Sadr al-Shari'a al-Asghar (), also known as Sadr al-Shari'a al-Thani (), was a

Hanafi The Hanafi school or Hanafism is the oldest and largest Madhhab, school of Islamic jurisprudence out of the four schools within Sunni Islam. It developed from the teachings of the Faqīh, jurist and theologian Abu Hanifa (), who systemised the ...

Maturidi Maturidism () is a school of theology in Sunni Islam named after Abu Mansur al-Maturidi. It is one of the three creeds of Sunni Islam alongside Ash'arism and Atharism, and prevails in the Hanafi school of jurisprudence. Al-Maturidi codified a ...

scholar, faqih (jurist),

mutakallim ''Ilm al-kalam'' or ''ilm al-lahut'', often shortened to ''kalam'', is the scholastic, speculative, or rational study of Islamic theology ('' aqida''). It can also be defined as the science that studies the fundamental doctrines of Islamic fai ...

(

theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...

mufassir Tafsir ( ; ) refers to an exegesis, or commentary, of the Quran. An author of a ''tafsir'' is a ' (; plural: ). A Quranic ''tafsir'' attempts to provide elucidation, explanation, interpretation, context or commentary for clear understanding ...

(Qur'anic exegete),

muhaddith A muhaddith () is a scholar specialized in the study, collection, and interpretation of hadiths, which are the recorded sayings, actions, and approvals of the Prophet Muhammad. The role of a muhaddith is central to the science of hadith (ʻilm a ...

(expert of the Hadith), nahawi (grammarian), lughawi (

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

logician Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the study of deductively valid inferences or logical truths. It examines how conclusions follow from premises based on the structure of arg ...

, and

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...

, known for both his theories of time and place and his commentary on

Islamic jurisprudence ''Fiqh'' (; ) is the term for Islamic jurisprudence.Fiqh
Encyclopædia Britannica ''Fiqh'' is of ...

, indicating the depth of his knowledge in various Islamic disciplines. His lineage reaches 'Ubadah ibn al-Samit. He was praised by

al-Taftazani Sa'ad al-Din Masud ibn Umar ibn Abd Allah al-Taftazani () also known as Al-Taftazani and Taftazani (1322–1390) was a Muslim Persian polymath."Al-Taftazanni Sa'd al-Din Masud b. Umar b. Abdullah", in Encyclopedia Islam by W. Madelung, Brill ...

, and 'Abd al-Hayy al-Lucknawi.

Name

He is 'Ubayd-Allah b. Mas'ud b. Mahmud b. Ahmad b. 'Ubayd-Allah al-Mahbubi al-Bukhari. He is also called Sadr al-Shari'a al-Asghar. Generally, when Sadr al-Shari'a is said, it refers to him. The term ''al-Asghar'' () or ''al-Thani'' () is sometimes added after his title to differentiate him from his great grandfather Ahmad b. 'Ubayd-Allah who is also known as Sadr al-Shari'a but with the suffix of ''al-Akbar'' () or ''al-Awwal'' ().

Birth

His date of birth is not recorded in the well-known bio-dictionaries.

Teachers

He was born into a family with a long line of scholars. He studied under his father as well as his grandfather.

Works

His expertise expanded to many fields including

Hadith Hadith is the Arabic word for a 'report' or an 'account f an event and refers to the Islamic oral tradition of anecdotes containing the purported words, actions, and the silent approvals of the Islamic prophet Muhammad or his immediate circle ...

Fiqh ''Fiqh'' (; ) is the term for Islamic jurisprudence.Fiqh
Encyclopædia Britannica ''Fiqh'' is of ...

Usul al-Fiqh Principles of Islamic jurisprudence () are traditional methodological principles used in Islamic jurisprudence (''fiqh'') for deriving the rulings of Islamic law (''sharia''). Traditional theory of Islamic jurisprudence elaborates how the scri ...

kalam ''Ilm al-kalam'' or ''ilm al-lahut'', often shortened to ''kalam'', is the scholastic, speculative, or rational study of Islamic theology ('' aqida''). It can also be defined as the science that studies the fundamental doctrines of Islamic fai ...

