Abu al-Yusr al-Bazdawi


Abu al-Yusr al-Bazdawi, known with the honorific title of Sadr al-Islam, was a prominent Central Asian Hanafi-Maturidi scholar and a qadi in Samarqand in the late eleventh century. He is known to be teacher to several well-known Hanafi scholars, such as Najm al-Din 'Umar al-Nasafi and 'Ala' al-Din al-Samarqandi.

Name

Abu al-Yusr Muhammad b. Muhammad b. al-Hussein b. 'Abd al-Karim b. Musa b. Mujahid al-Nasafi al-Bazdawi.
The attribution al-Bazdawi indicates that he or his family originated from Bazda or Bazdawa, a small town with a castle on the road between Nasaf and Bukhara.
He is the younger brother of Fakhr al-Islam Abu al-Hassan al-Bazdawi, the author of the acclaimed Kanz al-Wusul, famously known as Usul al-Bazdawi.

Birth

He was born around the year 421 A.H. and received his earliest education in Maturidism disciplines from his father. His grandfather Abu Muhammad 'Abd al-Karim b. Musa al-Bazdawi, who was a direct student of al-Maturidi, and his elder brother Fakhr al-Islam 'Ali b. Muhammad al-Bazdawi were leading Hanafi scholars and authored many books.

Teachers

Some of his well known students are: Najm al-Din 'Umar al-Nasafi, and 'Ala' al-Din al-Samarqandi.

Works

He was the author of several works on law, including a commentary on the major work of Abu Hanifa, after whom the Hanafi school is named, and a commentary on a work of Abu Hanifa's student Muhammad al-Shaybani, who was one of the founders of the Hanafi school.
The most important of his books which remain is Kitab Usul al-Din.
Al-Bazdawi’s Kitab Usul al-Din, as it was described by Hans-Peter Linss, could be classified in:
  1. Firstly, a short review of all literature of the heretics on dogma and theology in Islam.
  2. Secondly, Hanafi-Sunni orthodoxy defense against the dissenting opinions and teachings of the heretical sects.
  3. Finally, a study on the heterodox factions in Islam, their subdivisions and their most important heads.
He is also author of Ma'rifat al-Hujaj al-Shar'iyya in Usul al-Fiqh.
Dr. Haytham Abdul-Hamid Khazna said in his book Tatawur al-Fikr al-Usuli al-Hanafi that this book should not be attributed to Abu al-Yusr al-Bazdawi, because the books of Tarajim didn't mention it, and because the book is weak in style analysis.

Death

After serving for a period of time as a magistrate in Samarqand, he eventually moved to Bukhara and died there in 493 A.H..