Abu al-Yusr al-Bazdawi

Abu al-Yusr al-Bazdawi (c.1030-c.1100), who was given the honorific title of Sadr al-Islam, was a prominent Central Asian Hanafi-Maturidi scholar and a qadi (judge) in Samarqand in the late eleventh century. He was a teacher to several well-known Hanafi scholars, such as Najm al-Din 'Umar al-Nasafi and 'Ala' al-Din al-Samarqandi (who was a teacher to Al-Kasani).

Name Abu al-Yusr Muhammad b. Muhammad b. al-Hussein b. 'Abd al-Karim b. Musa b. Mujahid al-Nasafi al-Bazdawi.

The attribution al-Bazdawi indicates that he or his family originated from Bazda or Bazdawa, a small town with a castle on the road between Nasaf and Bukhara.

He was the younger brother of Fakhr al-Islam Abu al-Hassan al-Bazdawi, the author of Kanz al-Wusul, also known as Usul al-Bazdawi.

Birth He was born around the year 421 A.H. (1030 A.D.) and received his earliest education in Maturidism disciplines from his father. His grandfather Abu Muhammad 'Abd al-Karim b. Musa al-Bazdawi (d. 390 AH/1000–1001 CE), who was a student of al-Maturidi, and his elder brother Fakhr al-Islam 'Ali b. Muhammad al-Bazdawi (d. 482–483 AH/1089–1090 CE) were leading Hanafi scholars and wrote many books.

Teachers Shams al-A'imma 'Abd al-'Aziz al-Halwai (d. 456/1064) who was also a teacher to Al-Sarakhsi. Fakhr al-Islam al-Bazdawi (d. 482 AH) who was his elder brother.

Students Some of his well known students were Najm al-Din 'Umar al-Nasafi and 'Ala' al-Din al-Samarqandi (who was a teacher to 'Ala' al-Din al-Kasani).

Works

He was the author of several works on law, including a commentary on the major work of Abu Hanifa, after whom the Hanafi school was named, and a commentary on a work of Abu Hanifa's student Muhammad al-Shaybani, who was one of the founders of the Hanafi school.

The most important of his books which remain is Kitab Usul al-Din (edited with a biographical introduction by Hans-Peter Linss).

Al-Bazdawi's Kitab Usul al-Din, as described by Hans-Peter Linss, comprises: a short review of all literature of the heretics on dogma and theology in Islam; a Hanafi-Sunni orthodoxy defence against the dissenting opinions and teachings of the heretical sects; and a study on the heterodox factions in Islam, their subdivisions and their most important leaders.

Al-Bazdawi was also the author of Ma'rifat al-Hujaj al-Shar'iyya in Usul al-Fiqh.

Dr. Haytham Abdul-Hamid Khazna said in his book Tatawur al-Fikr al-Usuli al-Hanafi that this book should not be attributed to Abu al-Yusr al-Bazdawi, because the books of Tarajim (biographies and bibliographies) didn't mention it, and because the book is weak in style analysis.

Death After serving for a period of time as a magistrate in Samarqand, he eventually moved to Bukhara and died there in 493 A.H. (1100 A.D.).