Baha al-Din al-Maqdisi
- Died
- 624 AH
- Born in
- -
Baha al-Din al-Maqdisi (555/556–624 AH / 1160/1161–1227 CE) was a Hanbali jurist, hadith scholar, and ascetic based in Damascus and Nablus, best known for his legal commentary al-Udda Sharh al-Umda .
Lineage and Education
His full name was Abu Muhammad Abd al-Rahman ibn Ibrahim ibn Ahmad ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Ismail ibn Mansur al-Sa'di al-Maqdisi . He was born in 555 AH, or according to another report in 556 AH . In Damascus, he studied hadith under Abu Abd Allah ibn Abi al-Saqr and other teachers . He traveled to Baghdad, where he heard hadith from Shuhda al-Katibah and Abd al-Haqq al-Yusufi, and reportedly studied Hanbali jurisprudence under Ibn al-Manni . In Harran, he received traditions from Ahmad ibn Abi al-Wafa al-Faqih . He returned to Damascus and attached himself closely to Muwaffaq al-Din Ibn Qudama, studying jurisprudence, lexicography, and Arabic grammar under him .
Career, Scholarship, and Reception
Al-Maqdisi served as an imam at the Hanbali mosque in Nablus, residing there for years after the Muslim reconquests and teaching in its western congregational mosque, before eventually relocating to Damascus . Toward the end of his life, he devoted himself fully to hadith scholarship, transcribing and transmitting numerous traditions in Nablus and Damascus . Diya al-Din al-Maqdisi characterized him as an accomplished jurist, imam, and skilled debater, while Sibt Ibn al-Jawzi described him as righteous, scrupulous, ascetic, generous, and a military campaigner . Al-Mundhiri praised his humility and good character .
In Hanbali jurisprudence, he authored a concise, single-volume commentary on Ibn Qudama's Umdat al-Fiqh, titled al-Udda Sharh al-Umda, in which he explicitly recorded his legal preference that water does not become impure unless its attributes are altered unconditionally . He is also credited with an early commentary on Ibn Qudama's intermediate manual al-Muqni .
Death
Al-Maqdisi died on 7 Dhu al-Hijjah 624 AH (1227 CE) and was buried on the same day at the foot of Mount Qasiyun near Damascus .
Answer updated
List of Works
al-Idda Sharh al-Umda (al-ʿUdda Sharḥ al-ʿUmda) is a classical commentary on Ibn Qudama’s foundational Hanbali legal primer Umdat al-Fiqh. It provides a concise, single-volume explanation across the chapters of Hanbali jurisprudence, dividing the base text into specific legal issues supported by textual evidence and legal reasoning.
Sharh al-Muqni is a Hanbali legal commentary on the intermediate jurisprudence manual al-Muqni by Muwaffaq al-Din Ibn Qudamah. Drawing primarily on Ibn Qudamah's treatises al-Mughni and al-Kafi, the work explains the base text across classical legal topics, emphasizing scriptural evidence and articulating independent legal preferences.
Hadith Isa ibn Maryam wa al-Tayr wa al-Dabb (The Hadith of Jesus Son of Mary, the Bird, and the Lizard) is a short hadith tract (juzʾ) containing ten narrative traditions, devotional supplications, and moral parables.