Displaying items by tag: Architect of Civilization

Abu Ishaq Ibrahim b. Musa b. Muhammad al-Lakhmi al-Shatibi was among the greatest scholars of al-Andalus – modern day Spain and Portugal, and one of the brightest Maliki scholars. According to most of the authentic reports on Imam al-Shatibi, his early life has not been recorded in detail. This could be due to the fact that he was not born in a wealthy or a renowned family of scholars, for which such records could have been available. One may, however, deduce from his name that his ancestors came from the Lakhmi tribe of Arabia, and probably migrated to al-Andalus. Although many have mistakenly mentioned his birth and early life to be in Shatiba (Xativa or Jativa), authentic reports about the great Imam confirm that he was neither born nor had ever lived there. His immediate ancestors might have moved to Granada from Shatiba few decades before his birth. The last record of Muslim settlement in Shatiba before it fell to Christian rule was in 645H/1247CE, at least eight to nine decades prior to his birth, thus him being born and raised up in there is certainly impossible.,............. [click here to download the full article in pdf]

This great Damascene scholar Shams al-Din Muhammad ibni Abi Bakr al-Zuri is famously known by his laqab nickname as Ibn Qaiyyim al-Jawziyyah. His father was the qaiyyim (superintendent) of the Madrasah al-Jawziyyah. The Madrasah al-Jawziyyah, located next to the Chief Judge’s (qadi al-qudat) office, was considered the official seat of Hanbali jurisprudence in greater Sham (Levant). It was named after its founder – Muhyi al-Din al-Jawzi (d. 656/1258) – son of the famous Hanbali scholar Abul Faraj Abdur Rahman ibn al-Jawzi al-Qurashi (d. 597/1201). Due to the similarity in the two names – ibn-al-Jawzi and ibn Qaiyyim al-Jawziyyah – many have often confused one................ [click here to download the full article in pdf]