G̲h̲ulām al-K̲h̲allāl

Ghulām al-Khallāl (898–973) was an Islamic scholar and jurist of the Hanbali school. His real name was ‘Abd al-‘Azīz. Al-Khallal was a close companion and assistant of the Hanbali jurist Abu Bakr al-Khallal, hence his nickname Ghulam (Arabic for "assistant"). He was one of the earliest scholars of the Hanbali school.

Biography ‘Abd al-‘Azīz ibn Ja‘far al-Baghawī was born in 898 in Baghdad, with his epithet al-Baghawī indicating that he was of Khorasanite descent. In his youth, his teachers were Abu Ja'far al-Kufi, Musa ibn Harun al-Bazzah, and Abu al-Qasim al-Baghawi. After receiving his ijazah allowing him to be authorized as a proper scholar, he began to associate with the Hanbali jurist Abu Bakr al-Khallal and became one of his closest companions as well as a secretary and assistant for him, hence receiving the name Ghulām al-Khallāl ("Assistant of al-Khallal") which was also used as his pen name. He was also a proponent of an early form of Atharism, much like earlier Hanbalis, whom were not familiar with the doctrine of tafwid and metaphorical interpretation.

Legacy During the Ottoman period, a mosque was built atop the grave of Ghulam al-Khallal, known as the Imam al-Khallal Mosque. The name "al-Khallal" was distorted to "al-Khallani" over time, with the tomb in the mosque being attributed to Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn ʿUthmān al-Khallānī, the second of the Four Deputies in the Twelver tradition of the Shi'a sect.