Al-Sabuni, Ismail bin Abdal-Rahman bin Ahmad bin Ismail bin Ibrahim bin Amir, Abu Uthman al-Sabuni al-Shafi'i also known as Abu Uthman al-Sabuni (), 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 known for being the leading hadith expert in Khorasan, a

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyzes and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal education in law (a law degree) and often a Lawyer, legal prac ...

of great authority particularly in 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 traditionis ...

school, a Qur'anic exegete,

theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...

preacher A preacher is a person who delivers sermons or homilies on religious topics to an assembly of people. Less common are preachers who Open-air preaching, preach on the street, or those whose message is not necessarily religious, but who preach com ...

, and

orator An orator, or oratist, is a public speaker, especially one who is eloquent or skilled. Etymology Recorded in English c. 1374, with a meaning of "one who pleads or argues for a cause", from Anglo-French ''oratour'', Old French ''orateur'' (14 ...

. The

Sunnis Sunni Islam is the largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any Succession to Muhammad, successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr ...

of his time called him the

Shaykh al-Islām Shaykh al-Islām (; ; , ''Sheykh-ol-Eslām''; , Sheikh''-ul-Islām''; , ) was used in the classical era as an honorific title for outstanding scholars of the Islamic sciences.Gerhard Böwering, Patricia Crone, Mahan Mirza, The Princeton Encyclope ...

, and when they used this word they did not mean anyone else. He was eloquent in dialect, broad in knowledge, and was fluent in both

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 ...

and

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

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 ...

said: "He was the true Imam of the Muslims and the real Shaykh of Islam."

Biography

Al-Sabuni was born in the suburbs of

Herat Herāt (; Dari/Pashto: هرات) is an oasis city and the third-largest city in Afghanistan. In 2020, it had an estimated population of 574,276, and serves as the capital of Herat Province, situated south of the Paropamisus Mountains (''Se ...

in the year 373 AH/983 CE. He was an orphan when his father, Abu Nasr, was killed and martyred for preaching

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

when he was just nine years old. Al-Sabuni would later be raised under the famous Imam and

saint In Christianity, Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of sanctification in Christianity, holiness, imitation of God, likeness, or closeness to God in Christianity, God. However, the use of the ...

, Abu al-Tayyib al-Su'luki, who would later attend al-Sabuni's

dhikr (; ; ) is a form of Islamic worship in which phrases or prayers are repeatedly recited for the purpose of remembering God. It plays a central role in Sufism, and each Sufi order typically adopts a specific ''dhikr'', accompanied by specific ...

gatherings, and praise him for his piety, manners, intelligence, eloquence in the Arabic and Persian languages, strong memory and his deep knowledge of the

Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...

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 ...

, as did many of the other major scholars of his time such as Abu Ishaq al-Isfarayini and

Ibn Furak Muhammad ibn al-Hasan ibn Fūrāk, Abū Bakr al-Asbahānī al-Shāfi`ī, commonly known as Ibn Fūrāk (); c. 941–c. 1015 CE / 330–406 AH). The Imam, a leading authority on kalam and usul, the transmitter of Al-Ash`ari's school, an exper ...

. He was very close to his teacher

Abu Muhammad al-Juwayni 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 scholar based in Khorasan. ...

. Al-Sabuni was the head of scholars 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 ...

for 20 years and held a

sufi Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...

practise by performing dikhr gatherings (remembrance of Allah) for 70 years. When Abu al-Tayyib al-Su'luki would deliver a sermon, young al-Sabuni out of pure reverence would turn his face away from his teacher and

Murshid ''Murshid'' () is Arabic for "guide" or "teacher", derived from the root ''r-sh-d'', with the basic meaning of having integrity, being sensible, mature. Particularly in Sufism it refers to a Spiritual director, spiritual guide. The term is freque ...

. Ibn al-Su`luki would tell him: "Face me and do not look away!" Al-Sabuni would reply, "I am ashamed to speak in your face." After that, Ibn al-Su'luki would instruct his other students to "observe his (al-Sabuni's) wisdom." Al-Sabuni passed away in

in the year of 449 AH/1057 CE.

Ibn al-Sam'ani Ibn al-Samʿānī (, 1113–1166), full name Abū Saʿd ʿAbd al-Karīm ibn Abī Bakr Muḥammad ibn Abi ʾl-Muẓaffar Manṣūr al-Tamīmī al-Marwazī al-Shafiʿī al-Samʿānī, nicknamed ''Tāj al-Islām'' (Crown of Islam) and ''Qiwām al-D ...

stated at the grave of al-Sabuni, Allah, the exalted accepts prayers and supplications.

