Abd al-Rahman al-Awza'i
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Al-Awzāʻī | |
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أبو عمرو عبدُ الرحمٰن بن عمرو الأوزاعي | |
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| Personal | |
| Born | 707 CE Baalbek, Lebanon |
| Died | 774 CE (aged 66–67) Beirut, Lebanon |
| Religion | Islam |
| Ethnicity | Arab |
| Era | Islamic golden age |
| Jurisprudence | Awza'i |
| Creed | Sunni |
| Main interest(s) | Hadith, Fiqh |
| Notable idea(s) | Awza'i madhhab |
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Abu Amr Abd al-Rahman ibn Amr al-Awzai (Arabic: أبو عمرو عبدُ الرحمٰن بن عمرو الأوزاعي) (707–774) was the chief representative and eponym of the Awza'i school of Islamic jurisprudence. Awzai was referred to by his tribe "Awza" (الأوزاع), part of Banu Hamdan.[1]
Biography[]
Apparently born in Baalbek (in modern-day Lebanon) in 707, but the biographer and historian dh-Dhahabi reports that al-Auza'i was originally of Sindh, India (now part of Pakistan). Very little of al-Awzai's writings survive, but his style of Islamic jurisprudence (usul al-fiqh) is preserved in Abu Yusuf's book Al-radd ala siyar al-Awzai, in particular his reliance on the "living tradition," or the uninterrupted practice of Muslims handed down from preceding generations. For Awzai, this is the true Sunnah of Muhammad. Awzai's school flourished in Syria, the Maghreb, and Al Andalus but was eventually overcome and replaced by the Maliki school of Islamic law in the 9th century. He died in 774 and was buried near Beirut, Lebanon, where his tomb is still visited.[2]
Debate with Abu Hanifa[]
It has been recorded by Sufyan ibn ʽUyaynah that Awzaii engaged in a debate with Abu Hanifa about the raising of the hands during Salah. It is known in Arabic as Raf al-yadayn.[3]
Views[]
Al-Awza'i held that one is not permitted to kill civilians in order to achieve a military objective, and declared that killing women and children is not permissible during warfare.[4]
Theologically, he was known as a persecutor of the Qadaris, but also one of the main historical witnesses of them. He alleged that the Qadaris merely appropriated heretical doctrines from the Christians. Awzāʿī had met their founder Maʿbad.[5]
al-Awzai differed with all the other schools of fiqh in holding that apostates from Islam ought not to be executed unless their apostasy is part of a 'plot to take over the State', i.e. treason.[6]
References[]
- ^ "سير أعلام النبلاء". shamela (in Arabic). Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 28 November 2017.
- ^ John Esposito, The Oxford Dictionary of Islam, Oxford University Press, 2003
- ^ Musnad Imam Abu Hanifa, chapter on ‘Raf’ al-Yadayn
- ^ Jonathan AC Brown, Is Islam a Death Cult? Martyrdom and the American-Muslim Imagination. Yaqeen Institute. Retrieved 9-13-2017.
- ^ Steven C. Judd, "The Early Qadariyya" in The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Theology, ed. Sabine Schmidtke (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016), 47-48.
- ^ Wood, Asmi (2012). "8. Apostasy in Islam and the Freedom of Religion in International Law". In Paul Babie; Neville Rochow (eds.). Freedom of Religion under Bills of Rights. University of Adelaide Press. p. 169. Retrieved 9 January 2021.
External links[]
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- 707 births
- 774 deaths
- Sunni Muslim scholars
- Taba‘ at-Tabi‘in hadith narrators
- Religious leaders from Beirut
- Scholars from the Umayyad Caliphate
- 8th-century jurists
- 8th-century Arabs
- Islamic biography stubs