Abu Bakr al-Sarakhsi | |
|---|---|
أبوبکر محمد بن أبی سهل السرخسی | |
| Title | The sun of the leaders (شمس الأئمة) |
| Personal life | |
| Born | |
| Died | 483 Hijri (1090 CE) |
| Era | Islamic golden age |
| Region | Greater Khorasan |
| Main interest(s) | |
| Notable work(s) | Al-Mabsut,Usul al-Sarakhsi,Shar al-Siyar al-Kabir |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Islam |
| Denomination | Sunni |
| Jurisprudence | Hanafi |
| Muslim leader | |
Influenced by
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Muhammad b. Ahmad b. Abi Sahl Abu Bakr al-Sarakhsi (Persian:محمد بن احمد بن ابي سهل ابو بكر السرخسي), was aPersian jurist and also anIslamic scholar of theHanafi school of thought. He was traditionally known as Shams al-A'imma (شمس الأئمة;transl. The sun of the leaders).[1]
He is an influential jurist in the Hanafi school where the tradition is reported to have been that: "when in doubt, follow Sarakhsi".[2] BothAl-Kasani andBurhan al-Din al-Marghinani, in their flagship fiqh books ofBada'i' al-Sana'i' andAl-Hidaya, have extensively drawn upon the discussions and legal reasonings presented in al-Sarakhsi'sAl-Mabsut andUsul al-Sarakhsi.[2]
The Indian Muslim scholar of the 19th century,Abd al-Hayy al-Lucknawi, classifies al-Sarakhsi in the second grade ofmujtahids, along with scholars such asAl-Tahawi, who are believed to be the seminal jurists afterAbu Hanifa's students (i.e.Abu Yusuf andMuhammad al-Shaybani).[3]
Al-Sarakhsi was born inSarakhs, a city inGreater Khorasan, which is presently located at the border betweenIran andTurkmenistan.[4] He died in 483/1090 or in 490/1096, according to different sources.[4][5]
He studied under the great Hanafi jurist, 'Abd al-'Aziz al-Halwani (d. 448/1056) who was also a teacher toAl-Bazdawi.
Not much is known about his early life,[5] though some clues are found in his works. It is said that al-Sarakhsi was imprisoned due to his opinion on a juristic matter concerning a ruler; he criticized the king by questioning the validity of his marriage to a slave woman.[5] He spent around fifteen years in prison.[5] While he was imprisoned he wrote theMabsut[4] and some of his other most important works.[5] He is known for his remarkable memory,[5] (he was able to recall many texts when he was held in prison) as well as his intelligence.
Al-Sarakhsi's opinions on law have been widely cited and he has been thought of as a distinctive writer.[6] His main works are theUsul al-Fiqh,the Kitab al-Mabsut, and theSharh al-Siyar al-Kabir.
Al-Sarakhsi's most important works are
This work deals with Islamic jurisprudence and the exercise of ra’y in systematic reasoning and juristic preference.[5] To write this work, al-Sarakhsi incorporated information from many different sources, including Abu’l-Hasan al-Karkhi, Ahmad b. Muhammad al-Shashi, al-Djassas,Abū ʿAbdullāh Muhammad ibn Idrīs al-Shafiʿī and major works from the other law traditions.[4]
Al-Sarakhsi'sMabsut is a commentary on themukhtasar (epitome) by Muhammad b. Muhammad al-Marwazi, which in turn summarized some of the foundational texts of the Hanafi school written byMuhammad al-Shaybani.[4] Al-Shaybani was a companion ofAbū Ḥanīfah, the founder of the Hanafi school. In hisMabsut, Al-Sarakhsi reworks many of the concepts from al-Shaybani's works. He organized his work around points of scholarly divergence (ikhtilaf) and incorporated more information from the Hanafi school, as well as other schools of law.[4] TheMabsut is well-organized, covers topics comprehensively, explores points of dispute thoroughly, and manipulateshermeneutical argument well.[4] These factors make theMabsut a very influential piece of juristic literature: it was an important work offurū‘ in the Hanafi school until the 19th century.[4] (Thefurū‘, literally “branches”, are particular legal rulings built upon theusūl, or “roots”, which are thePrinciples of Islamic jurisprudence.) Its significance in earlier times is reflected in the statement of the 15th-century Hanafi jurist, 'Ala' al-Din al-Tarabulusi (d. 1440): “Whoever memorizesal-Mabsut and the doctrine of the ancient scholars becomes thereby amujtahid."[7] Al-Sarakhsi deals with many themes in hisMabsut, these include juristic preference, the legality of doing activities with illegally obtained objects,zakat (alms tax, one of theFive Pillars of Islam) and land reclamation.
In theMabsut he defines the doctrine ofistihsān, or juristic preference, as the "abandonment of the opinion to which reasoning by the doctrine of ...systematic reasoning would lead, in favor of a different opinion support by stronger evidence and adapted to what is accommodating to the people. Thereby, Sarakhsi neither undermines the importance of the exercise of the doctrine of systematic reasoning nor rejects it in any sense."[5] In addition, al-Sarakhsi deals with the dilemma of doing a legal activity with an illegally obtained object, opining that the fact that the object was obtained illegally does not mean that the legal activity becomes illegal.[8] Al-Sarakhsi also deals with issues concerning zakat in theMabsut. For example, if the collector comes and a person denies that something is taxable, he does not have to pay the tax on that item, since it is a duty to God. This is explained in the following passage from the Mabsut, which is quoted in Classical Islam: A Sourcebook of Religious Literature, by Norman Calder, Jawid Ahmad Mojaddedi, and Andrew Rippin:
Al-Sarakhsi also mentions the views of Abu Hanifa on land reclamation. This passage is from al-Sarakhsi'sMabsut, as quoted by Sherman A. Jackson:
This work is a commentary on theKitab al-Siyar al-kabir of al-Shaybani.[4] It demonstrates the role of juristic preference in sharia law.[5] TheSharh al-Siyar al-Kabir shows the same widespread coverage, the development of rules and careful consideration of hermeneutical argument that is seen in theMabsut.[4]
