al-Fulani
- Died
- 1218 AH
- Born in
- -
Salih al-Fulani (1166–1218 AH / 1753–1803 CE) was a West African Maliki jurist, legal theorist, and hadith scholar who settled and taught in Medina . He is best known for his treatise Iqaz Himam Uli al-Absar, which advocates adherence to prophetic tradition and critiques blind legal conformism (taqlid) .
Lineage and early life
He was Salih ibn Muhammad ibn Nuh ibn Abd Allah ibn Umar al-Amri al-Masufi al-Fulani . His lineage traces back to the companion Umar ibn al-Khattab through the Andalusian scholar Alim ibn Abd al-Aziz al-Shatibi . His nisba al-Fulani derives from the Fulani people of West Africa, where his ancestors settled .
He was born in 1166 AH (1753 CE) in his ancestral homeland and began his pursuit of Islamic knowledge around the age of twelve .
Education and travels
Al-Fulani travelled extensively across North Africa and the Middle East to study . He pursued studies in the Shinqit region (al-Qiblah), Marrakesh, Tunis, and Egypt, before journeying to the Hejaz and settling permanently in Medina .
Among his prominent teachers were Muhammad ibn Sunnah al-Fulani, Abu al-Hasan Ali al-Sa'idi, and the lexicographer Murtada al-Zabidi .
Teaching and students
In Medina, al-Fulani held teaching circles and transmitted hadith with elevated chains of transmission (isnad) . Numerous scholars took knowledge and transmission licenses from him, including Muhammad Abid al-Sindi, Abd al-Rahman ibn Ahmad al-Shinqiti, and the Syrian hadith scholar Abd al-Rahman al-Kuzbari .
Scholarly contribution and reception
Al-Fulani was recognized as an independent legal thinker (mujtahid) and a master of hadith transmission . He placed strong emphasis on direct recourse to the Quran and the Sunnah, rigorously rejecting uncritical reliance on school-based legal opinions when authenticated texts indicated otherwise .
His treatise Iqaz Himam Uli al-Absar received commendation from contemporary scholars, including Muhammad ibn Ali al-Shawkani, who praised the work and its author in al-Fath al-Rabbani . In hadith documentation, al-Fulani compiled Qatf al-Thamar fi Raf Asanid al-Musannafat, a catalogue of transmission credentials that he completed in 1203 AH , as well as al-Thimar al-Yani', a biographical register of his teachers and chains .
Death
Al-Fulani died in Medina on the night of Thursday, 5 Jumada al-Akhira 1218 AH (September 1803 CE) .
Answer updated
List of Works
This treatise examines legal methodology and adherence to prophetic tradition. It focuses on the obligation of following the Quran and the Sunnah, opposes blind legal conformism (taqlid), and demonstrates that the founders of the four Sunni schools of jurisprudence prohibited the unquestioning imitation of their personal opinions when contrary textual evidence arises.
This work of transmission credentials (thabat) documents scholarly chains of transmission (isnads) linking to standard Islamic source texts and foundational manuals across the Islamic sciences.