al-Sughdi
- Died
- 461 AH
- Born in
- -
Abu al-Hasan al-Sughdi (d. 461 AH / 1068 CE) was a Hanafi jurist and judge based in Bukhara, recognized for his leadership in legal rulings and known for his legal compendium al-Nutaf fi al-Fatawa ("The Pluckings of Legal Rulings") .
Lineage and Career
His full name was Ali ibn al-Husayn ibn Muhammad, and he was known by the kunya Abu al-Hasan (recorded in some sources as Abu al-Husayn) . His nisba derives from al-Sughd (Sogdia), a lush, well-watered district in the vicinity of Samarkand . He was accorded the honorific titles Rukn al-Islam (Pillar of Islam) and Shaykh al-Islam .
Al-Sughdi relocated to Bukhara, where he took up residence and was appointed to the judiciary (al-qada'), eventually assuming the leadership (riyasa) of the Hanafi jurists in the region . In Bukhara, he shared undisputed preeminence in teaching, judicial authority, and issuing legal responses (fatawa) with fellow Hanafi masters of his generation, notably al-Hasan al-Maturidi and al-Sayyid Abu Shuja' .
Scholarly Activity and Standing
Al-Sughdi heard hadith from teachers including Ibrahim ibn Salama al-Bukhari (also cited as Ibrahim ibn Muslim) . Among those who transmitted from him were Abu Bakr ibn Nasr al-Karabisi and Shams al-A'imma al-Sarakhsi, the latter transmitting Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Shaybani's al-Siyar al-Kabir through his chain . Abu Sa'd al-Sam'ani described him as an eminent imam, accomplished jurist, and skilled dialectical debater .
In legal practice and judicial documentation, al-Sughdi's verifications were widely cited by subsequent Central Asian Hanafi jurists; in his earlier practice, he did not require the mention of a litigant's grandfather's name in legal registers (sijillat), but in his later life he made it an explicit requirement for absent parties, a position adopted as standard practice . His primary legal reference is al-Nutaf fi al-Fatawa, a systematic collection of Hanafi branch rulings (furu'), alongside a commentary on al-Shaybani's al-Jami' al-Kabir .
Death
Al-Sughdi died in Bukhara in 461 AH (1068 CE) .
Answer updated
List of Works
al-Nutaf fi al-Fatawa (The Pluckings of Legal Rulings), also known as Nutaf al-Fatawa, is a classical manual of Hanafi legal rulings. The work compiles branch rulings (furu') and legal responses, serving as a practical reference for resolving emerging legal problems and rulings (al-nawazil wa-l-waqa'i').