Abū Muḥammad ʿIzz al-Dīn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz bin ʿAbd al-Salām bin Abī al-Qāsim bin Ḥasan al-Sulamī al-Shāfiʿī ( ar, أبو محمد عز الدين عبد العزيز بن عبد السلام بن أبي القاسم بن حسن السُّلَمي الشافعي‎; 577 AH - 660 AH / 1262 CE), also known by his titles, Sultan al-'Ulama/ Sulthanul Ulama, Abu Muhammad al-Sulami, was a famous mujtahid,

Ash'ari Ashʿarī theology or Ashʿarism (; ar, الأشعرية: ) is one of the main Sunnī schools of Islamic theology, founded by the Muslim scholar, Shāfiʿī jurist, reformer, and scholastic theologian Abū al-Ḥasan al-Ashʿarī in t ...

theologian, jurist and the leading

Shafi'i The Shafii ( ar, شَافِعِي, translit=Shāfiʿī, also spelled Shafei) school, also known as Madhhab al-Shāfiʿī, is one of the four major traditional schools of religious law (madhhab) in the Sunnī branch of Islam. It was founded by ...

authority of his generation.العز بن عبد السلام، محمد الزحيلي
� ص19-22 He was described by

Al-Dhahabi Shams ad-Dīn adh-Dhahabī (), also known as Shams ad-Dīn Abū ʿAbdillāh Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿUthmān ibn Qāymāẓ ibn ʿAbdillāh at-Turkumānī al-Fāriqī ad-Dimashqī (5 October 1274 – 3 February 1348) was an Islamic historia ...

as someone who attained the rank of ijtihad, with asceticism and piety and the command of virtue and forbidding of what is evil and solidity in religion. He was described by Ibn al-Imad al-Hanbali as the sheikh of Islam, the imam of the scholar, the lone of his era, the authority of scholars, who excelled in jurisprudence, origins and the Arabic language, and reached the rank of ijtihad, and received students who traveled to him from all over the country. Al-Izz Bin Abdul Salam was born in Damascus in 577 AH (1181 AD), where he grew up. He studied the sciences of the Sharia and the Arabic language, and he preached at the Umayyad Mosque and taught in the corner of Al-Ghazali. He was famous for his knowledge until he reached out to students from the country, which led to his incarceration. He then migrated to Egypt, where he was appointed a judge, and he taught and advised, and was appointed to preach at the Mosque of Amr Ibn Al-As, and incited people to fight the

Mongols The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal membe ...

and the

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...

, and participated in jihad himself. He died in Cairo in the year 660 AH (1262 AD).

Birth and education

Ibn 'Abd al-Salam was born in Damascus in 577 AH. He received his education in Damascus by such scholars as Ibn Asakir and Jamal al-Din al-Harastani in Sacred law,

Sayf al-Din al-Amidi Sayf al-Din al-Amidi or Muhammad al-Amidi (b. 1156; Diyarbakır - d. 1233 in Damascus) was an influential jurist. Initially a Hanbalite, Al-Amidi belonged to the Shafi`i school and worked to combine ''kalam'' (theology) with existing methods of ...

usul al-Fiqh Principles of Islamic jurisprudence, also known as ''uṣūl al-fiqh'' ( ar, أصول الفقه, lit. roots of fiqh), are traditional methodological principles used in Islamic jurisprudence (''fiqh'') for deriving the rulings of Islamic law (''s ...

and theology, and

Tasawwuf Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ...

with Suhrawardi and Abul Hasan al-Shadhili.

Imprisonment

In Damascus, as sermon giver (

khatib In Islam, a khatib, khateeb or hatib ( ar, خطيب ''khaṭīb'') is a person who delivers the sermon (''khuṭbah'') (literally "narration"), during the Friday prayer and Eid prayers. The ''khateeb'' is usually the prayer leader (''imam''), ...

) of the

Umayyad The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by the ...

mosque, he openly defied what he considered to be unsanctioned customs followed by the other sermon givers: he refused to wear black, refused to say his sermons in rhymed prose (saj) and refused to praise the princes. When the ruler As-Salih Ismail made capitulatory concessions to

Theobald Theobald is a Germanic dithematic name, composed from the elements '' theod-'' "people" and ''bald'' "bold". The name arrived in England with the Normans. The name occurs in many spelling variations, including Theudebald, Diepold, Theobalt, Tyb ...

during the Barons' Crusade, Ibn 'Abd al-Salam condemned him from the pulpit and omitted mentioning him in the post-sermon prayer. He was consequently jailed and upon release emigrated to Egypt.