(

theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

logic Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the study of deductively valid inferences or logical truths. It examines how conclusions follow from premises based on the structure o ...

grammar In linguistics, grammar is the set of rules for how a natural language is structured, as demonstrated by its speakers or writers. Grammar rules may concern the use of clauses, phrases, and words. The term may also refer to the study of such rul ...

rhetoric Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. It is one of the three ancient arts of discourse ( trivium) along with grammar and logic/ dialectic. As an academic discipline within the humanities, rhetoric aims to study the techniques that speakers or w ...

, exact and

natural sciences Natural science or empirical science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer ...

. His knowledge was vast and incisive through which he was able to summarise many important and difficult topics succinctly. He authored of a number of influential works in the

madhhab A ''madhhab'' (, , pl. , ) refers to any school of thought within fiqh, Islamic jurisprudence. The major Sunni Islam, Sunni ''madhhab'' are Hanafi school, Hanafi, Maliki school, Maliki, Shafi'i school, Shafi'i and Hanbali school, Hanbali. They ...

. His al-Tanqih (), along with his own commentary upon it entitled al-Tawdih (), is a work of

usul al-fiqh Principles of Islamic jurisprudence () are traditional methodological principles used in Islamic jurisprudence (''fiqh'') for deriving the rulings of Islamic law (''sharia''). Traditional theory of Islamic jurisprudence elaborates how the scri ...

that merges between 'the way of the jurists' (i.e. the Hanafis) and between 'the way of the

scholastics Scholasticism was a medieval European philosophical movement or methodology that was the predominant education in Europe from about 1100 to 1700. It is known for employing logically precise analyses and reconciling classical philosophy and C ...

', combining and reorganising the works of the Hanafi Fakhr al-Islam al-Bazdawi and the

Maliki The Maliki school or Malikism is one of the four major madhhab, schools of Islamic jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. It was founded by Malik ibn Anas () in the 8th century. In contrast to the Ahl al-Hadith and Ahl al-Ra'y schools of thought, the ...

Ibn al-Hajib Jamāl al-Dīn abū ʿAmr ʿUthmān ibn ʿUmar ibn Abī bakr al-Mālikī (died in 1249 in Alexandria), known as Ibn al-Ḥājib, was a Kurdish grammarian and jurist who earned a reputation as a prominent Maliki faqīh. Life Ibn al-Hajib was ...

into a new synthesis. This work reflects a new development in the scholasticization of Hanafi jurisprudential theory. He authored a work (yet unpublished) known under the title Ta'dil al-'Ulum (), which became a milestone in the development of the

Khorasan KhorasanDabeersiaghi, Commentary on Safarnâma-e Nâsir Khusraw, 6th Ed. Tehran, Zavvâr: 1375 (Solar Hijri Calendar) 235–236 (; , ) is a historical eastern region in the Iranian Plateau in West and Central Asia that encompasses western and no ...

and Ma Wara' al-Nahr (

Transoxania Transoxiana or Transoxania (, now called the Amu Darya) is the Latin name for the region and civilization located in lower Central Asia roughly corresponding to eastern Uzbekistan, western Tajikistan, parts of southern Kazakhstan, parts of Tur ...

). His Ta'dil al-'Ulum was recommended by the sixteenth-century Ottoman scholar and judge Ahmed Taşköprüzade (d. 1561) to anyone desirous of reaching the highest degree of excellence in

Astronomy

Sadr's astronomical work represents an ongoing revision of

Ptolemaic astronomy In astronomy, the geocentric model (also known as geocentrism, often exemplified specifically by the Ptolemaic system) is a superseded description of the Universe with Earth at the center. Under most geocentric models, the Sun, Moon, stars, a ...

