفي), was considered to be the most important Central Asian Hanafi theologian in the Maturidite school of Sunni Islam after Imam Abu Mansur ...
.
:While a few Arabic sources have shown skepticism in attributing this work to Abu Hafs an-Nasafi, a recently discovered manuscript of the
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
version of the work confirms the authorship of the work for Abu Hafs al-Nasafi. The Persian version of the work, titled ''Bayan-e Itiqad-e Ahl-e Sunnat wa Jama'at'' ( fa, بیان اعتقاد اهل سنت و جماعت), is reported on the authority of Al-Nasafi's most famous student, Burhan al-Din al-Marghinani, the author of '' Al-Hidayah''. Al-Marghinani explains in the preface of the treatise that Abu Hafs a-Nasafi wrote this work per request made by
Ahmad Sanjar
Senjer ( fa, ; full name: ''Muizz ad-Dunya wa ad-Din Adud ad-Dawlah Abul-Harith Ahmad Sanjar ibn Malik-Shah'') (''b''. 1085 – ''d''. 8 May 1157) was the Seljuq ruler of Khorasan from 1097 until in 1118,Seljuk ruler and Sultan, when he visited
Samarqand
fa, سمرقند
, native_name_lang =
, settlement_type = City
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from the top: Registan square, Shah-i-Zinda necropolis, Bibi-Khanym Mosque, view inside Shah-i-Zin ...
Sistan
Sistān ( fa, سیستان), known in ancient times as Sakastān ( fa, سَكاستان, "the land of the Saka"), is a historical and geographical region in present-day Eastern Iran ( Sistan and Baluchestan Province) and Southern Afghanistan ( ...
and was accompanying the Sultan, asked the scholars of Samarqand to write a treatise on the creed of Ahl al-Sunnah so that "no one in Sistan could speak against it". Presumably, Sistan was dominated by the
Karramiyya
Karramiyya ( ar-at, كرّاميّه , Karrāmiyyah) was originally a Hanafi-Murji'ah sect in Islam which flourished in the central and eastern parts of the Islamic worlds, and especially in the Iranian regions, from the 9th century until the Mon ...
sect who were advocating for anthropomorphism. In response to this request, the scholars of Samarqand asked Abu Hafs al-Nasafi to write the treatise, and they all put their signatures at the end of the document. Among the scholars present in the gathering with Sultan Sanjar was Shaikh al-Islam Abd al-Hameed al-Ismandi al-Samarqandi (the author of the published book titled ''Tariqah al-Khilaf fi al-Fiqh''). Al-Marghinani writes in the preface of the manuscript that he took a copy of the treatise and run it again with An-Nasafi for final review.
Quranic sciences
* ''Al-Taysir fi al-Tafsir'' ( ar, التيسير في التفسير) is his most celebrated work in
tafsir
Tafsir ( ar, تفسير, tafsīr ) refers to exegesis, usually of the Quran. An author of a ''tafsir'' is a ' ( ar, مُفسّر; plural: ar, مفسّرون, mufassirūn). A Quranic ''tafsir'' attempts to provide elucidation, explanation, in ...
, which has been published in 15 volumes by Darul Lubab in 2019. The work has been widely cited in other leading tafsir works of the Ottoman period, including in ''Tafsir Ibn Kamal Pasha'' of
Ibn Kemal
Şemseddin Ahmed (1469–1534), better known by his pen name Ibn Kemal or Kemalpaşazâde ("son of Kemal Pasha"), was an Ottoman historian,''Kemalpashazade'', Franz Babinger, ''E. J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913–1936'', Vol.4, ed ...
, ''Roh al-Bayan'' of
Ismail Haqqi
Ishmael ''Ismaḗl''; Classical/Qur'anic Arabic: إِسْمَٰعِيْل; Modern Standard Arabic: إِسْمَاعِيْل ''ʾIsmāʿīl''; la, Ismael was the first son of Abraham, the common patriarch of the Abrahamic religions; and is cons ...
, and ''
Ruh al-Ma'ani
''Rūh al-Ma'ānī fī Tafsīri-l-Qur'āni-l-'Aẓīm wa Sab'u-l-Mathānī'' ( ar, روح المعاني في تفسير القرآن العظيم والسبع المثاني) is a 30-volume tafsir of the Qur'an, authored by the 19th-century Iraqi ...
'' of
Mahmud al-Alusi
Abū al-Thanā’ Shihāb ad-Dīn Sayyid Maḥmūd ibn ‘Abd Allāh al-Ḥusaynī al-Ālūsī al-Baghdādī ( ar, أبو الثناء شهاب الدين سيد محمود بن عبد الله بن محمود الحسيني الآلوسي الب� ...
