Ibn Farhun, Badr al-Din
- Died
- 769 AH
- Born in
- Medina
Badr al-Din Ibn Farhun (693–769 AH / 1294–1368 CE) was a Maliki jurist, hadith scholar, grammarian, and judge of Medina, known for his grammatical commentary al-Idda fi Irab al-Umda.
Lineage and early life
Abu Muhammad Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn Abi al-Qasim Farhun ibn Muhammad ibn Farhun al-Ya'mari traced his lineage to the Kinani branch of Ya'mar. His family was of Andalusian origin from Úbeda in Jaén, subsequently resided in Tunis, and later settled in Medina, where they formed a prominent household of scholarship and judiciary. He was born in Medina on Tuesday, 6 Jumada al-Akhirah 693 AH (1294 CE), as the eldest child of his parents; his mother was Salihah, the daughter of Abd al-Wahid al-Husayni, and her maternal grandmother was Zaynab bint Dawud of the Ansar.
Education and scholarly activities
Ibn Farhun received his early training in Medina, studying the Quran under Abu Abd Allah al-Qasri al-Muqri' and hearing hadith from his father, Shams al-Din Muhammad ibn Farhun. He studied extensively with prominent scholars in Medina and Mecca, including Radi al-Din Ibrahim al-Tabari, his brother Ahmad al-Tabari, Muhammad ibn Ali al-Gharnati, Muhammad ibn Jurayth al-Balansi, Izz al-Din Yusuf al-Zarandi, Jamal al-Din al-Matari, Sharaf al-Din al-Zubayr al-Aswani, and Siraj al-Din al-Damanhuri. He was granted scholarly licenses (ijazat) by Abd al-Mu'min ibn Khalaf al-Dimyati and Muhammad ibn al-Husayn al-Fawi, and the Meccan hadith scholar Sharaf al-Din ibn Bakr compiled a comprehensive catalogue (mashyakha) of his authorities and transmissions.
Devoted to Arabic philology and exegesis, Ibn Farhun remarked that he studied the Quranic commentary of Ibn Atiyya until he nearly committed it to memory. In grammar, he authored al-Idda fi I'rab al-Umda, a syntactic analysis of Abd al-Ghani al-Maqdisi's legal hadith collection Umdata al-Ahkam, as well as a treatise titled al-Taysir fi Ilmay al-Bina' wal-Taghyir. In hadith literature, he compiled al-Durr al-Mukhallis min al-Taqassi wal-Mulakhkhas, harmonizing the transmissions of Ibn Abd al-Barr and al-Qabisi on Malik ibn Anas's al-Muwatta. Among those who transmitted from him was the hadith master Zayn al-Din al-Iraqi.
Public life and career
Ibn Farhun served as deputy judge in Medina and was appointed as its first official Maliki chief judge in 765 AH. His nephew Burhan al-Din Ibn Farhun credited his political acumen and resolve with the cessation of Imami Shi'i legal administration in the city. Throughout his life, he rarely traveled outside the Hijaz, leaving Medina only to perform the pilgrimage; he completed the Hajj more than forty times.
His sons Muhammad Muhibb al-Din and Ahmad Shihab al-Din both succeeded him in the Maliki judgeship of Medina, and he arranged the marriage of his daughter Muluk first to Isa al-Haskuri and later to the historian al-Afif al-Yafi'i.
Death
Ibn Farhun died in Medina on the afternoon of Friday, 10 Rabi' al-Akhar 769 AH (3 December 1367 CE), at the age of seventy-six; another report dates his death to Rajab of that year. His funeral prayer took place after the Maghrib call to prayer at the Prophet's Mosque, and he was buried in the al-Baqi Cemetery.
Answer updated
List of Works
al-Idda fi I'rab al-Umda (The Preparation for the Grammatical Analysis of the Umda) is a grammatical commentary on the hadiths of Abd al-Ghani al-Maqdisi's legal hadith compendium Umdata al-Ahkam. It provides a dedicated linguistic commentary designed to unveil the syntactic intricacies of the hadiths and offer students a direct path from Arabic grammar into the meanings of legal texts.