Ibn al-Aquli
- Died
- 797 AH
- Born in
- Baghdad
Ibn al-Aquli (732/733–797 AH / 1332/1333–1394/1395 CE) was a Shafi'i jurist, hadith scholar, and professor from Baghdad who held the teaching chair at the al-Mustansiriyya Madrasa and authored the compendium al-Rasf lima ruwiya 'an al-Nabi min al-fi'l wal-wasf .
Lineage and Early Life
His full name was Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Hammad ibn Thabit, carrying the ancestral nisba al-Wasiti and the regional designation al-Baghdadi . He was known by the honorific title Ghiyath al-Din and bore the kunyas Abu al-Makarim and Abu al-Fadl . Ibn al-Aquli was born in Baghdad in Rajab 732 AH (1332 CE), though alternative accounts place his birth in 733 AH (1333 CE) . He belonged to an illustrious scholarly family of Baghdad; his father and grandfather had both been preeminent figures in the city to whom the leadership of teaching and the Shafi'i school had passed in their respective eras .
Scholarly Career and Travels
Ibn al-Aquli engaged deeply in legal and traditional studies until scholarly preeminence within the Shafi'i school in Baghdad culminated in him, alongside holding substantial wealth and worldly standing . He served as a professor at al-Mustansiriyya Madrasa, delivered formal legal opinions (fatwas), and cultivated expertise across jurisprudence, hadith, legal theory, Arabic grammar, rhetoric, and belles-lettres .
His scholarly activities included travels outside Iraq; he transmitted hadith in Mecca and Jerusalem, and recited his own poetry during a stay in Medina . Among his notable written contributions were an extensive commentary on al-Baghawi's hadith collection Masabih al-sunnah and a commentary on al-Baydawi's treatise on legal theory, Minhaj al-wusul .
Later Life and Death
When the Turco-Mongol conqueror Timur invaded and seized Baghdad, Ibn al-Aquli fled the city to escape the assault, and his property and assets were plundered in the turmoil . He subsequently returned to Baghdad, where he lived out his remaining days .
Ibn al-Aquli died in Baghdad in 797 AH (1394–1395 CE), while another record notes his death in 798 AH . He was buried near the shrine of the early ascetic Ma'ruf al-Karkhi .
Answer updated
List of Works
al-Rasf lima Ruwiya an al-Nabi min al-Fil wal-Wasf (The Alignment of What Has Been Narrated from the Prophet Regarding Action and Description) is a hadith and prophetic biography compendium. The work compiles the physical and moral traits, daily actions, and select sayings of the Prophet Muhammad into a single thematic reference, systematically bringing together narrations regarding his actions alongside his verbal statements.