Nashr Tayy al-Tarif fi Fadl Hamalat al-Ilm al-Sharif wa al-Radd ala Maqatihim al-Sakhif
- Author died
- 786 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Minhāj
Nashr Tayy al-Tarif fi Fadl Hamalat al-Ilm al-Sharif wa al-Radd ala Maqatihim al-Sakhif (Unfolding the Notification on the Virtue of the Bearers of Noble Knowledge and Refuting Their Ignoble Detractor) is a treatise by the Yemeni Shafi'i scholar Abu Hamid Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Hubayshi al-Wusabi (712–782 AH / 1312–1380 CE; other reports give 786 AH or 802 AH) on the merits of religious scholars, the virtues of seeking sacred knowledge, and the obligation to honor its bearers .
Authorship and Title
The treatise was authored by the Yemeni Shafi'i jurist, exegete, and grammarian Jamal al-Din Abu Hamid Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Umar ibn Muhammad al-Hubayshi al-Wusabi (born 712 AH; died 782 AH, with variants recording 786 AH or 802 AH) . The book is frequently cited under the abridged title Nashr Tayy al-Tarif fi Fadl Hamalat al-Ilm al-Sharif . In biographical and bibliographical entries, its title also appears with minor textual variations, such as Nashr Mala al-Tasrif fi Fadl Hamalat al-Ilm al-Sharif in Ismail Pasha al-Babani's Idah al-maknun and Nashr Tayy al-Tasrif... in manuscript records .
Subject Matter and Contents
The work belongs to the genre of Islamic literature devoted to the virtues of religious learning and the status of scholars. It addresses:
- The elevated rank of scholars: The author establishes that God praised scholars, elevated their degrees in this world and the hereafter, and made obedience and deference to them binding on rulers and subjects alike, describing scholars as rulers over kings and the proofs of God over creation after the prophets .
- The dignity and independence of knowledge: The text relates historical narratives illustrating that sacred knowledge is to be sought out rather than brought to the doors of rulers. These include the accounts of Malik ibn Anas declining to carry the Muwatta to the caliph Harun al-Rashid, al-Shafi'i responding to the emissaries of Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Shaybani and Abu Yusuf in Iraq, Abu Hazim refusing to bring learning to worldly authorities, and al-Bukhari refusing to carry his books to the governor of Bukhara Khalid ibn Ahmad al-Dhuhli .
- Traditions and reports on learning: The work compiles prophetic hadiths, Quranic exegeses, and reports transmitted through earlier works—such as those of Musa ibn Ahmad al-Wusabi, Umar ibn Abd al-Majid al-Mayanashi, al-Darimi, and al-Tha'labi—concerning the merits of writing knowledge, seeking it, and the spiritual rewards granted to students and jurists .
Reception and Publication
In al-Taratib al-idariyya, Abd al-Hayy al-Kattani listed al-Wusabi's Nashr Tayy al-Tarif among the specialized classical and post-classical treatises dedicated exclusively to the subject of the excellence of knowledge (fadl al-ilm) . The book was published in a critical edition edited by Qusay Hallaq and issued by Dar al-Minhaj .
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