Ibn al-Shihna, Lisan al-Din
- Died
- 882 AH
- Born in
- Aleppo
Abu al-Walid Ahmad ibn Muhammad Ibn al-Shihna, known by the honorific Lisan al-Din (844–882 AH / 1440–1477 CE), was a Hanafi jurist and judge from Aleppo, best known for his manual on judicial procedure, Lisan al-Hukkam fi Ma'rifat al-Ahkam (The Tongue of Judges in Knowing Rulings).
Lineage and Career
His full name was Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Muhammad, bearing the kunya Abu al-Walid and the nisbas al-Thaqafi al-Halabi. He belonged to the prominent scholarly Ibn al-Shihna family of Aleppo; his father was Athir al-Din Muhammad, and his grandfather was the chief judge Muhibb al-Din Abu al-Fadl Muhammad ibn al-Shihna. Some biographical and bibliographical entries erroneously named him Ibrahim ibn Muhammad, an error noted and rectified by later scholars.
Born in Aleppo in 844 AH (1440 CE), he entered public administration and the judiciary at an early age. He served as a deputy for his grandfather in the office of confidential secretary (kitabat al-sirr) in Cairo, and subsequently held the position of Hanafi judge (qada' al-Hanafiyya) in his native city of Aleppo.
Legal Contribution and Death
Upon assuming the judgeship in Aleppo, he began drafting Lisan al-Hukkam fi Ma'rifat al-Ahkam, designed as an abridged reference manual arranged around transactions and adjudicative matters to assist magistrates. Although planned to cover thirty chapters, his work was cut short at the twenty-first chapter on disapproved matters (al-karahiya), and it was later supplemented by the jurist Burhan al-Din Ibrahim al-Kha'i al-Adawi in a completion titled Ghayat al-Maram fi Tatimmat Lisan al-Hukkam.
Ibn al-Shihna died of the plague in Aleppo in 882 AH (1477 CE).
Answer updated
List of Works
Lisan al-Hukkam fi Ma'rifat al-Ahkam is a classical manual of Hanafi substantive law and judicial procedure. Compiled as an abridged legal guide drawing from authoritative reference works of leading Hanafi jurists, it aims to assist magistrates by gathering frequently occurring disputes, practical transactions, and rules of adjudication to facilitate resolving litigation.