Abu l-Salah al-Halabi

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Abu l-Salah al-Halabi
Personal Information
Full NameShaykh Taqī al-Dīn b. Najm al-Dīn b. ʿUbayd Allāh b. ʿAbd Allāh b. Muḥammad
Well-Known AsAbu l-Ṣalāh al-Ḥalabi
Birth374/984-5
ResidenceHalab
Studied inHalab, Baghdad
Death447/1055-6
Burial PlaceCemetery of Jabal al-Jawshan, Halab
Scholarly Information
Professorsal-Sharif al-Murtada, Al-Shaykh al-Tusi, Hamza b. 'Abd al-'Aziz Sallar al-Daylami


Shaykh Taqī al-Dīn b. Najm al-Dīn b. ʿUbayd Allāh b. ʿAbd Allāh b. Muḥammad (Arabic: شيخ تَقى الدّين بن نَجم الدّين بن عُبَيد الله بن عَبد الله بن مُحَمّد ), (b.374/984-5 - d.447/1055-6) known as Abū l-Ṣalāh al-Ḥalabi (Arabic: ابوالصَّلاح الحَلَبی ) , was a prominent Imami jurist and theologian. He was a student of al-Sharif al-Murtada and al-Shaykh al-Tusi. Two of his famous students are Ibn al-Barraj and Muhammad b. 'Ali al-Karajaki.

Abu l-Salah's jurisprudential viewpoints are to a great extent close to those of the scholars of the School of Baghdad and influenced by al-Sharif al-Murtada. According to Abu l-Salah, judgeship is a prerogative of the infallible Imams (a) and their deputies, and those who assume the position on behalf of the Imams are to have such characteristics as wisdom, insight, righteousness, patience, and a firm determination for fulfilling the laws.

Al-Kafi fi l-fiqh and Taqrib al-ma'arif are two of his most famous works.

Early Life

Abu l-Salah al-Halabi was born in 374/984-985 in Aleppo.[1] Some sources[2] have mentioned the year 347/958-9 as his birth year, which seems to be a mistake.[3] Abu l-Salah most likely started his education in his hometown.

Cemetery of Jabal al-Jawshan in Aleppo, Syria where Abu l-Salah al-Halabi was buried.

Demise

Abu l-Salah passed away in 447/1055-6 on his return from Hajj in Zamla, Palestine.[4]

Teachers

Al-Halabi moved from Halab to Baghdad and studied there under al-Sharif al-Murtada and became one of his most prominent students, such that al-Murtada would refer the fiqhi questions of the people of Halab to him and Abu l-Salah was regarded as al-Murtada's representative in Halab.[5]

Al-Shaykh al-Tusi was another teacher of al-Halabi.[6] Some have also mentioned Hamza b. 'Abd al-'Aziz Sallar al-Daylami among his teachers.[7]

Students

After his graduation, al-Halabi returned to Halab and started teaching. Many students studied under him. Some of his most prominent students and those who narrated hadith from him include the following:

  1. Thabit b. Aslam al-Halabi who took the position of Abu l-Salah after his death
  2. Qadi 'Abd al-'Aziz b. al-Barraj
  3. 'Abd al-Rahman b. Ahmad Mufid al-Nayshaburi
  4. Muhammad b. 'Ali al-Karajaki
  5. Abu Muhammad Rayhan b. 'Abd Allah al-Habashi[8]

Jurisprudential Viewpoints

The jurisprudential viewpoints of al-Halabi are to a great extent close to those of the school of Baghdad and influenced by his teacher al-Murtada, including the unreliability of khabar al-wahid.[9] However, Abu l-Salah and al-Murtada have certain differences of opinion, which is recorded by al-Karajaki in Ghayat al-insaf fi masa'il al-khilaf.[10]

Abu l-Salah also holds, in some cases, an opinion which is different from the opinion of the majority of jurists.[11]

According to al-Halabi, judgeship is a prerogative of the infallible Imams (a) and their deputies, and those who assume the position on behalf of the Imams are to have such characteristics as wisdom, insight, righteousness, patience, and a firm determination for fulfilling the laws.[12] Accordingly, assuming judgeship permissible, or rather obligatory, for those who have the qualifications—even if it is offered to them by an illegitimate ruler, in which case, the judge would be the deputy of the Imam, not the ruler.

