al-Shashi, Abu Bakr

Abu Bakr al-Shashi (429–507 AH / 1037–1114 CE) was a Shafi'i jurist and scholar of comparative law who served as the leading Shafi'i authority in Iraq and professor at the Nizamiyya madrasa in Baghdad, best known for his legal treatise Hilyat al-Ulama fi Marifat Madhahib al-Fuqaha al-Alam lil-Zirikli+1.

Lineage and early life

He was Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn al-Husayn ibn Umar, Abu Bakr al-Shashi al-Fariqi, bearing the honorific title Fakhr al-Islam and the epithet al-Mustazhiri al-Alam lil-Zirikli+1. Tracing his ancestral origin to al-Shash, he was born in Mayyafariqin in 429 AH / 1037 CE, though another account places his birth in al-Muharram 427 AH Siyar Aalam al-Nubala+1. He commenced his legal education in his native town under Muhammad ibn Bayan al-Kazaruni and its judge Abu Mansur al-Tusi, a student of Abu Muhammad al-Juwayni, until al-Tusi was removed from the judgeship Siyar Aalam al-Nubala+1. During his student days, he was nicknamed "al-Junayd" by his peers on account of his piety, scrupulousness, and asceticism Siyar Aalam al-Nubala.

Education and travels

He moved to Baghdad, where he closely attached himself to Abu Ishaq al-Shirazi, studying under him and serving as his teaching assistant (mu'id) Siyar Aalam al-Nubala+1. He also studied jurisprudence under Ibn al-Sabbagh and read the latter's major legal work, al-Shamil, directly with its author Siyar Aalam al-Nubala+1. Accompanying his teacher Abu Ishaq al-Shirazi on a journey to Nishapur, al-Shashi took part in a legal debate before Imam al-Haramayn al-Juwayni, performing with distinction Wafayat al-Ayan.

In hadith, he received transmissions from his teacher al-Kazaruni in Mayyafariqin, Thabit ibn Abi al-Qasim al-Khayyat in Amid, al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, Abu Ya'la ibn al-Farra, and Abu al-Ghana'im in Baghdad, as well as Hayyaj ibn Ubayd in Mecca Siyar Aalam al-Nubala+1.

Academic career and standing

Leadership of the Shafi'i legal school in Baghdad and Iraq ultimately passed to al-Shashi Siyar Aalam al-Nubala+1. He held the chair of teaching at the Nizamiyya madrasa in Baghdad after the tenure of Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, was later dismissed, and was subsequently reappointed to the post in 504 AH following the death of Ilkiya al-Harrasi, holding it until his death al-Alam lil-Zirikli+1. He also taught at the madrasa founded by Taj al-Mulk, the vizier of the Seljuk Sultan Malikshah Siyar Aalam al-Nubala.

His legal scholarship produced major treatises, most notably Hilyat al-Ulama fi Marifat Madhahib al-Fuqaha (The Adornment of Scholars in Knowing the Schools of Jurists), also called al-Mustazhiri because it was written for the Abbasid Caliph al-Mustazhir bi-Allah, which presented Shafi'i positions alongside the differences of other jurists Siyar Aalam al-Nubala+1. He composed al-Mu'tamad (The Relied Upon) as a commentary on it, and authored al-Shafi fi Sharh al-Shamil (The Healing Guide in Explaining al-Shamil) in twenty volumes, leaving roughly a fifth incomplete Sullam al-Wusul ila Tabaq…+1.

His students included Abu Tahir al-Silafi, Shuhdah al-Katibah (Fakhr al-Nisa), Abu al-Mu'ammar al-Azaji, Ali ibn Ahmad al-Yazdi, Abu Bakr ibn al-Naqqur, and Abu al-Abbas ibn al-Rutabi, as well as his two sons, Ahmad and Abd Allah Siyar Aalam al-Nubala+1.

Death

Al-Shashi died in Baghdad on Saturday, 25 Shawwal 507 AH (1114 CE), at the age of seventy-eight; another report places his death at dawn on Saturday, 11 Shawwal of that year Sullam al-Wusul ila Tabaq…+1. He was buried at Bab Abraz beside his teacher Abu Ishaq al-Shirazi, and according to one report, inside the same grave Siyar Aalam al-Nubala+1.