. Among the
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
tafsirs, Kamal al-Din Hussain Wa'ez Kashefi extensively cites ''Al-Taysir'' in both of his tafsir works, i.e. ''Jawaher al-Tafsir'' and ''Mawaheb-e 'Aliyya''.
* ''Tafsir-e Nasafi'' ( fa, تفسیر نسفی) is a Persian translation of the Quran in rhymed prose. It is considered to be the third oldest full translation of Quran in Persian language, and the only translation of Quran in rhymed prose.
* ''Al-Akmal al-Atwal fi Tafsir al-Quran'' ( ar, الأکمل الأطول في تفسير القرآن) was a voluminous work in tafsir, written prior to Al-Taysir fi al-Tafsir.
* ''Risalah fi al-Khata' fi Qira'at al-Qur'an'' ( ar, رسالة في الخطأ في قرائة القرآن) or ''Zillah al-Qari'' ( ar, زلة القارئ), published in 2017 by Dar 'Amar.
Jurisprudence
* ''Manzumah fi al-Khilafyat'' ( ar, منظومة في الخلافيات) is a book in the form of poetry, consisting of 2669 verses, explaining the differences in the views of Abu Hanifa and his students, namely
Abu Yusuf
Ya'qub ibn Ibrahim al-Ansari () better known as Abu Yusuf ( ar, أبو يوسف, Abū Yūsuf) (d.798) was a student of jurist Abu Hanifa (d.767) who helped spread the influence of the Hanafi school of Islamic law through his writings and the gove ...
,
Muhammad al-Shaybani
Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Farqad ash-Shaybānī ( ar, أبو عبد الله محمد بن الحسن بن فرقد الشيباني; 749/50 – 805), the father of Muslim international law, was an Arab jurist and a di ...
and Zufur, on legal rules, as well as the differences between Abu Hanifa and Al-Shafii and
Malik ibn Anas
Malik ibn Anas ( ar, مَالِك بن أَنَس, 711–795 CE / 93–179 AH), whose full name is Mālik bin Anas bin Mālik bin Abī ʿĀmir bin ʿAmr bin Al-Ḥārith bin Ghaymān bin Khuthayn bin ʿAmr bin Al-Ḥārith al-Aṣbaḥī ...
. The book was published in 2010
Beirut
Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...
.
:Over ten commentaries have been written on this work, the most celebrated one being that of Abu al-Barakat al-Nasafi titled ''Al-Muasaffa'', published in 2020 by Dar al-Noor.
* ''Hasr al-Masa'il wa Qasr al-Dala'il'' ( ar, حصر المسائل وقصر الدلائل) is a commentary on ''Manzumah fi al-Khilafyat'' with detailed exposition of the reasons (''adillah'') for each legal rule. The book is published by Dar al-Fajr in 2020.
* ''Tilbah al-Talabah fi al-Istilahat al-Fiqhiyya'' ( ar, طلبة الطلبة في الإصطلاحات الفقهية) is an acclaimed textbook used over centuries in Hanafi schools and has been published multiple times in recent years.
* ''Manzumah al-Jame' al-Saghir'' ( ar, منظومة الجامع الصغير) in which Al-Nasafi turned Muhammad Shaibani's seminal work (Al-Jame' Al-Saghir) into poetry consisting of 81 verses.
* ''Sharh Madar al-Usul'' ( ar, شرحُ مَدارِ الأصول) - a commentary on Al-Karkhi's seminal work in
Usul al-Fiqh
Principles of Islamic jurisprudence, also known as ''uṣūl al-fiqh'' ( ar, أصول الفقه, lit. roots of fiqh), are traditional methodological principles used in Islamic jurisprudence (''fiqh'') for deriving the rulings of Islamic law (''s ...
.
Biographical history
* ''Al-Qand fi Zikr 'Ulama'e Samarqand'' ( ar, القند في ذکر علماء سمرقند) is a biographical encyclopedia of
Transoxiana
Transoxiana or Transoxania (Land beyond the Oxus) is the Latin name for a region and civilization located in lower Central Asia roughly corresponding to modern-day eastern Uzbekistan, western Tajikistan, parts of southern Kazakhstan, parts of Tu ...
Abu al-Yusr al-Bazdawi
Abu al-Yusr al-Bazdawi ( ar, 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 e ...
, and
Abu al-Mu'in al-Nasafi
Abu al-Mu'in al-Nasafi ( uz, Абул-Муин ан-Насафи; ar, أبو المعين النسفي), was considered to be the most important Central Asian Hanafi theologian in the Maturidite school of Sunni Islam after Imam Abu Mansur ...
List of Ash'aris and Maturidis
The list of Ash'aris and Maturidis includes prominent adherents of the Ash'ari and Maturidi schools of thought. The Ash'aris are a doctrinal school of thought named after Imam Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari, and the Maturidi school is named for Abu Mans ...