Abu Uthman al-Sabuni

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Abu Uthman al-Sabuni
أبو عثمان الصابوني
TitleShaykh al-Islām[1]
Al-Ḥāfiẓ
Personal
Born983 CE
Herat
Died1057 (aged 73–74)
Nishapur
ReligionIslam
EraIslamic golden age
RegionKhorasan
DenominationSunni
JurisprudenceShafi'i
CreedAsh'ari[2][3]
Main interest(s)Aqidah, Fiqh, Hadith, Tafsir
Muslim leader
Influenced by

Al-Sabuni, Ismail bin Abdal-Rahman bin Ahmad bin Ismail bin Ibrahim bin Amir, Abu Uthman al-Sabuni al-Shafi'i[4] (Arabic: أبو عثمان الصابوني) also known as Abu Uthman al-Sabuni (373 - 449 AH / 983 - 1057 CE), was a Sunni scholar known for being the leading hadith expert in Khorasan, a jurist of great authority particularly in the Shafi'i school, a Qur'anic exegete, theologian, preacher, and orator. The Sunnis of his time called him the Shaykh al-Islām, 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 and Arabic.[5][6][7] Al-Bayhaqi said: "He was the true Imam of the Muslims and the real Shaykh of Islam."[2]

Biography[edit]

Al-Sabuni was born in the suburbs of Herat in the year 373 AH/983 CE. He was an orphan when his father was killed and martyred for preaching the religion when he was nine years old.[8] Al-Sabuni would be raised under the famous Imam and saint, Abu al-Tayyib Sahl al-Saluki, who would later attend Al-Sabuni's dhikr 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 and Hadith, as did many of the other major scholars of his time such as Abu Ishaq al-Isfarayini and Ibn Furak.[2]

Creed[edit]

Al-Sabuni was a staunch defender of the Ash'ari 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 at the time where anti-Ash'ari corruption was being spread.[2] Abu Uthman al-Sabuni said he would not go out to his study session unless he had in his hand the book Al-Ibanah by Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari and showed admiration for it.[9]

Ibn al-Subki reports the Karramiyya from Herat were threatened by the extreme popularity and high status of al-Sabuni in the region so they began to falsely attribute his name and title on a book authored by Abu Isma'il 'Abdullah al-Harawi, the author of an anti-Ash'ari book 'Dhamm al-Kalam [ar]' against the Sunnis, with the same title Shaykh al-Islam.[2]

Reception[edit]

Al-Bayhaqi 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)."[2]

Ibn al-Imad al-Hanbali said: “Sheikh al-Islam… the preacher, the interpreter, the author, one of the scholars.”[10]

Works[edit]

Al-Sabuni authored plenty of books on different subjects but his most popular one 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 explaining their creed and principles of faith (Usul al-Din).[11]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Izz al-Din ibn 'Abd al-Salam (1999). The Belief of the People of Truth. Translated by Gibril Fouad Haddad. As-Sunnah Foundation of America. p. 57. ISBN 9781930409026.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Gibril Fouad Haddad (2 May 2015). THE BIOGRAPHIES OF THE ELITE LIVES OF THE SCHOLARS, IMAMS & HADITH MASTERS Biographies of The Imams & Scholars. Zulfiqar Ayub. p. 167.
  3. ^ "The Notables of the Shafi'i-Ash'ari school". almostaneer.com (in Arabic). Archived from the original on 28 September 2017.
  4. ^ Senturk, Recep (2005). Narrative Social Structure Anatomy of the Hadith Transmission Network, 610-1505. Stanford University Press. p. 185. ISBN 9780804752077.
  5. ^ Richards, D.S. (4 April 2014). The Annals of the Saljuq Turks Selections from Al-Kamil Fi'l-Ta'rikh of Ibn Al-Athir. Taylor & Francis. p. 116. ISBN 9781317832553.
  6. ^ Lois Beck, Guity Nasha (2003). Women in Iran from the Rise of Islam to 1800. University of Illinois Press. p. 73. ISBN 9780252071218.
  7. ^ "Al-Alam, Al-Zarkali, Part 1, p. 317" (in Arabic). Archived from the original on 16 December 2020.
  8. ^ "The Arabic Encyclopedia: Al-Sabuni" (in Arabic). Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
  9. ^ IslamKotob. "الرد على عبد الله الحبشى (Reply to Abdullah Al-Habashi)". p. 39.
  10. ^ "The Book of Gold Nuggets in News of Gold - the year four hundred and forty-nine - The Modern Comprehensive Library, p. 213" (in Arabic). Archived from the original on 16 December 2020.
  11. ^ Spevack, Aaron (2014). The Archetypal Sunnī Scholar Law, Theology, and Mysticism in the Synthesis of Al-Bājūr. State University of New York Press. p. 198. ISBN 9781438453712.
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