Creed

Al-Sabuni was a staunch defender of the

Ash'ari Ash'arism (; ) is a school of theology in Sunni Islam named after Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari, a Shāfiʿī jurist, reformer (''mujaddid''), and scholastic theologian, in the 9th–10th century. It established an orthodox guideline, based on ...

school. He would be given special titles for refuting deviants by highly acclaimed scholars such as ''"Sword of the Sunnah"'' and ''"Repeller of Bid'ah (false innovation)"'' by Abd al-Ghafir al-Farsi and was given the title ''"Plague of the Deviants"'' by his contemporary Abu Ishaq al-Isfarayini. Al-Sabuni was among the major scholars who signed the ''Ash'ari statement'' written by Imam

Al-Qushayri 'Abd al-Karīm ibn Hawazin Abū al-Qāsim al-Qushayrī al-Naysābūrī (, ; 986 – 30 December 1072) was an Arab Muslim scholar, theologian, jurist, legal theoretician, commentator of the Qur’an, muhaddith, grammarian, spiritual master, ...

at the time where anti-Ash'ari propaganda was being spread. Abu Uthman al-Sabuni said he would never sit in a setting except with al-Ibāna of

al-Ash'ari Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari (; 874–936 CE) was an Arab Islamic theology, Muslim theologian known for being the eponymous founder of the Ash'ari school of kalam in Sunnism. Al-Ash'ari was notable for taking an intermediary position between the two ...

with him and showed his admiration for the book. The Lebanese

Hadith scholar Hadith studies is the academic study of hadith, a literature typically thought in Islam, Islamic religion to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approval of the Muhammad as transmitted through chains of narrators. A major area of ...

and researcher,

Gibril Fouad Haddad Gibril Fouad Haddad (born 1960) (; ) is a Lebanese-born Islamic scholar, hadith expert (''muhaddith''), author, and translator of classical Islamic texts. He was featured in the inaugural list of ''The 500 Most Influential Muslims'' and has bee ...

states the current al-Ibāna attributed to Imam al-Ash'ari is chainless, anonymous and forged by the Mujassimah (deviant anthropromorphists) with clear anti-Ash'ari and anti-

Hanafi The Hanafi school or Hanafism is the oldest and largest Madhhab, school of Islamic jurisprudence out of the four schools within Sunni Islam. It developed from the teachings of the Faqīh, jurist and theologian Abu Hanifa (), who systemised the ...

intentions. He also states the original and unaltered copy was in the hands of Ash'ari scholars such as

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 ...

, Abu Uthman al-Sabuni and others. Ibn al-Subki reports the Karramiyya from

were threatened by the popularity and status of al-Sabuni in the region so they began to attribute his title falsely on Abu Isma'il 'Abdullah al-Harawi, the author of an anti-Ash'ari book '' against the

, with the same title ''

Shaykh al-Islam Sheikh ( , , , , ''shuyūkh'' ) is an honorific title in the Arabic language, literally meaning " elder". It commonly designates a tribal chief or a Muslim scholar. Though this title generally refers to men, there are also a small number of ...

''.

Reception

said: "I swear that the Imam Abu Abdallah al-Hakim in spite of his great age, Hadith Mastery, and Scholarly Status - used to get up for the Teacher, Imam Sabuni when he came in to see him and he used to call him "The Unmatched Teacher", making aware to the people of Imam Sabuni's great knowledge, his Merits (qualities) and Virtues, and repeat Imam Sabuni's spoken words in his own Discourse (lectures)."

Ibn al-Imad al-Hanbali Ibn al-ʿImād () (1623-1679), full name ʿAbd al-Ḥayy bin Aḥmad bin Muḥammad ibn al-ʿImād al-ʿAkarī al-Ḥanbalī Abū al-Falāḥ (), was a Syrian Muslim historian and faqih of the Hanbali school. Life Born in the Al-Salihiyah, Dama ...

said: “Sheikh al-Islam… the preacher, the interpreter, the author, one of the scholars.”

Works

Al-Sabuni authored plenty of books on various subjects but his most popular work is called ''The creed of the Pious Predecessors and People of Hadith'' (Aqidatu Salaf wa Ahl al-Hadith) where he brings in narrations from the

Salaf Salaf (, "ancestors" or "predecessors"), also often referred to with the honorific expression of al-salaf al-ṣāliḥ (, "the pious predecessors"), are often taken to be the first three generations of Muslims. This comprises companions of the ...

explaining their creed and principles of faith (Usul al-Din).

References

{{Authority control 983 births 1057 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 11th-century Muslim scholars of Islam Sunni Muslim scholars of Islam

Biography

Creed

Reception

Works

See also

References