Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm ibn Mūsā al-Shāṭibī (720 – 790 A.H./1320 – 1388 C.E.) was an
Andalusí Sunni Islamic
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or ''Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the main ...
legal scholar following 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 primar ...
madhab
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 centuries ...
.
[Dr. Ahmad Raysuni, ''Imam Shatibi's Theory of the Higher Objectives and Intents of Islamic Law translated by Nancy Roberts'', publisher IIIT. p.74.] He died in 1388 in
Granada
Granada (,, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the c ...
.
Imam Shatibi's full name was "Ibrahim bin Mosa bin Muhammad al-Shatibi al-Gharnati". His family descended from the
Banu Lakhm
The Banu Lakhm () was an Arab tribe best known for its ruling Nasrid, or more commonly, 'Lakhmid', house, which ruled as the Sasanian Empire's vassal kings in the buffer zone with the nomadic Arab tribes of northern and eastern Arabia.
Iraq
Th ...
. His
kunya was "Abu Ishaq", and his surnames were "Al-Lakhmi", "Al-Gharnati", "Al-Maliki" and "As-Shatibi".
The date and place of his birth are unknown. However, one of his surnames, "As-Shatibi", points to the city
Xàtiva
Xàtiva (, es, Játiva ) is a town in eastern Spain, in the province of Valencia, on the right (western) bank of the river Albaida and at the junction of the Valencia– Murcia and Valencia Albacete railways. It is located 25 km we ...
, which indicates that he was a descendant of migrants from that town.
Books
He learned from very prominent scholars of his time. He became a master in Arabic language and ittihad and research at a very early age. He would discuss various topics with his teachers before arriving to any conclusion.
#''Al-Iʻtiṣām (''كتاب الاعتصام'')'', - This famous book of Imam Shatibi is the ultimate encyclopedia on the topic of defining religious innovations. It consists of 10 chapters. The introduction is written by Syed Rasheed Radha Al-Misri. This mammoth book was published by Dar al-Kutb Al-Arabiya in 1931 in Cairo.
#''Al-Muwafaqaat fi Usool al-Sharia (''الموافقات في اصول الشريعة'')'', - This is also one of Imam Shatibi's best known books. It is on the topic of
Usul al-fiqh
Principles of Islamic jurisprudence, also known as ''uṣūl al-fiqh'' ( ar, أصول الفقه, lit. roots of fiqh), are traditional methodological principles used in Islamic jurisprudence (''fiqh'') for deriving the rulings of Islamic law ('' ...
, and Islamic jurisprudence and Maqasid Al-Sharia (higher objectives). It was published by Dawlat Al-Tunisia (Tunisia) in four volumes (translated and published into English as ''The Reconciliation of the Fundamentals of Islamic Law'').
#''Shara ala al-Khutasa'' - This book is about Ilm al-
Nahw.
#''Al-Itifaq fi Elm al-Ishtiqaq'' - This book was on the topic of Ilm al-Sarf, or
Arabic morphology, but it was lost during his life.
#''Kitab al-Majalis'' - This book included commentary on
Sahih Bukhari
Sahih al-Bukhari ( ar, صحيح البخاري, translit=Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī), group=note is a ''hadith'' collection and a book of ''sunnah'' compiled by the Persian scholar Muḥammad ibn Ismā‘īl al-Bukhārī (810–870) around 846. Al ...
book al-Kitab Al-Biyooh.
#''Kitab Al-ifidaat wa Al-inshadaat'' - This book included two volumes on Literature.
References
* Muhammad Khalid Masud, ''Islamic Legal Philosophy: A Study of Abu Ishaq al-Shatibi's Life and Thought'', McGill University 1977
*Dr. Ahmad Raysuni, ''Imam Shatibi's Theory of the Higher Objectives and Intents of Islamic Law translated by Nancy Roberts'', publisher IIIT.
* Wael B. Hallaq, ''A History of Islamic Legal Theories'', Cambridge 1997, Ch. 5.
* The Shatibi Center, ''The Life of Al-Imam Ash-Shatibi'', shatibionline.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:al-Shatibi, Abu Ishaq
14th-century Muslim scholars of Islam
Maliki scholars of Al-Andalus
Al-Andalus writers
Mujaddid
1388 deaths
14th-century jurists
Scholars of the Nasrid period
14th-century Arabs
Asharis