Sahnun ibn Sa'id ibn Habib at-Tanukhi () (c. 776/77 – 854/55) (160 AH – 240 AH ) was a jurist in 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 ...

school from

Qayrawan Kairouan (, ), also spelled El Qayrawān or Kairwan ( ar, ٱلْقَيْرَوَان, al-Qayrawān , aeb, script=Latn, Qeirwān ), is the capital of the Kairouan Governorate in Tunisia and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The city was founded by t ...

in modern-day

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

Biography

His original name was Abdu Salaam Ibn Said Ibn Habib () He gained the nickname 'Sahnun' (a type of sharp bird) because of his quickness of mind. His father was a soldier from Homs in Syria. He was from the Arab tribe of

Tanukh The Tanûkhids ( ar, التنوخيون, transl=al-Tanūḫiyyūn) or Tanukh ( ar, تنوخ, translit=Tanūḫ) or Banū Tanūkh (, romanized as: ) were a confederation of Arab tribes, sometimes characterized as Saracens. They first rose to prom ...

Life

In his youth Sahnun studied under the scholars of

and

Tunis ''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois , population_note = , population_urban = , population_metro = 2658816 , population_density_km2 = , timezone1 = CET , utc_offset1 ...

. In particular, he learned from the

Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to: Cities and other geographic units Greece *Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece *Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in t ...

tanian scholar `Ali bin Ziyad, who had learned from

Imam Malik 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 ...

. In 178 AH he traveled to Egypt to study under other pupils of Malik, who died before Sahnun had the financial means to reach them. Later on he continued to

Medina Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the second-holiest city in Islam, and the capital of the ...

and studied under other prominent scholars, returning to North Africa in 191 AH. Upon accepting the appointment, he was said to have told his daughter Khadija, "Today your father has been slain without a knife." He was known to be scrupulous in his judgments and courteous towards litigants and witnesses, but strict towards the men surrounding the emir; he refused to allow them to send representatives on their behalf in litigation, and refused a request from the emir not to interfere in their illegal ventures.

Theological Views

Sahnun was known for his strong orthodoxy, even to the point of refusing to pray behind a

Mu'tazilite Muʿtazila ( ar, المعتزلة ', English: "Those Who Withdraw, or Stand Apart", and who called themselves ''Ahl al-ʿAdl wa al-Tawḥīd'', English: "Party of ivineJustice and Oneness f God); was an Islamic group that appeared in early Islami ...

imam. He excluded heretical sects from the mosque, including the

Ibadi The Ibadi movement or Ibadism ( ar, الإباضية, al-Ibāḍiyyah) is a school of Islam. The followers of Ibadism are known as the Ibadis. Ibadism emerged around 60 years after the Islamic prophet Muhammad's death in 632 AD as a moderate s ...

, Mu'tazilites and others. The ''

Encyclopedia of Islam The ''Encyclopaedia of Islam'' (''EI'') is an encyclopaedia of the academic discipline of Islamic studies published by Brill. It is considered to be the standard reference work in the field of Islamic studies. The first edition was published ...

'' states:

Hitherto, in the multiple circles of scholarship, representatives of all tendencies were able to express themselves freely in the
Great Mosque of Kairouan The Great Mosque of Kairouan ( ar, جامع القيروان الأكبر), also known as the Mosque of Uqba (), is a mosque situated in the UNESCO World Heritage town of Kairouan, Tunisia and is one of the most impressive and largest Islamic mo ...
. In a process amounting to a purging of the community of scholars there, Sahnun put an end to this "scandal". He dispersed the sects of the ''ahl al-bida''; the leaders of heretical sects were paraded ignominiously, and some were compelled to recant in public. Sahnun was one of the greatest architects of the exclusive supremacy of Sunnism in its Maliki form throughout the Muslim West.Mohamed Talbi, "Sahnun," ''Encyclopedia of Islam'', 2nd ed., Vol. VIII, pp. 843–845.

References

External links

Excerpt from Qadi `Iyad's ''Tartib al Madarik''
{{Authority control 854 deaths 770s births 8th-century Arabs 9th-century Arabs Arab scholars 9th-century Muslim theologians People from Kairouan Tanukhids Tunisian imams Tunisian Maliki scholars Tunisian Sunni Muslims Year of birth uncertain