. In that context, he undertook to correct the works of two of his predecessors, namely

Nasir al-Din al-Tusi Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Ṭūsī (1201 – 1274), also known as Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī (; ) or simply as (al-)Tusi, was a Persians, Persian polymath, architect, Early Islamic philosophy, philosopher, Islamic medicine, phy ...

and

Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi Qotb al-Din Mahmoud b. Zia al-Din Mas'ud b. Mosleh Shirazi (; 1236–1311) was a 13th-century Persian polymath and poet who made contributions to astronomy, mathematics, medicine, physics, music theory, philosophy and Sufism.Sayyed ʿAbd-Allā ...

. The models of the last two were developed in their two respective works, the Tadhkira and the Tuhfa. Sadr took it upon himself to solve the problems they did not tackle, and to supply answers to the subtleties they did not address. Sadr's astronomical writings are found in the third volume of his three‐volume encyclopedia of the sciences, the ''Ta'dil al-'Ulum'' (The Adjustment of the Sciences). The first two volumes dealt with

and

. The third volume was called '' Kitab Ta'dil Hay'at al-Aflak'' (The Adjustment of the Configuration of the Celestial Spheres). This encyclopaedia starts with

, proceeds through

, and ends with

astronomy Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest includ ...

. It was written in

Bukhara Bukhara ( ) is the List of cities in Uzbekistan, seventh-largest city in Uzbekistan by population, with 280,187 residents . It is the capital of Bukhara Region. People have inhabited the region around Bukhara for at least five millennia, and t ...

, and was finished shortly before the death of its author. This work of Sadr is written in the traditional form of a commentary, where he gives his own text and then comments on the same. As is usual in such commentaries, the text is separated from the comments by the classical notation: a sentence preceded by the Arabic mim (short for matn) refers to the text, whereas the latter shin (for sharh) introduces the comment to that specific text. As a result, the work became voluminous, reaching some seventy densely written folios.

Death

He died on 747 AH (1346–47 CE) and was buried in

Notes

References

Arabic sources

Mu'jam al-Mu'allifin
by Umar Rida Kahhalah.
Hadiyyat al-'Arifin
by Isma'il Pasha al-Babani al-Baghdadi.
Al-'Alam
by

Khayr al-Din al-Zirikli Khayr al-Dīn al-Ziriklī (; June 25, 1893 – November 25, 1976) was a Syrian nationalist and poet in opposition to the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon, historian, Syrian citizen and a diplomat in the service of Saudi Arabia. Career K ...

.
Encyclopedia of Islamic Jurisprudence
by the Kuwait Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs. * كتاب: معجم الأصوليين - يحتوي على علماء أصول الفقه وأصحاب الآراء فيه والمؤلفين فيه، تأليف: أبي الطيب مولود السريري السوسي، الناشر: دار الكتب العلمية، ص: 330

External links

A Biography of Sadr al-Shari'a al-Thani
—

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

Sadr al-Shari'a al-Asghar (d. 747 AH)

Two Glosses on Sadr al-Sharia's Prolegomena (Arabic)

Arabic

Sharh al-Wiqayah
—

World Digital Library The World Digital Library (WDL) is an international digital library operated by UNESCO and the United States Library of Congress. The WDL has stated that its mission is to promote international and intercultural understanding, expand the volume ...

Sharh Mukhtasar al-Wiqayah
—

The Logic in Ta'dil al-'Ulum (The Adjustment of the Sciences)

A Brief Biography of Sadr al-Shari'a
{{Authority control Hanafis Maturidis 14th-century Muslim theologians Quranic exegesis scholars Hadith scholars Transoxanian Islamic scholars Linguists Natural scientists People from Bukhara Sunni imams Sunni fiqh scholars Sunni Muslim scholars of Islam Uzbekistani Sunni Muslims Uzbek logicians Uzbekistani astronomers Astronomers of the medieval Islamic world 14th-century astronomers 1346 deaths 1347 deaths