al-Imam Abu al-Abbas Ibn Surayj al-Mutawaffa Sanat 306 H wa Arauhu al-Usuliyya
- Author died
- 1444 AH
- Editions
- Islamic University of Madinah
al-Imam Abu al-Abbas Ibn Surayj al-Mutawaffa Sanat 306 H wa Arauhu al-Usuliyya (Imam Abu al-Abbas Ibn Surayj, Died 306 AH, and His Legal Theory Opinions) is a modern scholarly study of Islamic legal theory (usul al-fiqh) by the Iraqi scholar Husayn ibn Khalaf al-Juburi (d. 1444 AH / 2022 CE), examining the biography and reconstructed legal theoretical doctrines of the classical Shafi'i jurist Abu al-Abbas Ibn Surayj (d. 306 AH / 918 CE) .
Purpose and Background
Al-Juburi authored the treatise to recover and organize the scattered legal theory views of Ibn Surayj, who had attained the intellectual leadership (riyasa) of the Shafi'i school and was regarded by biographers as an independent mujtahid, the "minor al-Shafi'i" (al-Shafi'i al-saghir), and the renewer (mujaddid) of the third century of the Islamic calendar . The author noted that during Ibn Surayj's lifetime no comprehensive manual of Shafi'i legal theory existed beyond al-Shafi'i's al-Risala (The Epistle), which did not encompass all chapters and canons of usul al-fiqh . Gathering Ibn Surayj's statements was therefore essential to documenting early Shafi'i jurisprudence, especially given the extensive influence of his students on subsequent generations of the school .
Contents and Methodology
The work is organized into two primary sections:
- Biographical Study: A survey of Ibn Surayj's personal life and scholarly career, including his lineage, birth in Baghdad in 248 AH, judicial roles, doctrinal stance, and death in 306 AH, alongside appraisals by other scholars and biographical notices of his prominent students, such as Abu Bakr al-Qaffal al-Shashi, Ibn al-Qattan, Abu Ja'far al-Istarabadhi, and Abu Bakr al-Farisi .
- Legal Theory Opinions: A systematic compilation of Ibn Surayj's individual legal-theoretical rulings extracted directly from classical usul literature across different legal schools .
In compiling the legal theory material, al-Juburi adopted specific editorial methods:
- He organized the collected opinions according to the standard thematic sequence of Shafi'i legal theory treatises, arranging topics under distinct chapters such as legal rulings (ahkam), literal and figurative language (al-haqiqa wa-al-majaz), the explicit and ambiguous (al-mujmal wa-al-mubayyan), abrogation (naskh), and conflicting evidences and preference (al-ta'adul wa-al-tarjih) .
- He presented each legal issue (mas'ala) individually, deliberately avoiding extensive comparative debate or counter-refutations of other scholars so as not to obscure Ibn Surayj's own specific stances .
- He ordered and numbered the proofs sequentially, detailed the reasoning behind each deduction (wajh al-istidlal), cited Quranic surahs and verse numbers, and referenced prophetic traditions (takhrij al-ahadith) .
Publication
The study was prepared by al-Juburi while serving as a faculty member in the College of Sharia and Islamic Studies at Umm al-Qura University in Makkah . It was published as a monograph and appeared in the scholarly journal of the Islamic University of Madinah (Majallat al-Jami'a al-Islamiyya bi-al-Madina al-Munawwara) .
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