Muhammad ibn Yahya Bahran al-Zaydi
- Died
- 957 AH
- Born in
- -
Muhammad ibn Yahya Bahran al-Zaydi (888–957 AH / 1483–1550 CE) was a Yemeni Zaydi jurist, hadith scholar, and philologist from Sa'da, best known for his foundational manual on legal theory, al-Kafil bi-Nayl al-Sul fi Ilm al-Usul (The Guarantor for Attaining the Request in the Science of Legal Theory), and his hadith reference work Jawahir al-Akhbar (Jewels of Reports) .
Life and education
Siraj al-Din Muhammad ibn Yahya ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Musa ibn Ahmad Bahran traced his lineage to the Banu Tamim and his ancestral origin to Basra . He was born in Sa'da, Yemen, in 888 AH (1483 CE) and received his training under local scholars, notably al-Sayyid Murtada ibn Qasim . He remained active in scholarly teaching and composition in Sa'da until his death there in 957 AH (1550 CE) .
Scholarly standing and reception
Bahran was ranked among the foremost scholars of the Zaydiyya, contributing across jurisprudence, legal theory, hadith, Quranic exegesis, Arabic grammar, and rhetoric . Later biographers, including Muhammad ibn Ali al-Shawkani, highlighted his comprehensive mastery of multiple disciplines .
His treatise on legal theory, al-Kafil bi-Nayl al-Sul fi Ilm al-Usul, became a standard textbook within the Zaydi curriculum; it was later versified by Muhammad ibn Isma'il al-San'ani in his didactic poem Bughyat al-Amil, and commented upon by jurists such as Ahmad ibn Muhammad Luqman and Ahmad ibn Yahya Habis . In the field of hadith, he authored Jawahir al-Akhbar wa-l-Athar al-Mustakhraja min Lujjat al-Bahr al-Zakhkhar (Jewels of Reports and Narrations Extracted from the Depths of the Abundant Ocean), providing source criticism and documentation for the prophetic traditions cited in the Zaydi legal corpus . He also contributed to Quranic studies through his exegesis al-Takmil al-Shaf li-Tafsir al-Kashshaf (The Healing Completion to the Exegesis of al-Kashshaf) .
Answer updated
List of Works
Al-Kafil bi-Nayl al-Sul fi Ilm al-Usul (The Guarantor for Attaining the Request in the Science of Legal Theory) is a concise foundational manual on Islamic legal theory (usul al-fiqh) according to the Zaydi legal tradition.