Abu al-Baqa al-Kafawi
- Died
- 1094 AH
- Born in
- -
Abu al-Baqa al-Kafawi (d. 1094 AH / 1683 CE) was an Ottoman Hanafi jurist, judge, and lexicographer, best known for his encyclopedic dictionary of technical terminology and conceptual distinctions, al-Kulliyat .
Name and Career
His full name was Ayyub ibn Musa al-Husayni al-Quraymi al-Kafawi, bearing the kunya Abu al-Baqa . His nisbas connect him to the Crimean city of Kaffa as well as to prophetic descent (al-Husayni) . Trained in Hanafi jurisprudence and the Islamic sciences, he pursued a judicial career within the Ottoman judiciary, serving as a judge in Kaffa, Jerusalem, and Baghdad .
Scholarly Contribution
Al-Kafawi made notable contributions to lexicography and the classification of technical terminology across disciplines . His primary work, al-Kulliyat (The Universal Principles), is an alphabetical dictionary of terminology and linguistic distinctions that synthesizes general definitions and legal, theological, and philosophical maxims dispersed throughout earlier scholarship, concluding with a dedicated section on miscellaneous universal concepts . He also composed Tuhfat al-Shahan in Ottoman Turkish, addressing creed, jurisprudence, and ethics .
Death
After his judicial appointments, al-Kafawi returned to Istanbul, where he died in 1094 AH (1683 CE); other biographical records place his death in 1093 AH or 1095 AH . He was buried in the cemetery of Abu Ayyub al-Ansari (Turbat Khalid) in Istanbul .
Answer updated
List of Works
al-Kulliyat (The Universal Principles) is an encyclopedic dictionary of technical terminology and linguistic distinctions. Arranged alphabetically according to the Arabic lexicon, it compiles general principles and rules dispersed across earlier scholarship into concise definitions and conceptual discussions spanning linguistics, jurisprudence, legal theory, theology, and philosophy.