Al-Juwayni, `Abd Allah ibn Yusuf ibn `Abd Allah ibn Yusuf ibn Muhammad ibn Hayyuya, Rukn al-Din Abu Muhammad al-Ta'i al-Sinbisi al-Naysaburi al-Shafi`i al-Ash`ari, also known as Abu Muhammad al-Juwayni (), was a

Sunni Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Mu ...

scholar based in Khorasan. He was a leading jurist ('' faqih''), legal theoretician (''

usuli Usulism () is the majority school of Twelver Shia Islam in opposition to the minority Akhbarism. The Usulis favor the use of (reasoning) in the creation of new rules of jurisprudence; in assessing hadith to exclude traditions they believe u ...

''), Arabic grammarian, ('' nahwi''), Qu'ran exegete (''

mufassir Tafsir ( ; ) refers to an exegesis, or commentary, of the Quran. An author of a ''tafsir'' is a ' (; plural: ). A Quranic ''tafsir'' attempts to provide elucidation, explanation, interpretation, context or commentary for clear understanding ...

'') and a scholar of

theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

man of letters An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and reflection about the nature of reality, especially the nature of society and proposed solutions for its normative problems. Coming from the world of culture, either ...

, and

Hadith Hadith is the Arabic word for a 'report' or an 'account f an event and refers to the Islamic oral tradition of anecdotes containing the purported words, actions, and the silent approvals of the Islamic prophet Muhammad or his immediate circle ...

. He was the father of the great Imam al-Haramayn al-Juwayni.

Early life

He was born in the villages of Juwayn in modern-day northeastern

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

, grew up in there, and read literature under his father Yusuf bin Abdullah, Abi Yaqoub. He studied Shafi'i jurisprudence in Naysabur with Abu al-Tayyib al-Su`luki and in

Merv Merv (, ', ; ), also known as the Merve Oasis, was a major Iranian peoples, Iranian city in Central Asia, on the historical Silk Road, near today's Mary, Turkmenistan. Human settlements on the site of Merv existed from the 3rd millennium& ...

with Abu Bakr al-Qaffal al-Marwazi. He also studied

from

Abu Nu'aym al-Isfahani Abu Nuʿaym al-Isfahani (; full name: ''Ahmad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ahmad ibn Ishāq ibn Mūsā ibn Mahrān al-Mihrānī al-Asbahānī'' (or ''al-Asfahānī'') ''al-Ahwal al-Ash`arī al-Shāfi`ī'', died 1038 CE / AH 430) was a medieval Persian S ...

, Ibn Mahmish, Abu al-Husayn ibn Bishran, and others.

Scholarly life

Career

He settled in

Nishapur Nishapur or Neyshabur (, also ) is a city in the Central District (Nishapur County), Central District of Nishapur County, Razavi Khorasan province, Razavi Khorasan province, Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district. Ni ...

after his intense educational journeys and began to issue

fatwas A fatwa (; ; ; ) is a legal ruling on a point of Islamic law (sharia) given by a qualified Islamic jurist (''faqih'') in response to a question posed by a private individual, judge or government. A jurist issuing fatwas is called a ''mufti'', ...

, teach, and debate in the year 407 of Hijri. He became popular for his assiduous worship and the great dignity, majesty, and earnestness of his scholarly gatherings.

Students

His famous students who became giants of their time include: *

Al-Juwayni Dhia' ul-Dīn 'Abd al-Malik ibn Yūsuf al-Juwaynī al-Shafi'ī (, 17 February 102820 August 1085; 419–478 AH) was a Persian Sunni scholar famous for being the foremost leading jurisconsult, legal theoretician and Islamic theologian of his ...

Al-Bayhaqi Abū Bakr Aḥmad ibn Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī ibn Mūsā al-Khusrawjirdī al-Bayhaqī (, 994–1066), also known as Imām al-Bayhaqī, was a Sunni scholar widely known for being the foremost leading hadith master in his age, leading authority in th ...

