al-Rubai
- Died
- 1276 AH
- Born in
- Sanaa
al-Hasan ibn Ahmad al-Rubai (c. 1200–1276 AH / 1786–1860 CE) was a Yemeni judge and jurist from Sana'a, best known for his legal hadith compendium Fath al-Ghaffar al-Jami li-Ahkam Sunnat Nabiyyina al-Mukhtar ("The Opener of the Forgiver: The Compendium of Rulings from the Sunnah of Our Chosen Prophet") .
Lineage and Early Life
He was al-Hasan ibn Ahmad ibn Yusuf ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Rubai . The nisba al-Rubai traces back to his ancestor, the judge Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn Jabir al-Awdari al-Saksaki (d. 711 AH), who was given the epithet because he possessed four fingers . His family had resided in Jiblah, where multiple members devoted themselves to study and judicial office, before his grandfather, Judge Yusuf ibn Muhammad, relocated to Sana'a . Al-Rubai was born in Sana'a around the turn of the twelfth Islamic century, circa 1200 AH (1786 CE) .
Education and Scholarly Career
Al-Rubai received his foundational training under his father, Ahmad ibn Yusuf al-Rubai (d. 1231 AH), an authority in Arabic, jurisprudence, and hadith, who granted him broad transmission licenses (ijazat) in hadith and other disciplines . He subsequently attached himself closely to the chief scholar of Sana'a, Muhammad ibn Ali al-Shawkani (d. 1252 AH) . Under al-Shawkani, he studied rhetoric (al-ma'ani wa-l-bayan), heard the Quranic exegesis of al-Zamakhshari, and studied the canonical hadith compilations of al-Bukhari, Muslim, and the Sunan works . He also read al-Shawkani's own writings under his guidance, including his legal works al-Durar and his commentary Nayl al-Awtar, of which al-Rubai acquired a copy transcribed in al-Shawkani's own handwriting .
Al-Rubai served in the judiciary as a judge (qadi) and authored legal writings and responses to juristic inquiries, such as his reply to a query posed by Muhammad ibn Salih al-Samawi . His primary scholarly achievement was Fath al-Ghaffar, a comprehensive compilation of traditions concerning legal rulings (ahadith al-ahkam) modeled on Majd al-Din Ibn Taymiyyah's Muntaqa al-Akhbar .
Standing and Death
Al-Shawkani noted al-Rubai's exceptional intellect during his youth, describing him as being among the most astute students who outpaced others in comprehension despite his young age . Al-Rubai died in 1276 AH (1859 or 1860 CE) .
Answer updated
List of Works
Fath al-Ghaffar al-Jami li-Ahkam Sunnat Nabiyyina al-Mukhtar (The Opener of the Forgiver: The Compendium of Rulings from the Sunnah of Our Chosen Prophet) is an expansive legal hadith compendium. Based upon Majd al-Din Ibn Taymiyyah's Muntaqa al-Akhbar, the work synthesizes legal traditions (ahadith al-ahkam) across numerous classical collections alongside critical hadith evaluations and lexical glosses.