Ibn Furak or Ibn Faurak ( ar, ابن فورك; c. 941–c. 1015 CE / 330–406 AH) was a Muslim

Imam Imam (; ar, إمام '; plural: ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a worship leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Islamic worship services, lead prayers, serve ...

, a theologian of Ash'arite school, a specialist of

Arabic language 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 ...

, grammar and poetry, an orator, a jurist, and a

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 ...

scholar from the

Shafi'i The Shafii ( ar, شَافِعِي, translit=Shāfiʿī, also spelled Shafei) school, also known as Madhhab al-Shāfiʿī, is one of the four major traditional schools of religious law (madhhab) in the Sunnī branch of Islam. It was founded by ...

Madhhab A ( ar, مذهب ', , "way to act". pl. مَذَاهِب , ) is a school of thought within '' fiqh'' (Islamic jurisprudence). The major Sunni Mathhab are Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i and Hanbali. They emerged in the ninth and tenth centurie ...

in 10th century.

Life

Abu Bakr Muhammad bin al-Hasan bin Furak al-Shafi'i al-Ansari al-Isbahani was born in around 941 CE (330 AH) in

Isfahan Isfahan ( fa, اصفهان, Esfahân ), from its ancient designation ''Aspadana'' and, later, ''Spahan'' in middle Persian, rendered in English as ''Ispahan'', is a major city in the Greater Isfahan Region, Isfahan Province, Iran. It is lo ...

. He studied Ash'arite kalam under Abu 'l-Hasan al-Bahili along with Al-Baqillani and al-Isfara'ini in

Basra Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is han ...

and

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...

, and also traditions under 'Abd Allah bin Ja'far al-Isbahani. From 'Iraq he went to Rayy, then to

Nishapur Nishapur or officially Romanized as Neyshabur ( fa, ;Or also "نیشاپور" which is closer to its original and historic meaning though it is less commonly used by modern native Persian speakers. In Persian poetry, the name of this city is wri ...

, where a madrasa was built for him beside the Khanqah of the Sufi al-Bushandji. He was in Nishapur before the death of the Sufi Abu 'Uthman al-Maghribi in 373/983, and probably remained there until shortly before his death. The Karramiyya tried to initially have him executed by the Sultan

Mahmud of Ghazni Yamīn-ud-Dawla Abul-Qāṣim Maḥmūd ibn Sebüktegīn ( fa, ; 2 November 971 – 30 April 1030), usually known as Mahmud of Ghazni or Mahmud Ghaznavi ( fa, ), was the founder of the Turkic Ghaznavid dynasty, ruling from 998 to 1030. At t ...

but failed after the Sultan summoned him to

Ghazni Ghazni ( prs, غزنی, ps, غزني), historically known as Ghaznain () or Ghazna (), also transliterated as Ghuznee, and anciently known as Alexandria in Opiana ( gr, Αλεξάνδρεια Ωπιανή), is a city in southeastern Afghanistan ...

and questioned him then exonerated him of the charges they had brought against him. However, the historical sources differ in determining the cause of his death by the Karramiyya. One version says that upon returning from Ghazni, he was poisoned, fell on the road, and died in 1015 CE (406 AH) while another version says that he was attacked from behind. He was carried back to Nishapur and buried in

al-Hira Al-Hirah ( ar, الحيرة, translit=al-Ḥīra Middle Persian: ''Hērt'' ) was an ancient city in Mesopotamia located south of what is now Kufa in south-central Iraq. History Kingdom of the Lakhmids Al-Hirah was a significant city in pre ...

Influences

Ibn Furak's works in " Usul al-Din" ''(foundation of religion)'', " Usul al-fiqh" ''(foundation of jurisprudence)'', and the meanings of the

Quran The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , ...

count nearly one hundred volumes. Among them are ''Mujarrad Maqâlât al-Ash`arî'' and ''Kitab Mushkil al-hadith wa-bayanihi'' (with many variants of the title), in which he refuted both the anthropomorphist tendencies of karramis and the over-interpretation of the

Mu'tazila Muʿtazila ( ar, المعتزلة ', English: "Those Who Withdraw, or Stand Apart", and who called themselves ''Ahl al-ʿAdl wa al-Tawḥīd'', English: "Party of ivineJustice and Oneness f God); was an Islamic group that appeared in early Islami ...

. Ibn Furak said that he embarked on the study of

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 ...

because of the hadîth reported from the Prophet. His main work in the eyes of later generations is ''Tabaqat al-mutakallimin'' which is the main source to study al-Ash'ari theology.

Early Islam scholars

References

{{Authority control 940s births 1015 deaths 10th-century Iranian writers Quranic exegesis scholars Shafi'is Asharis Sunni imams Sunni fiqh scholars Sunni Muslim scholars of Islam 10th-century Muslim scholars of Islam 10th-century jurists 11th-century jurists 11th-century Iranian writers