Sayf al-Din al-Amidi at-Taghlibi | |
|---|---|
| Personal life | |
| Born | 1156 |
| Died | 1233 (aged 76–77) |
| Region | Ayyubid dynasty |
| Main interest(s) | Islamic theology,Hadith,Islamic jurisprudence |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Islam |
| Denomination | Sunni |
| Jurisprudence | Shafi'i |
| Creed | Ash'ari[1] |
| Muslim leader | |
Influenced by | |
Sayf al-Din al-Amidi orMuhammad al-Amidi[3] (b. 1156;Diyarbakır - d. 1233 inDamascus[3]) was an influential Muslimjurist. Initially a Hanbalite, Al-Amidi belonged to theShafi`i school and worked to combinekalam (theology) with existing methods ofjurisprudence.[4]
Al-Amidi was born in Āmid (Diyarbakır) and studied Shafi'i law in his village, according toal-Qifṭī. While some sources claim that he was anArab from the tribe ofTaghlib,[5][6] some claim that he wasKurdish.[4] He later traveled toBaghdad to join the learning circle of the famousShafi teacher Ibn Fadlan. In Baghdad al-Amidi focused his studies on theoretical jurisprudence and he transferred from the Shafi school to the Hanbali school.[4][7] Along with the influence of Ibn Fadlan al-Amidi was prompted to join the Shafi school due to his interest in Ash’ari theology.[8] While in Baghdad al-Amidi also studiedphilosophy from aChristian tutor. He received much criticism for his studies since philosophy was not in favor with Muslim scholars of the time. He moved to Syria in search of a more hospitable environment but continued on toEgypt after encountering the same difficulties. Al-Amidi rose to fame in Egypt yet attempts by his peers to vilify him because of his use of heretical, rationalist, methods prompted him to move once more. He moved to Damascus where he produced his most famous works onIslamic jurisprudenceAl-ihkam fi usul al-ahkam (the Inkam) and the Muntaha. He remained in Syria until his death.[7]
He was accused of heresy because of his interest in philosophy. In one case Al-Amidi defended philosophical doctrine against the criticism of well known Ash’ari theologian Fakhr al-Din al Razi.[8] He also had interest inpre-theoretic belief, creatingA Treatise on the Division of Theoretical Scholarship, to explain the difference between pre-theoretic and theoretic belief.[3]
al-Amidi believed that an expression was amm (universal) if it was “a single vocable that signifies two or more referents simultaneously”. An objection to this teaching was that it implied at least two affected by the injunction, which created doubt about how the injunction would apply to a single person.[8]
al-Amidi definedijtihad as the “total expenditure of effort in search for an opinion as to any legal rule in such a manner that the individual senses (within himself)an inability to expend further effort”.[9] His work,A Treatise on Book Titles, he writes onexistence, and howtime and place are associated with existence.[10] al-Amidi also wrote aboutlinguistics.On Substantiation Through Transitive Relations discussesfigurative speech in the first two sections. The second section talks aboutanalogies andtransitive relations. The last section covers existence. A copy of this, and at least three of al-Amidi's works were re-published in 1805 by an unknown publisher. They are held in the collection of the Bašagić Collection of Islamic Manuscripts at theUniversity Library in Bratislava.[11]
His most famous work is Al-ihkam fi usul al-ahkam onusul al-fiqh.[12]
