al-Qasimi al-Dimashqi
- Died
- 1284 AH
- Born in
- Damascus
Qasim al-Qasimi al-Dimashqi (1221–1284 AH / 1806–1867 CE), also known as Qasim al-Hallaq, was a Shafi'i jurist, hadith scholar, and poet from Damascus. He is best known as the progenitor of the prominent al-Qasimi scholarly family of Damascus and the author of Ighathat al-nasik 'ala ada' al-manasik.
Lineage and Background
His full name was Qasim ibn Salih ibn Isma'il ibn Bakr (also recorded as ibn Abi Bakr) al-Hallaq al-Dimashqi al-Shafi'i. He was born, raised, and lived his entire life in Damascus. The Damascene al-Qasimi lineage traces its name directly to him; he was the father of the scholar Muhammad Sa'id al-Qasimi and the grandfather of the reformer Jamal al-Din al-Qasimi.
Education and Career
Al-Qasimi studied under leading Damascene authorities, most notably the hadith scholar Abd al-Rahman al-Kuzbari. He was active as an educator, serving as an imam, lecturer, and preacher at Jami' Hassan before transferring his teaching post to Jami' al-Sinaniyya. Among his students were Hasan Jubayna, who succeeded him at Jami' Hassan, and Yahya ibn Surur al-Tahhan al-Dalati, who received a formal certificate of transmission (ijaza) from him.
In 1256 AH, he completed teaching al-Nawawi's hadith collection Riyad al-salihin in a concluding gathering attended by leading scholars of Damascus headed by his teacher al-Kuzbari. On that occasion, he delivered an exposition on the collection's final narration regarding the beatific vision of God in Paradise, preserved in his short monograph Ta'liq latif 'ala akhir hadith fi Riyad al-salihin (A Fine Commentary on the Last Hadith in Riyad al-Salihin). He also authored Ighathat al-nasik 'ala ada' al-manasik (Relief for the Pilgrim in Performing Rites), a guide on the rituals of the pilgrimage, alongside treatises on legal matters such as nursing.
Death and Legacy
Al-Qasimi died in Damascus in 1284 AH (1867 CE). His biography was documented by his son Muhammad Sa'id in a dedicated biographical work titled al-Thaghr al-basim.
Answer updated
List of Works
Ta'liq Latif 'ala Akhir Hadith fi Riyad al-Salihin (A Fine Commentary on the Last Hadith in Riyad al-Salihin) is a short hadith commentary dedicated to explaining the final narration in al-Nawawi's hadith collection Riyad al-Salihin. The monograph examines the narration transmitted by the Companion Suhayb ibn Sinan regarding the believers' entry into Paradise, combining biographical background on the narrator, linguistic and grammatical parsing, theological exposition on divine grace and the afterlife, and descriptions of Paradise culminating in the beatific vision of God.