* Abu Uthman al-Sabuni * Ali ibn Ahmed ibn Al-Akhram * Sahel bin Ibrahim Al-Masjidi Abu Muhammad al-Juwayni related that he once saw Prophet

Yusuf Yusuf ( ') is a male name meaning " God increases" (in piety, power and influence).From the Hebrew יהוה להוסיף ''YHWH Lhosif'' meaning " YHWH will increase/add". It is the Arabic equivalent of the Hebrew name Yosef and the English na ...

in his dream where upon he fell to his knees in order to kiss his feet, but Yusuf prevented him as a mark of honour for the Imam, so the latter kissed Yusuf's heels. Abu Muhammad al-Juwayni said: "I interpreted it to mean that there would be blessing and honour in what I would leave behind." Ibn al-Subki commented: "What greater blessing and honour than his son (Al-Juwayni)!"

Death

He died in the year 1046. Abu Salih al-Mu'adhdhin said: "I gave Abu Muhammad his funeral bath. When we were wrapping him in the shroud I saw his right arm to the arm-pit luminous like the moon. I was bewildered, then I said to myself: these are the blessings of his legal responses."

Reception

Al-Sabuni said: "If Shaykh Abu Muhammad had been born among the Israelites, they would have transmitted his immense merits to us and he would have made their pride."

Ibn Asakir Ibn Asakir (; 1105–c. 1176) was a Syrian Sunni Islamic scholar, who was one of the most prominent and renowned experts on Hadith and Islamic history in the medieval era. and a disciple of the Sufi mystic Abu al-Najib Suhrawardi. Ibn Asakir was ...

narrates from his maternal uncle, `Abd al-Wahid ibn `Abd al-Karim al-Qushayri the son of Imam Abu al-Qasim: "In his time our sh`ari and Shafi`iimams and the verifying scholars among our companions saw in him such perfection and high merit that they used to say: If it were permissible to hold that Allah sent another prophet in our time, it would not have been other than he."

Works

* ''Al-Furuq'' * ''Al-Jam` wa al-Farq'' * ''Mawqif al-Imam wa al-Ma'mum'' * ''Al-Muhit'', in which the imam intended to compile a

fiqh ''Fiqh'' (; ) is the term for Islamic jurisprudence.Fiqh
Encyclopædia Britannica ''Fiqh'' is of ...

manual in disregard of the

Shafi`i The Shafi'i school or Shafi'i Madhhab () or Shafi'i is one of the four major schools of fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), belonging to the Ahl al-Hadith tradition within Sunni Islam. It was founded by the Muslim scholar, jurist, and traditionist al ...

school and based only on hadith proof-texts. Al-Bayhaqi criticized the weakness of the hadiths he saw him adduce and pointed out to him that Al-Shafi`i was meticulous enough in inferring his jurisprudence from hadith proof-texts. The imam accepted

's advice and abandoned its completion * ''Al-Mu`tasar'' fi Mukhtasar al-Mukhtasar, and abridgment of Al-Muzani's abridgment in Shafi`i fiqh * ''Al-Silsila'' in fiqh * ''Al-Tabsira'' fi al-Waswasa on acts of worship* al-Tadhkira * ''Al-Tafsir'' al-Kabir, reported by Abd al-Ghafir al-Farsi in his history of Naysabur to contain, for each verse, a different explanation according to ten different disciplines or perspectives. * ''Al-Ta`liqa''

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * {{Authority control, state=expanded 1046 deaths Asharis Shafi'is 11th-century Muslim theologians Sunni fiqh scholars Persian Sunni Muslim scholars of Islam Muhaddiths from Nishapur Quranic exegesis scholars 11th-century jurists Medieval grammarians of Arabic 11th-century Muslim scholars of Islam Sunni Muslim scholars of Islam Juvayni family Year of birth unknown