Abu Muhammad Yahya ibn Yahya ibn Kathir ibn Wislasen ibn Shammal ibn Mangaya al-Laythi () (died 848), better known as Yahya ibn Yahya, was a prominent Andalusian Muslim scholar. He was responsible for spreading the

Maliki The ( ar, مَالِكِي) school is one of the four major schools of Islamic jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. It was founded by Malik ibn Anas in the 8th century. The Maliki school of jurisprudence relies on the Quran and hadiths as primary ...

school of jurisprudence in

Al-Andalus Al-Andalus translit. ; an, al-Andalus; ast, al-Ándalus; eu, al-Andalus; ber, ⴰⵏⴷⴰⵍⵓⵙ, label= Berber, translit=Andalus; ca, al-Àndalus; gl, al-Andalus; oc, Al Andalús; pt, al-Ândalus; es, al-Ándalus () was the M ...

. Furthermore, he is considered the most important transmitter of

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 ...

' Muwatta.

Biography

Yahya was born in the area of Algeciras to the Banu Abi Isa family. His grandfather, Abu Isa Kathir, the eponymous of the family, was a

Masmuda The Masmuda ( ar, المصمودة, Berber: ⵉⵎⵙⵎⵓⴷⵏ) is a Berber tribal confederation of Morocco and one of the largest in the Maghreb, along with the Zanata and the Sanhaja. They were composed of several sub-tribes: Berghouat ...

Berber soldier and a ''

mawla Mawlā ( ar, مَوْلَى, plural ''mawālī'' ()), is a polysemous Arabic word, whose meaning varied in different periods and contexts.A.J. Wensinck, Encyclopedia of Islam 2nd ed, Brill. "Mawlā", vol. 6, p. 874. Before the Islamic prophet ...

'' of the Banu Layth of

Kinana The Kinana ( ar, كِنَاَنَة, Kināna) were an Arab tribe based around Mecca in the Tihama coastal area and the Hejaz mountains. The Quraysh of Mecca, the tribe of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, was an offshoot of the Kinana. A number of ...

, thus the nisba ''al-Laythi''. Abd al-Rahman I rewarded Kathir by giving him the governorship of Algeciras, then Sidonia and later again Algeciras, where he died and was buried. Yahya ibn Yahya traveled to the East at a young age and studied with

, becoming an ardent follower of his. Al-Andalus in his time was dominated by the followers of imam al-Awza'i -due to the fact that most Arabic Muslim conquerors came from Syria- beside different other schools of Jurisprudence according to imam

al-Dhahabi Shams ad-Dīn adh-Dhahabī (), also known as Shams ad-Dīn Abū ʿAbdillāh Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿUthmān ibn Qāymāẓ ibn ʿAbdillāh at-Turkumānī al-Fāriqī ad-Dimashqī (5 October 1274 – 3 February 1348) was an Islamic historia ...

in his tarikh al-Islam al-Kabir when mentioning Yayha's teacher Shabtun (Zaid ibn Abdarrahman al-Lakhmi). Returning to Al-Andalus, he focused on his scholarly work. As a member of the ''shura'' (the advisory board that the emir and judges had to consult), he had an enormous influence on the nomination of legal positions. Still, he himself never accepted a legal position. In his role as member of the ''shura'' he became close to the ruler of Al-Andalus, who was apparently impressed with his intelligence and authority on Islamic matters. He thus grew to become the most influential member of the ''shura'', giving him the opportunity to nominate judges who also favored the Maliki school. At the end of his life, the Maliki school was the most important in Al-Andalus. At one point he was accused of taking part in a rising, after which he fled Cordoba to live amongst the Masmuda tribes near Toledo. He was pardoned by emir

Al-Hakam I Abu al-As al-Hakam ibn Hisham ibn Abd al-Rahman () was Umayyad Emir of Cordoba from 796 until 822 in Al-Andalus (Moorish Iberia). Biography Al-Hakam was the second son of his father, his older brother having died at an early age. When he came ...

and allowed to return. His descendants became one of the greatest families of the 9th and 10th centuries, due in part to the fame of their ancestor. But among them personalities with their own light also appear, who maintain the power and influence of the family due to their individual merits.

References

Sources

* * * {{Authority control 848 deaths 9th-century Berber people Berber scholars Maliki scholars of Al-Andalus Masmuda 9th-century Al-Andalus people Year of birth unknown