Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ قاضي عياض | |
|---|---|
| Title | Shaykh al-Islām Al-Ḥāfiẓ Qāḍī |
| Personal life | |
| Born | 1083 (1083) |
| Died | 1149 (aged 65–66) |
| Era | Islamic Golden Age |
| Main interest(s) | Islamic theology (Kalam),Fiqh,Hadith,History,Legal theory,Tafsir,Arabic language,Genealogy,Poetry |
| Notable work(s) | Ash-Shifa |
| Occupation | Scholar,muhaddith,qadi,jurist,legal theorist,mufassir,grammarian,linguist,historian,genealogist,poet |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Islam |
| Denomination | Sunni |
| Jurisprudence | Maliki |
| Creed | Ash'ari[2][3][4] |
| Muslim leader | |
Abū al-Faḍl ʿIyāḍ ibn Mūsā ibn ʿIyāḍ ibn ʿAmr ibn Mūsā ibn ʿIyāḍ ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Mūsā ibn ʿIyāḍ al-Yaḥṣubī al-Sabtī (Arabic:أبو الفضل عياض بن موسى بن عياض بن عمرو بن موسى بن عياض بن محمد بن عبد الله بن موسى بن عياض اليحصبي السبتي[5]), better known asQāḍī Iyāḍ (Arabic:قاضي عياض) (1083–1149), was aSunnipolymath[6] and considered the leading scholar inMalikifiqh andhadith in his time.[7][8] In addition, he specialized intheology,legal theory,scriptural exegesis,Arabic language,history,genealogy, andpoetry.[2][9]
Iyaḍ was born inCeuta,[10] into an established family of Arab origin.[5] As a scion of a notable scholarly family, ʿIyad was able to learn from the best teachers Ceuta had to offer. The judge Abu ʿAbd Allah Muhammad b. ʿIsa (d. 1111) was ʿIyad's first important teacher and is credited with his basic academic formation. Growing up, ʿIyad benefited from the traffic of scholars from al-Andalus, the Maghrib, and the eastern Islamic world. He became a prestigious scholar in his own right and won the support of the highest levels of society.[11]
In his youth, he was a student ofIbn Khamis al-Yaburi.[12] Later, in his quest for knowledge, Iyad spent part of 1113 and 1114 visiting Cordoba, Murcia, Almeria, and Granada. He received ijāzas from the most important traditionist of his time, Abū ʿAlī al-Ṣadafī (d. 1120) in Murcia, and met with some of the most celebrated scholars of the moment, such asIbn Rushd (d. 1126), andIbn Hamdin (d. 1114).[13]
ʿIyad was appointed judge of Ceuta in 1121 and served in the position until 1136. During his tenure as judge of Ceuta he was extremely prolific. Iyad's overall fame as a jurist and as a writer of fiqh (positive law) was based on the work he did in this city.[13] Iyad was also appointed the judge of Grenada where he worked for just over a year.[13] He was a teacher ofAverroes andIbn Maḍāʾ.[citation needed]
He died in 1149.[14] He refused to acknowledgeIbn Tumart as the awaitedMahdi. Sources disagree on how and where he died. Some sources, including one written by his son, Muhammad, describe how he ingratiated himself with the Almohads in Marakech and eventually died of sickness during a military campaign. Other sources describe how he died a natural death while acting as a rural judge near Tadla, while later sources tend to assume a violent death at the hands of the Almohads.[15] Although he was opposed to the Almohads and the ideas of Ibn Hazm, he did not hold enmity for theZahirite school of Sunni Islam, which the Almohads and Ibn Hazm followed. Ayyad's comments on Ibn Hazm's teacher Abu al-Khiyar al-Zahiri were positive, as was Ayyad's characterization of his own father, a Zahirite theologian.[16]
Qadi Iyad adhered to theAsh'ari school.[2] He famously defended and highly praised both the founderAbu Hasan al-Ash'ari and his school. Qadi Iyad says:[17]
He (al-Ash'ari) composed the major works for the Ash'ari school and established the proofs for Sunni Islam and established the attributes of God that the people ofinnovation (Ahl al-Bid'ah) negated. He established the eternity of the speech of God, His will, His hearing. The people of Sunnah (Ahl al-Sunnah) held fast to his books, learned from him, and studied under him. They became intimately familiar with his school of thought, and this school grew in number of students so that they could learn this way of defending theSunnah and adducing these arguments and proofs to give victory to the faith. In doing this, these students took on his name as well as his students' students so they all became known as Ash'aris. Originally, they were known as theMuthbita (those who make firm), a name given to them by theMu'tazilites since they affirmed from the Sunnah and theSharia what the Mu'tazilites negated (ta'til)... Therefore, the people of Sunnah from the East and the West use his (al-Ash'ari) methodology and his arguments, and he has been praised by many as well as his school.
In doctrine Iyad have influenced later scholars likeIbn Taymiyyah andTaqī ad-Dīn as-Subkī (d.1355) in expanding the definition of heresy in apostasy, being the first to call for the death penalty for those Muslims guilty of “disseminating improprieties about Muḥammad or questioning his authority in all questions of faith and profane life” (according to Tilman Nagel).[18]
Cadi Ayyad University, also known as the University of Marrakech, was named after him. Qadi Ayyad is also well known as one of theseven saints of Marrakech and is buried near Bab Aïlen.
Qadi `Iyad's well-known works include:[19][20]
Imam al-Subki mentions him among those who followed the school of Imam Ashari in Beliefs & Doctrine (Aqidah) along with Abu al-Walid al-Baji, Abu al-Hasan al-Qabisi, Abu al-Qasim bin Asakir, Abu al-Hasan al-Muradi, Abu Sad bin al-Samani, Abu Tahir al-Silafi, Qadi Iyad and Al-Shahrastani
Al-Rāzī's view contrasts with other figures within the same theological school (the Ashʿarite school) like Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ (d. 1149)