Egypt

Having left Damascus, Ibn 'Abd al-Salam settled in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...

where he was appointed chief judge and Imam of the Friday prayer, gaining such public influence that he could (and did) command the right and forbid the wrong with the force of the law. Ibn 'Abd al-Salam later resigned from the judiciary and undertook a career as a teacher of Shafi'i law at the Salihiyya, a college founded in the heart of Cairo by al-Malik al-Salih which had then barely been completed and which was, in Egypt, the first establishment providing instruction in the four rites. The biographers indicate that he was the first to teach Qur'anic commentary in Egypt. Ibn 'Abd al-Salam's exploits eventually earned him the title ''Sultan al-'Ulema'' (Sultan of the scholars).

Name and Lineage

According to the consensus of scholars and the consensus of the approved sources, His name was Abdul Aziz bin Abdul Salam bin Abi Al-Qasim bin Hassan bin Muhammad bin Mudhahb.العز بن عبد السلام، محمد الزحيلي
� ص40-41

Works

He produced a number of brilliant works in Shafi'i jurisprudence, Qur'anic jurisprudence

tafsir Tafsir ( ar, تفسير, tafsīr ) refers to exegesis, usually of the Quran. An author of a ''tafsir'' is a ' ( ar, مُفسّر; plural: ar, مفسّرون, mufassirūn). A Quranic ''tafsir'' attempts to provide elucidation, explanation, in ...

, methodological fundamentals in Sacred Law, formal legal opinion, government and Sufism though his main and enduring contribution was his masterpiece on Islamic legal principles . Some of his more popular works are on: Qur'aan #Tafsir al-Qur'an al-Azim, #Mukhtasar al-Nukat wa'l 'Uyun lil Imam al-Mawardi, #Al-Isharah ila al-Ijaz, #Fawa'id fi Mushkil al-Qur'an #Amali Hadith / Sirah #Mukhtasar Sahih Muslim, #Bidayat al-Sul fi Tafdhil al-Rasul; available in its translated form as The Beginning of The Quest of the High Esteem of the Messenger #Targhib Ahl al-Islam fi Sakni al-Sham, Aqeedah #Al-Mulhat fi I'tiqad Ahl al-Haqq or by its other title; al-Radd 'ala al-Mubtadi'ah wa'l Hashawiyah; transmitted by his son 'Abd al-Latif. #Al-Farq bayn al-Iman wa'l Islam or Ma'na al-Iman wa'l Islam, #Al-Anwa' fi 'ilm al-Tawhid, #Bayan Ahwal al-Nas yawm al-Qiyamah, Tasawwuf / Raqa'iq #, #Al-Fitan wa'l Balaya wa'l Mihan, #Mukhtasar Ra'ayah al-Muhasibi or Maqasid al-Ri'ayah li Huquqillah, Usool #Qawa'id al-Kubra or by its full title; Qawa'id al-Ahkam fi Masalih al-Anam. Its popular commentary is available by Imam al-Qarafi who was one of his students. #Al-Qawa'id al-Sughra, or al-Fawa'id fi Mukhtasar al-Qawa'id; is an abridgement of the above title. #Al-Imam fi Bayan Adillat al-Ahkam, or ad-Dala'il al-Muta'aliqah bi'l Mala'ikah wa'l Nabiyin, Fiqh #Al-Ghayah fi Ikhtisar al-Nihayah; is an abridgement of Nihayat al-Matlab fi Dirayat al-Madhab of imam al-Haramayn al-Juwayni. #Al-Jam' bayaan al-Hawi wa'l Nihayah; not known to have finished it. Al-Fatawa al-Misriyyah, Al-Fatawa al-Musiliyyah, At-Targhib 'an Salat al-Ragha'ib, or by another title; al-Targhib 'an Salat al-Ragha'ib al-Mawdu'ah wa bayan ma fiha min Mukhalafat al-Sunan al-Mashru'ah, or by another title; Risalat fi Dhamm Salat al-Ragha'ib. #Risalat fi Radd Jawaz Salat al-Ragha'ib or by the title of Risalat fi Tafnid Radd Ibn al-Salah, #Maqasid al-Sawm, #Manasik al-Hajj, #Maqasid al-Salah, #Ahkam al-Jihad wa Fadha'ilihi,

Reception

Zaki al-Din al-Mundhiri, the Shafi'i jurist, hadith expert and author stated that, "We used to give legal opinions before ''shaykh'' 'Izz al-Din arrived; now that he is among us we no longer do so." Qarafi describes Ibn 'Abd al-Salam as a "staunch defender of the sunna who had no fear of those in power" A number of sources report that Ibn 'Abd al-Salam reached the level of ijtihad transcending the Shafi'i madhab altogether.

Death

He died in Cairo in 660 AH.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Izz al-Din ibn Abd al-Salam Asharis Shafi'is Sunni Muslim scholars Supporters of Ibn Arabi Mujaddid 1180s births 1262 deaths 13th-century jurists 13th-century Arabs 12th-century Arabs