al-Juwayni, Abu al-Maali

Abu al-Ma'ali al-Juwayni (419–478 AH / 1028–1085 CE), known as Imam al-Haramayn, was a Shafi'i jurist and Ash'ari theologian from Nishapur who served as the leading master of the Nizamiyya madrasa there Siyar Aalam al-Nubala+1.

Lineage and Early Life

He was Abd al-Malik ibn Abd Allah ibn Yusuf ibn Abd Allah ibn Yusuf ibn Muhammad ibn Hayyuwayh al-Juwayni al-Nisaburi, given the honorific title Dhiya' al-Din Siyar Aalam al-Nubala. His nisba derives from Juwayn, a large district of Nishapur comprising several villages Siyar Aalam al-Nubala. He was born at the beginning of 419 AH; other reports record his birth in 417 AH, 416 AH, or 410 AH Siyar Aalam al-Nubala+1. He was raised in a scholarly household and received his early training in Shafi'i jurisprudence from his father, Abu Muhammad Abd Allah ibn Yusuf al-Juwayni Siyar Aalam al-Nubala+1. When his father died, Abu al-Ma'ali was twenty years old and assumed his teaching post Siyar Aalam al-Nubala.

Education, Persecution, and Travels

In Nishapur, he attended the madrasa of al-Bayhaqi, studied legal theory (usul) under Abu al-Qasim al-Isfarayini al-Iskaf, and transmitted hadith from teachers including Abu Sa'd al-Nasruyi and Mansur ibn Ramish Siyar Aalam al-Nubala.

During the reign of the Seljuk sultan Tughril Beg, the vizier Amid al-Mulk al-Kunduri initiated a campaign against Ash'ari scholars in Khurasan, ordering curses against them alongside Rafidis from the pulpits Tarikh Ibn Khaldun. Consequently, al-Juwayni left Khurasan alongside scholars such as Abu al-Qasim al-Qushayri Tarikh Ibn Khaldun. He traveled to Baghdad and then to the Hijaz, where he resided for four years between Mecca and Medina Tarikh Ibn al-Wardi+1. There, he taught, issued legal rulings, and led prayers in both holy sanctuaries, earning the title Imam al-Haramayn ("Leader of the Two Holy Sanctuaries") Tarikh Ibn al-Wardi+1.

Leadership at the Nizamiyya and Students

Following the death of Tughril Beg and the execution of al-Kunduri, Sultan Alp Arslan and his vizier Nizam al-Mulk assumed power Tarikh Ibn Khaldun. Nizam al-Mulk ended the persecution, favored al-Juwayni, and constructed the Nizamiyya madrasa in Nishapur specifically for him Tarikh Ibn al-Wardi+1. Al-Juwayni returned to Nishapur, where he held the posts of delivering the Friday sermon (khutba), directing sessions of admonition, and teaching at the Nizamiyya for approximately thirty years until his death Tarikh Ibn al-Wardi+1.

His teaching circle attracted scholars from across the region, with reports numbering his students at around four hundred near the time of his death Nihayat al-Matlab fi Dira…. Among his prominent students were Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, al-Kiya al-Harrasi, al-Khawafi, Abu al-Qasim al-Ansari, and Abd al-Ghafir al-Farisi Tarikh Ibn al-Wardi+1.

Scholarly Standing

Al-Juwayni was regarded as the foremost authority of the Shafi'i school and the intellectual leader of the eastern Islamic lands in jurisprudence, theology, and legal theory Tarikh Ibn al-Wardi+1. Abu Sa'd al-Sam'ani described him as the undisputed "leader of the imams" (imam al-a'imma 'ala al-itlaq), praised universally in the east and the west Siyar Aalam al-Nubala. His contemporary Abu Ishaq al-Shirazi also praised him al-Fikr al-Sami fi Tarikh….

His legal synthesis, Nihayat al-Matlab fi Dirayat al-Madhhab ("The Ultimate Aim in the Comprehension of the School"), was celebrated as an unprecedented reference work for Shafi'i jurisprudence, leading Taj al-Din al-Subki to note that no comparable work had been composed in the school al-Fikr al-Sami fi Tarikh…. In legal theory, his treatise al-Burhan fi Usul al-Fiqh ("The Proof in Legal Theory") became a central authority on the methodology of speculative theologians (tariqat al-mutakallimin) al-Fikr al-Sami fi Tarikh…. Later biographical reports note that while he possessed the qualifications for absolute independent legal reasoning (ijtihad mutlaq), he adhered to the Shafi'i school out of recognition of its established authority Tarikh Ibn al-Wardi.

Death

When al-Juwayni fell severely ill, he was moved to the village of Bushtaqan for its temperate air and water, where he died on 25 Rabi' al-Thani 478 AH (August 1085 CE) Sharh al-Waraqat fi Usul …+1. His body was transported that night to Nishapur, where his son Abu al-Qasim led the funeral prayer, and he was buried initially in his home Tarikh Ibn al-Wardi. Years later, his remains were relocated to the cemetery of al-Husayn to be interred beside his father Tarikh Ibn al-Wardi. On the day of his death, the markets in Nishapur were closed, his pulpit in the Friday mosque was dismantled, and he was widely eulogized by contemporaries Tarikh Ibn al-Wardi.