al-Jiraai
- Died
- 883 AH
- Born in
- -
Abu Bakr ibn Zayd al-Jiraai (c. 825–883 AH / c. 1422–1478 CE) was a Palestinian-born Hanbali jurist, legal theorist, and judge based in Damascus, recognized for his legal writings such as Sharh Mukhtasar Usul al-Fiqh and Tuhfat al-Raki wa al-Sajid bi-Ahkam al-Masajid.
Lineage and early life
He was Abu Bakr ibn Zayd ibn Abi Bakr ibn Zayd ibn Umar ibn Mahmud al-Hasani al-Jiraai al-Maqdisi al-Dimashqi al-Salihi al-Hanbali, titled Taqi al-Din. The historian Ibn Tulun added the tribal nisba al-Nuwayri to his pedigree. The nisba al-Jiraai refers to Jura (also vocalized Jura'ah), a ruined village north of Jamma'il in the district of Nablus in Palestine, where he was born around 825 AH. The attribution al-Hasani indicates reported descent from al-Hasan ibn Ali.
Al-Jiraai was raised in a prominent Hanbali scholarly household known as the Jira'ah or Banu al-Askari, who settled in the suburb of al-Salihiyya on the slopes of Mount Qasyun near Damascus. Several members of his family taught and held Quranic recitation posts at al-Madrasa al-Umariyya, including his father Zayd (d. 867 AH), his uncle Ali (d. 859 AH), and his brothers Ali (d. 882 AH) and Ahmad.
Education and travels
Al-Jiraai began his early education under Yahya al-Abdusi, with whom he studied the Quran. In Damascus, he studied Hanbali jurisprudence, legal theory, inheritance law, Arabic language, and rhetoric under the leading Hanbali jurist Taqi al-Din Ibn Qundus. He also studied under Abu al-Faraj Abd al-Rahman ibn Sulayman (known as Ibn Abi Sha'r), learned inheritance law from Shams al-Din Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Sayli, and heard hadith from Shihab al-Din Ibn Nazir al-Sahibah and Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Ma'tuq al-Karaki. In his later years, he read with Ibn Ruzayq and studied Sunan Ibn Majah under Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Muhammad al-Ramini.
Al-Jiraai traveled to Cairo, where he attended lessons, taught, and studied under al-Sakhawi. He performed the pilgrimage to Mecca multiple times and resided there as a neighbor of the sanctuary (mujawir) in 875 AH, during which he studied under Najm al-Din Ibn Fahd and completed the recitation of the Musnad of Ahmad ibn Hanbal with him.
Career and students
After his father's death, al-Jiraai assumed the teaching position in the prayer niche (mihrab) of al-Madrasa al-Umariyya in Damascus. He served as a deputy judge (na'ib qadi) in Damascus and was appointed deputy judge in Egypt under the chief Hanbali judge Izz al-Din al-Kinani. He also deputized in teaching at al-Madrasa al-Salihiyya in Cairo for al-Kinani and led the Tuesday study circle in place of Ibn Ubadah.
A substantial circle of students studied under him in Damascus and Egypt. Among his most prominent students was Ibn al-Mibrad (Yusuf ibn al-Hasan ibn Abd al-Hadi), who read al-Muwaffaq Ibn Qudama's al-Muqni' under his instruction. Other students included Yusuf ibn Muhammad al-Kufri, Ahmad ibn Abd Allah al-Askari, Musa ibn Ahmad al-Jamma'ili, the Damascene historian Abd al-Qadir al-Nu'aymi—who heard parts of Sunan Ibn Majah from him and received an ijaza—and Barakat ibn Muhammad al-Ansari al-Qadiri.
Scholarly standing
Al-Jiraai was held in high regard by contemporary and later biographical authorities. Al-Sakhawi characterized him as an intelligent, eloquent, religious, and humble scholar who rejected pretension and devoted himself to self-improvement in learning and practice. He was praised as an accomplished jurist and judge by Mujir al-Din al-Ulaymi and Ibn al-Imad. Some scholars noted that his contemporary and fellow student under Ibn Qundus, Ala' al-Din al-Mardawi, did not hold uncontested preeminence in the Hanbali school until after al-Jiraai's death. In Hanbali law, he composed Ghayat al-Matlab fi Ma'rifat al-Madhhab, which treats the legal determinations of the school.
Death
Al-Jiraai died on the night of Thursday, 11 Rajab 883 AH (October 1478 CE), in al-Salihiyya in Damascus. Al-Sakhawi recorded that his passing caused widespread grief among the scholarly community.
Answer updated
List of Works
Sharh Mukhtasar Usul al-Fiqh is a commentary on Hanbali legal theory. The work elucidates al-Mukhtasar fi Usul al-Fiqh, an instructional primer on the principles of Islamic jurisprudence composed by the Damascene jurist Ala' al-Din Ibn al-Lahham.
Tuhfat al-Raki wa al-Sajid bi-Ahkam al-Masajid is a treatise on the legal rulings, history, etiquette, and merits of mosques and sacred sanctuaries, anchored primarily in the Hanbali school of jurisprudence.