Badr al-Din al-Baali

Badr al-Din al-Baali (714–778 AH / 1314–1376 CE) was a Syrian Hanbali jurist and hadith scholar based in Baalbek, best known for his legal primer al-Tashil and his abridgment of the Egyptian legal verdicts of Ibn Taymiyyah Tashil al-Sabila li Murid…+1.

Name and Background

His full name was Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Umar ibn Ya'la al-Yunini al-Baali Tashil al-Sabila li Murid…+1. He was widely known by the non-Arabic surname Ibn Isbasalar—an honorific title equivalent to Baha' al-Din—which also appears in biographical dictionaries with variants such as Ibn Asbasalar, Ibn Isbahadar, and Ibn al-Bahadur al-Jawhar al-Munaddad fi …+1.

He was born in Baalbek in 714 AH (1314 CE) Mukhtasar al-Fatawa al-Mi…. His father worked as a tailor al-Jawhar al-Munaddad fi …. Biographers described him as tall, handsome, patient and good-natured, with his beard dyed with henna, articulate in expression, and possessing broad mastery and rapid recall of the derivative rulings of his school al-Jawhar al-Munaddad fi …+1.

Education and Career

Al-Baali received his education in Baalbek from local scholars, studying extensively under the hadith master Qutb al-Din Musa al-Yunini (also cited as al-Fath al-Yunini) and other shaykhs of the city al-Jawhar al-Munaddad fi …+1. He transmitted hadith and taught students who sought his instruction Tashil al-Sabila li Murid….

He served as the mufid (resident instructor) at the Nuriyya madrasa in Baalbek and attained the position of chief Hanbali authority in the town, serving as the central reference point upon whom the issuance of fatwas depended al-Jawhar al-Munaddad fi …+1.

Scholarly Standing

Later Hanbali authorities praised al-Baali as a precise, discerning jurist and one of the leading masters of the late school Tashil al-Sabila li Murid…+1. His most celebrated work was al-Tashil ("The Facilitation"), a concise handbook of Hanbali jurisprudence noted for stating a single authoritative position on each issue without mentioning divergent views, except in the section on congregational prayer where he gathered various cases and left the disagreement open al-Jawhar al-Munaddad fi …+1. The manual was memorized by later scholars, including Mujir al-Din al-Ulaymi, and commented upon by Taqi al-Din al-Jura'i al-Madhhab al-Hanbali Dir…. He also compiled Mukhtasar al-Fatawa al-Misriyya, an abridgment of the Egyptian legal responsa of Ibn Taymiyyah arranged according to traditional legal chapters al-Madhhab al-Hanbali Dir….

Death

Al-Baali died in Rabi' al-Awwal 778 AH (1376 CE) al-Jawhar al-Munaddad fi …+1. A variant report cited by Ibn al-Imad and Ibn Abd al-Hadi places his death in 777 AH Tashil al-Sabila li Murid…+1.