Fatima Al-Samarqandi
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Fatima bint Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Samarqandi () was a twelfth-century
Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
scholar and jurist.


Biography


Early life

Fatima was born to Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Samarqandi, a preeminent
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 ...
jurist who took active part in his daughter’s education. He authored the book ''Tuhfat al-Fuqaha.


Marriage and career

She married 'Ala' al-Din al-Kasani, a student of her father and an expert of
fiqh ''Fiqh'' (; ) is the term for Islamic jurisprudence.Fiqh
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''Fiqh'' is of ...
. Fatima’s dowry was Al-Kasani’s book, ''
Bada'i' al-Sana'i' Bada'i' as-Sana'i' fi Tartib ash-Shara'i' (''Marvellous artistry in the arrangement of the religious-legal regulations'')() is a classical manual of fiqh for the Hanafi school of Islamic jurisprudence. The author of the text is 6th century (Hij ...
'' ''(The Most Marvellous of Beneficial Things)'', a commentary that he wrote on her father’s book, ''Tuhfat al-Fuqaha. Her father was so impressed by the book that he accepted it as her dowry on behalf of Ala over the kings that had asked for her hand and offered more.When her husband had any doubts and erred in issuing a
fatwa 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'', ...
, she would inform him the correct judgment and explain the reason for the mistake. Although al-Kasani was a competent jurist, Fatima corrected and edited his legal opinions. Fatima al-Samarqandi was a personal counselor of Nur ad-Din, the mentor of
Saladin Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known as Saladin, was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from a Kurdish family, he was the first sultan of both Egypt and Syria. An important figure of the Third Crusade, h ...
.


Legacy

According to researcher Hoda Gamal, she is credited with establishing the tradition of setting up voluntary iftars for male fuqaha.


See also

* List of female Muslim scholars * List of Hanafis * List of Maturidis


References

{{Authority control Hanafis Maturidis People from Samarkand Uzbekistani Muslims Women scholars of the medieval Islamic world Transoxanian Islamic scholars 12th-century women writers 12th-century Muslim scholars of Islam 1185 deaths Year of birth unknown