Isa ibn Aban
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Abu Musa ʿĪsā b. Abān was an early Sunni
Islamic scholar In Islam, the ''ulama'' (; ar, علماء ', singular ', "scholar", literally "the learned ones", also spelled ''ulema''; feminine: ''alimah'' ingularand ''aalimath'' lural are the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious ...
who followed the
Hanafi The Hanafi school ( ar, حَنَفِية, translit=Ḥanafiyah; also called Hanafite in English), Hanafism, or the Hanafi fiqh, is the oldest and one of the four traditional major Sunni schools ( maddhab) of Islamic Law (Fiqh). It is named a ...
madhhab. Although none of his own works have survived to today, he was quoted extensively by early Hanafi scholars such as
Al-Jassas Al-Jaṣṣās (, 305 AH/917 AD - 370 AH/981 AD; full name ''Abū Bakr Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī al-Rāzī al-Jaṣṣāṣ'') was a Hanafite scholar, Jonathan A.C. Brown (2007), ''The Canonization of al-Bukhārī and Muslim: The Formation and Functio ...
in regards to his views on Hanafi
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 ...
. Having studied under Abu Hanifa's student,
Muhammad al-Shaybani Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Farqad ash-Shaybānī ( ar, أبو عبد الله محمد بن الحسن بن فرقد الشيباني; 749/50 – 805), the father of Muslim international law, was an Arab jurist and a di ...
, ibn Abān's views on the sources of law can be assumed to be representative of Abu Hanifa's.


Biography

Ibn Abān initially studied hadith, and was not known to be associated with ''
ahl al-ra'y Ahl al-Ra'y ( ar, أهل الرأي or 'liberal theologians', ''aṣḥāb al-raʾy'', advocates of ''ra'y'', 'common sense' or 'rational discretion') were an early Islamic movement advocating the use of reasoning to arrive at legal decisions.Ency ...
'', as the Hanafis were called. His views changed when he began to study with Muhammad al-Shaybani, one of Abu Hanifa's primary students. He later became a member of the
Abbasid The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...
prince al-Ma'mun's court, earning his favor by writing a treatise critical of the jurisprudential views of another scholar in the court. He would later go on to serve as a
qadi A qāḍī ( ar, قاضي, Qāḍī; otherwise transliterated as qazi, cadi, kadi, or kazi) is the magistrate or judge of a '' sharīʿa'' court, who also exercises extrajudicial functions such as mediation, guardianship over orphans and mino ...
in
Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon. I ...
and
Basra Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is han ...
.


Views

Much of what is known about ibn Abān's views on ''usul al-fiqh'' is based on what Abu Bakr al-Jassas quotes in his book, ''Al-Usul fi al-Fusul''. Ibn Abān argued in favor of classifying ''khabar'' (i.e. Hadith reports) according to how well-known and widespread the report was. In his theory, the only Hadith reports that can be considered entirely authentic are ones that are narrated by large groups of people (''mutawatir''), indicating that their fabrication was highly unlikely. Hadith reports that are not as widespread still had a role in jurisprudence according to ibn Abān, but they would not be as unquestionable as ''mutawatir'' reports. Ibn Abān also advocates judging Hadith reports by comparing them with relevant passages from the
Qur'an The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , s ...
. He differs significantly here with his contemporary
al-Shafi'i Abū ʿAbdillāh Muḥammad ibn Idrīs al-Shāfiʿī ( ar, أَبُو عَبْدِ ٱللهِ مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ إِدْرِيسَ ٱلشَّافِعِيُّ, 767–19 January 820 CE) was an Arab Muslim theologian, writer, and schol ...
who argued that if the narration chain of a Hadith is judged to be strong, no further criticism of the Hadith report was necessary.


Works

According to al-Jassas, ʿĪsā ibn Abān authored four works, none of which survive to today: *''Al-Hujaj al-Saghir'' *''Al-Hujaj al-Kabir'' *''Kitab al-Radd 'ala Bishr al-Marisi (wa'l Shafi'i) fi'l Akhbar'' *''Kitab al-Mujmal wa'l Mufassar''


Literature

* Josef van Ess: ''Theologie und Gesellschaft im 2. und 3. Jahrhundert Hidschra. Eine Geschichte des religiösen Denkens im frühen Islam''. De Gruyter, Berlin 1991–1997, 6 volumes, v. 2, 302; v. 3, 60 f., 181; v. 4, 280, 652; v. 5, 353.


References

{{Hanafi scholars Hanafis 9th-century Muslim scholars of Islam 9th-century jurists 9th-century people from the Abbasid Caliphate