Abd al-Rahman al-Awza'i
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Al-Awza'i | |
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ٱلْأَوْزَاعِيّ | |
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| Title | Imam |
| Personal | |
| Born | 707 |
| Died | 774 (aged 66–67) |
| Religion | Islam |
| Era | Islamic Golden Age |
| Region | Sham |
| Denomination | Sunni |
| Jurisprudence | Independent(eponym of theAwza'i school) |
| Creed | Athari[1] |
| Main interest(s) | |
| Notable idea(s) | Awza'i school |
| Arabic name | |
| Personal (Ism) | ʿAbd al-Raḥmān عَبْد ٱلرَّحْمَٰن |
| Patronymic (Nasab) | Ibn ʿAmr ٱبْن عَمْرو |
| Teknonymic (Kunya) | Abū ʿAmr أَبُو عَمْرو |
| Toponymic (Nisba) | Al-Awzāʿī ٱلْأَوْزَاعِيّ |
Abū ʿAmr ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAmr al-Awzāʿī(Arabic:أَبُو عَمْرو عَبْد ٱلرَّحْمَٰن بْن عَمْرو ٱلْأَوْزَاعِيّ;707–774) was a Sunni Muslimscholar,jurist,theologian,and the chief representative and eponym of theAwza'i schoolofIslamic jurisprudence.
Biography
[edit]Awzāʿī was ofSindhiorigin,[2]probably born inBaalbek(in modern-dayLebanon) in 707. He was referred to by his nisbah Awzā (الأوزاع), part ofBanu Hamdan.[3]The biographer and historianAl-Dhahabireports that Awzāʿī was fromSindh,and he was amawaliof ʾAwzā tribe in his early life.[4][5]He may have descended from theZutt(Jats), who had a strong presence in Syria and Iraq duringIslamic Golden Age.[6]Very little of al-Awzāʿī's writings survive, but his style of Islamic jurisprudence (usul al-fiqh) is preserved inAbu Yusuf's bookAl-radd ʿala siyar al-Awzāʿī,in particular his reliance on the "living tradition," or the uninterrupted practice ofMuslimshanded down from preceding generations. For Awzāʿī, this was the trueSunnahofMuhammad.Awzāʿī's school flourished inSyria,theMaghreb,andAl Andalusbut was eventually overcome and replaced by theMalikischool of Islamic law in the 9th century. He died in 774 and was buried nearBeirut, Lebanon,where his tomb is still visited.[7]
Views
[edit]Theologically, he was known as a persecutor of theQadariyya,but also one of the main historical witnesses of them. He said the Qadariyya merely appropriated theheretical doctrinesof Christians. Al-Awza'i had met their founderMa'bad al-Juhani.[8]
Al-Awza'i differed with other schools of jurisprudence in holding thatapostates from Islamought not be executed unless their apostasy is part of aplot to take over the state.[9]
In the introduction to his workal-Jarh wa-l-Ta'dil,Ibn Abi Hatim al-Razi preserves a corpus of ten letters attributed to al-Awza'i. In these letters, al-Awza'i addresses a series of high-ranking officials in order to plead the cause of individuals and groups. Among other things, he encouraged theAbbasidsto ransom Muslims who were captured by the Byzantines inErzurum,and to increase the wages of the Syrian soldiers in charge of protecting the Levantine coast.[10]
Both Christians and Muslims from the Beirut area appealed to al-Awza'i for help. In one story, a local Christian in Beirut sought al-Awza'i's help in resolving atax dispute.When his appeal to the tax administrator failed, al-Awza'i gave the Christian the 80 dinars he thought he was owed, and even tried to return the jar of honey the Christian had given him to thank him for his efforts.
Further reading
[edit]- Judd, Steven C. (2019).'Abd al-Rahman b. 'Amr al-Awza'i.London:Oneworld Publications.ISBN978-1786076854.
References
[edit]- ^Krawietz, Birgit; Tamer, Georges; Holtzman, Livnatz (2013). "Debating the Doctrine of jabr (Compulsion): Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya Reads Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī".Islamic Theology, Philosophy and Law: Debating Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya.Berlin, Germany: Walter De Gruyter. p. 63.ISBN978-3-11-028534-5.
The prominent traditionalists, such as Abū ʿAmr al-Awzāʿī (d.157/774) and Ahmad b. Ḥanbal (d.241/855)..
- ^A.S Bazmee Ansari. Bearman, P. (ed.)."Ḏj̲āt́́".Encyclopaedia of Islam New Edition Online (EI-2 English).Brill.doi:10.1163/1573-3912_islam_sim_2021.
Imām al-Awzāʿi was of Sindhī origin and his forefathers might have belonged to those D̲j̲āťs who fell into the hands of Muḥammad b. al-Ḳāsim and were sent as prisoners of war to ʿIrāḳ
- ^"سير أعلام النبلاء".shamela(in Arabic). Archived fromthe originalon 1 December 2017.Retrieved28 November2017.
- ^The Voice of Islam.Jamiyat-ul-Falah. 1967. p. 96.
The origin of al - Awza'i is traced from Sind, wherefrom he or his parents came to Syria...
- ^Isḥāq, Muḥammad (1955).India's Contribution to the Study of Hadith Literature.University of Dacca. p. 199.
- ^Schacht;Lewis;Pellat,eds. (1998-05-28).Encyclopaedia of Islam.Vol. II (C-G). Brill. p. 489.ISBN978-90-04-07026-4.
Imām al-Awzā'i was of Sindhī origin and his forefathers might have belonged to those Jāts who fell into the hands of Muhammad b. al-Kāsim and were sent as prisoners of war to 'lrāk.
- ^John Esposito,The Oxford Dictionary of Islam,Oxford University Press, 2003
- ^Steven C. Judd, "The Early Qadariyya" inThe Oxford Handbook of Islamic Theology,ed. Sabine Schmidtke (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016), 47-48.
- ^Wood, Asmi (2012). "8. Apostasy in Islam and the Freedom of Religion in International Law". In Paul Babie; Neville Rochow (eds.).Freedom of Religion under Bills of Rights.University of Adelaide Press. p. 169.ISBN9780987171801.JSTOR10.20851/j.ctt1t3051j.13.Retrieved9 January2021.
- ^Tillier, Mathieu (2022). "La Syrie d'al-Awzāʿī (m. 157/774). Les pétitions d'un savant au pouvoir abbasside". In Boudier, Mathilde (ed.).Autour de la Syrie médiévale. Études offertes à Anne-Marie Eddé(in French). Leuven: Peeters. pp. 65–114.ISBN9789042947986.
