Taqi al-Din Ibn Qadi Shuhba
- Died
- 851 AH
- Born in
- Damascus
Taqi al-Din Ibn Qadi Shuhba (779–851 AH / 1377–1448 CE) was a Shafi'i jurist and historian of Damascus, known for his biographical dictionary of Shafi'i scholars and his historical chronicles.
Lineage and Early Life
His full name was Abu Bakr ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Umar ibn Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab ibn Muhammad ibn Dhu'ayb ibn Musharraf al-Asadi al-Shahbi al-Dimashqi al-Shafi'i. He was born in 779 AH (1377 CE), though another report places his birth in 771 AH (1370 CE). He was known by the family appellation "Ibn Qadi Shuhba" because the father of his grandfather, Najm al-Din Umar al-Asadi, served as a judge in Shahba, a village in the Hauran region south of Damascus, for forty years.
Education and Career
Ibn Qadi Shuhba studied jurisprudence under his father and heard hadith from leading scholars of his era. He studied extensively under Ahmad ibn Hijji, the mufti of Damascus, mastering Islamic disciplines until he became qualified to teach and deliver legal verdicts.
From around 820 AH, he held teaching sessions at the Umayyad Mosque. He was appointed deputy judge (na'ib fi al-hukm) under Chief Judge Najm al-Din Ibn Hijji and later under Siraj al-Din al-Himsi, and he also served as the official mufti of the Dar al-Adl (House of Justice) in Damascus. He instructed many students, including his son Badr al-Din Muhammad, Ibn al-Tabbakh, Taqi al-Din al-Adhra'i, Shams al-Din al-Balatunusi, Shihab al-Din Ibn Qara, and Zayn al-Din Ibn al-Sinnawi. He also granted an ijaza in writing to al-Sakhawi.
Scholarly Contribution
Ibn Qadi Shuhba composed works in Shafi'i jurisprudence and Islamic history. His prominent biographical dictionary, Tabaqat al-Shafi'iyya (The Biographical Layers of the Shafi'is), chronologically details generations of Shafi'i legal figures across twenty-nine successive layers. In history, his chronicle Ta'rikh Ibn Qadi Shuhba documented events and obituaries from the year 741 AH onwards as a continuation of the history of his teacher Ibn Hijji. He also produced al-I'lam bi-Tarikh al-Islam, an extensive multi-volume work abridging al-Dhahabi's Tarikh al-Islam while incorporating additional material from the historical writings of Ibn Kathir and al-Kutubi.
Standing and Death
Ibn Qadi Shuhba was recognized as the leading Shafi'i jurist, historian, and scholar of Damascus during his lifetime, noted for his piety, devotion to academic composition, and generosity toward his students.
During a class, he addressed the topic of sudden death and remarked that he would choose it for anyone safeguarded against religious trial. On the following day, Thursday, 11 Dhu al-Qi'da 851 AH (1448 CE), he died suddenly in Damascus at the age of seventy-two while seated, writing a work, and conversing with his son. A large assembly attended his funeral prayer and burial.
Answer updated
List of Works
Tabaqat al-Shafi'iyya (The Biographical Layers of the Shafi'is) is a biographical dictionary of jurists belonging to the Shafi'i school of law. It focuses on well-known legal figures whom students of the law needed to know, organizing their biographies chronologically across twenty-nine generations, each spanning an interval of approximately twenty years.