Ibn Abi Umar

Ibn Abi Umar (597–682 AH / 1200–1283 CE) was a Syrian Hanbali jurist, hadith scholar, and judge, best known as the author of al-Sharh al-Kabir ala al-Muqni Fawat al-Wafayat+1.

Lineage and Early Life

He was Shams al-Din Abu Muhammad and Abu al-Faraj Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Qudamah al-Maqdisi al-Jamma'ili al-Salihi Fawat al-Wafayat+1. He was born in the month of al-Muharram 597 AH at al-Dayr al-Mubarak at the foot of Mount Qasiyun outside Damascus into the prominent Banu Qudamah scholarly family Fawat al-Wafayat+1. His father was Abu Umar Muhammad ibn Ahmad, and his paternal uncle was the Hanbali jurist Muwaffaq al-Din Ibn Qudamah Fawat al-Wafayat+1.

Education and Scholarly Career

He received his early education within his family, studying Hanbali jurisprudence under his uncle Muwaffaq al-Din Ibn Qudamah, to whom he recited al-Muqni' and who granted him permission to teach and revise it Dhayl Tabaqat al-Hanabila…+1. He studied legal theory (usul al-fiqh) under Sayf al-Din al-Amidi Dhayl Tabaqat al-Hanabila…. In hadith, he attended audition sessions as a child and later pursued studies directly, hearing traditions from Hanbal ibn Abd Allah al-Rasafi, Umar ibn Tabarzad, Abu al-Yumn al-Kindi, Abu al-Qasim ibn al-Harrastani, Diya al-Din al-Maqdisi, and Ibn al-Zubaydi, among many others Fawat al-Wafayat+1. He also traveled to the Hijaz, hearing hadith in Mecca from Abu al-Majd al-Qazwini and Ibn Basawayh, and in Medina from Abu Talib Abd al-Muhsin ibn al-Amid al-Khafifi Fawat al-Wafayat+1. In addition, he held general transmission licenses (ijazat) from scholars including Abu al-Faraj ibn al-Jawzi and Abu Ja'far al-Saydalani Fawat al-Wafayat+1.

Ibn Abi Umar served as the first Hanbali chief judge (qadi al-qudah) in Damascus Mujam al-Matbuat al-Arabi…. He held the judiciary for more than twelve years reluctantly, refused to accept any state stipend for his service, and resigned the post toward the end of his life Fawat al-Wafayat+1. He also taught, delivered sermons (khutbah), and issued legal verdicts over a long career, and the leadership of the Hanbali school in his region ended with him Fawat al-Wafayat+1.

Among his students were Yahya ibn Sharaf al-Nawawi, Ibn Taymiyyah, Yusuf ibn al-Zaki al-Mizzi, al-Qasim ibn Muhammad al-Birzali, and Ahmad ibn Abd al-Da'im Fawat al-Wafayat+1.

Scholarly Standing

He held high standing among contemporaries and later jurists for his asceticism, forbearance, and legal mastery Fawat al-Wafayat+1. Yahya al-Nawawi described him as the greatest of his teachers Mujam al-Matbuat al-Arabi….

His legal legacy centers on al-Sharh al-Kabir (also titled al-Shafi fi Sharh al-Muqni'), a ten-volume commentary on his uncle's manual al-Muqni' Mujam al-Kutub+1. In it, he adapted material and arguments from his uncle's comparative work al-Mughni to the structure of al-Muqni', adding variant textual reports, derivative opinions, and hadith source citations Mujam al-Kutub+1. Due to the authority of this work, subsequent Hanbali authorities frequently refer to him simply as "the Commentator" (al-Sharih) and to the book as "the Commentary" (al-Sharh) Mujam al-Kutub+1. He also authored the Hanbali legal manual Tashil al-Matlab fi Tahsil al-Madhhab Mujam al-Muallifin+1.

Death

Ibn Abi Umar died in Damascus at the end of Rabi' al-Thani 682 AH (1283 CE) and was buried at the foot of Mount Qasiyun Fawat al-Wafayat+1.