Abu al-Saud
- Died
- 982 AH
- Born in
- -
Abu al-Saud Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Imadi (898–982 AH / 1493–1574 CE) was an Ottoman Hanafi jurist, legal scholar, and Quranic exegete who served as the chief mufti of the Ottoman Empire for three decades . He is best known for his Quranic commentary, Irshad al-Aql al-Salim ila Mazaya al-Kitab al-Karim ("Guide of the Sound Mind to the Merits of the Noble Book") .
Lineage and Education
His full name was Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Mustafa al-Imadi al-Hanafi, known by the title al-Mawla Abu al-Saud . He was born in a village near Constantinople in 898 AH (1493 CE), though other accounts report his birth in 893 AH or 900 AH . Raised in an educated family, he received his initial training from his father, who instructed him in the literary and religious arts .
He continued his advanced education under prominent Ottoman scholars, studying with Ibn Kamal Pasha—who granted him his formal teaching license (ijaza)—as well as Sa'di Çelebi, Mu'ayyad Zadah, al-Qaramani, and Qadiri Çelebi . He became fully proficient in Arabic, Persian, and Ottoman Turkish, composing prose, poetry, and legal responses in all three languages .
Career and Office
Abu al-Saud began his career teaching at various colleges (madrasas) across Ottoman lands, including Bursa and Constantinople . He subsequently entered the judiciary, serving as the judge (qadi) of Bursa and then of Constantinople . He was later elevated to the position of military judge (qadi al-askar) of Rumelia, a post he held for eight years .
In 952 AH, he was appointed chief mufti (Shaykh al-Islam) of the Ottoman Empire, remaining in this office for over thirty years until his death . As mufti, he was renowned for his rapid issuing of legal verdicts, reportedly answering hundreds of queries in a single day, often formulating his responses in the exact language, meter, or poetic form used by the questioner .
Scholarly Contribution and Students
Abu al-Saud's primary contribution lay in legal scholarship, dialectics, and Quranic exegesis. Despite his demanding official duties, he authored Irshad al-Aql al-Salim, combining the rhetorical insights of al-Zamakhshari's al-Kashshaf and al-Baydawi's Anwar al-Tanzil while maintaining Sunni theological orthodoxy and articulating Hanafi legal rulings . He completed the initial portion up to Surah Sad in Sha'ban 973 AH and sent it to Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, who rewarded him with increased daily stipends, and he finished the remainder of the work shortly thereafter . In the field of disputation, he authored the treatise Tuhfat al-Tullab ("Gift to the Students") .
His teaching circles produced notable scholars, officials, and poets, including the Ottoman historian and chief mufti Hoca Sa'd al-Din, the poet Mahmud Abd al-Baqi (known as Bāqī), and Ibn al-Hinna'i .
Standing
Abu al-Saud was widely regarded as the preeminent Hanafi authority of his era in the Ottoman realm . Due to the literary elegance and rhetorical precision of his commentary, he earned the honorific Khatib al-Mufassirin ("the orator of the exegetes") . Alongside praise for his formidable presence and learning, biographical accounts noted that he was favored by the sultan and criticized him for an excessive inclination toward and flattery of state rulers .
Death
Abu al-Saud died in Constantinople during the final third of the night on Sunday, 5 Jumada al-Ula 982 AH (August 1574 CE) . His funeral was attended by prominent scholars, state ministers, and government officials; his funeral prayer took place in the courtyard of the Grand Sultan Muhammad Mosque, and he was buried adjacent to the shrine of the Prophet's companion Abu Ayyub al-Ansari .
Answer updated
List of Works
Tafsir Abi al-Suud, formally titled Irshad al-Aql al-Salim ila Mazaya al-Kitab al-Karim ("Guide of the Sound Mind to the Merits of the Noble Book"), is an Ottoman-era Quranic commentary. The work centers on Quranic rhetoric, semantic precision, and the stylistic inimitability (i'jaz) of the sacred text.