Qadi Zada
- Died
- 988 AH
- Born in
- -
Qadi Zada (d. 988 AH / 1580 CE) was an Ottoman Hanafi jurist and Grand Mufti (Shaykh al-Islam) of the Ottoman Empire, best known for authoring Nata'ij al-Afkar fi Kashf al-Rumuz wal-Asrar, a legal continuation of Ibn al-Humam's Fath al-Qadir .
Identity and Early Life
His full name was Shams al-Din Ahmad ibn Mahmud al-Adirnawi, also recorded as Ahmad ibn Badr al-Din Mahmud, and in some sources as Ahmad ibn Qawdar . He was known by the epithet Qadi Zada (meaning "son of the judge") because his father, a freedman of the Grand Vizier Ali Pasha, held the judgeship of Edirne during the reign of Bayezid II .
Education and Teaching
Qadi Zada studied under prominent scholars of his era, including Chiwi Zada, Sa'di Chelebi, Ishaq, and Abu al-Su'ud al-Imadi . He became an assistant (mulazim) to Abd al-Qadir al-Hamidi (Mawla Qadiri) .
He progressed through several teaching posts across Ottoman madrasas in Bursa, Istanbul, and Edirne, including the Farhadiyya, the madrasa of Ibn Wali al-Din, Yildirim Khan, Ali Pasha, the Eight Madrasas (al-Madaris al-Thaman / al-Sahn), and the newly founded Sulaymaniyya madrasas, where he served among the first appointed instructors .
Judicial Career and Offices
He was appointed chief judge of Aleppo, where he served for several years before returning to Istanbul, where he held the judgeship of the imperial capital . He was subsequently elevated to the position of military judge (qadi 'askar) of Rumelia .
After approximately seven months in this post, he was dismissed in the later part of the reign of Sultan Selim II following friction with the Sultan's tutor, Mawla Ata' Allah—or with the Grand Vizier Muhammad Pasha, according to another account—and he moved to Edirne to teach at its Dar al-Hadith . When Sultan Murad III took the throne, he restored Qadi Zada to the military judgeship of Rumelia in 983 AH . In Sha'ban 985 AH, Qadi Zada was appointed Grand Mufti (mufti dar al-saltana) succeeding Mawla Hamid, an office he held until his death .
Legal Contribution and Standing
Biographers characterize Qadi Zada as an authoritative jurist of great personal dignity and religious resolve, though noted for a degree of severe temperament . His primary legal contribution was Nata'ij al-Afkar fi Kashf al-Rumuz wal-Asrar ("Results of Thoughts in Unveiling Symbols and Secrets"), written to complete Fath al-Qadir, the unfinished commentary by Ibn al-Humam on Burhan al-Din al-Marghinani's al-Hidayah; Qadi Zada began his commentary from the book of agency (Kitab al-Wikalah) and continued through the end of the text . He also wrote glosses on Sadralsharia al-Asghar's commentary on al-Wiqayah .
Death
Qadi Zada died in Istanbul in late Rabi' al-Awwal (or Rabi' al-Thani) 988 AH (1580 CE) at the age of seventy-one . He was buried inside the city near the Mosque of Sultan Muhammad Khan .
Answer updated
List of Works
Takmilat Fath al-Qadir: Nata'ij al-Afkar fi Kashf al-Rumuz wal-Asrar is a classical Hanafi legal treatise written to complete the unfinished commentary Fath al-Qadir on Burhan al-Din al-Marghinani's al-Hidayah. Taking up the text from the book of agency through to the final book of al-Hidayah, it provides substantive legal commentary on rulings and textual nuances, incorporating three thousand distinct juridical analyses and determinations.