Works

A number of the most important jurisprudential and theological works of al-Halabi are extant and some of which are as follows:

  1. Al-Kafi fi l-fiqh is his most important and most famous work which is a comprehensive book of jurisprudence and includes some theological issues as well. Shiite jurists have referred to and admired this book a lot including Ibn Idris al-Hilli who has considered it as a nice scholarly work.[13]
  2. Taqrib al-ma'arif which includes theological discussions especially tawhid, prophethood, Imamate and Divine Justice. One of the characteristics of this book is that it has benefited from such sources as Tarikh al-Thaqafi and Tarikh al-Waqidi which are no longer available today.
  3. Al-Bidaya fi al-fiqh
  4. Al-'Umda wa al-lawami'
  5. Al-Kafiya
  6. Al-Shafiya
  7. Commentary on al-Dhakhira by Sayyid Murtada
  8. Shubah al-malahida
  9. Muntakhab al-Ma'arif
  10. Al-Mi'raj
  11. Al-Burhan 'ala thubut al-iman[14]

Notes

  1. Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī, Lisān al-mīzān, vol. 2, p. 71.
  2. Mudarris Tabrīzī, Rayḥānat al-adab, vol. 7, p. 161.
  3. Abū al-Ṣalāḥ al-Ḥalabī, al-Kāfī fī l-fiqh, Ustādī introduction, p. 5.
  4. Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī, Lisān al-mīzān; Muntajab al-Dīn al-Rāzī, al-Fihrist; Ibn Shahrāshūb, Maʿālim al-ʿulamā.
  5. Muntajab al-Dīn al-Rāzī, al-Fihrist, p. 44; Ibn Shahrāshūb, Maʿālim al-ʿulamā', p. 29;
  6. Ṭūsī, al-Rijāl, p. 457.
  7. Ṭurayḥī, Majmaʿ al-baḥrayn, under the word "Sallar"; Tustarī, Maqābis al-anwār, p. 8.
  8. Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī, Lisān al-mīzān, vol. 5, p. 300; Ḥurr al-ʿĀmilī, ʾAmal al-āmil, part 2, p. 120, 152; Afandī Iṣfahānī, Riyāḍ al-ʿulamāʾ wa ḥiyāḍ al-fuḍalāʾ, vol. 4, p. 268; Abū al-Ṣalāḥ al-Ḥalabī, al-Kāfī fī l-fiqh, introduction, p. 15-18.
  9. Abū al-Ṣalāḥ al-Ḥalabī, al-Kāfī fī l-fiqh, p. 511.
  10. Nūrī, Khātima al-mustadrak al-wasāʾil, vol. 3, p. 129.
  11. Ḥillī, Ibn Idrīs, Kitāb al-sarāʾir, vol. 1, p. 490; Ḥillī, Mukhtalaf al-Shīʿa fī aḥkām al-sharīʿa, vol. 1, p. 366; vol. 4, p. 83; vol. 5, p. 200, 367; vol. 9, p. 74.
  12. Abū al-Ṣalāḥ al-Ḥalabī, al-Kāfī fī l-fiqh, p. 421-423.
  13. Ḥillī, Mukhtalaf al-Shīʿa, vol. 2, p. 449.
  14. Ibn Shahrāshūb, Maʿālim al-ʿulamā; Daylamī, Aʿlām al-dīn fī ṣifāt al-muʾminīn, p. 44-58; Āqā Buzurg al-Tihrānī, al-Dharīʿa, vol. 21, p. 224; vol. 22, p. 435; vol. 26, p. 96-97; Abū al-Ṣalāḥ al-Ḥalabī, Taqrīb al-maʿārif, introduction, p. 37-41; Abū al-Ṣalāḥ al-Ḥalabī, al-Kāfī fī l-fiqh, introduction, p. 19-22.

References

  • Abū al-Ṣalāḥ al-Ḥalabī, Taqī b. Najm. Al-Kāfī fī l-fiqh. Edited by Rida Ustadī. Isfahan: 1362 Sh.
  • Abū al-Ṣalāḥ al-Ḥalabī, Taqī b. Najm. Taqrīb al-maʿārif. Qom: 1375 Sh.
  • Afandī Iṣfahānī, ʿAbd Allāh. Riyāḍ al-ʿulamāʾ wa ḥiyāḍ al-fuḍalāʾ. Edited by Aḥmad Ḥusaynī Ashkwarī. Qom: 1401 AH.
  • Daylamī, Ḥasan b. Abī l-Ḥasan al-. Aʿlām al-dīn fī ṣifāt al-muʾminīn. Qom: 1414 AH.
  • Ḥillī, Ibn Idrīs al-. Kitāb al-sarāʾir al-ḥāwī li taḥrīr al-fatāwī. Qom: Daftar-i Intishārāt-i Islāmī, 1410 AH.
  • Ḥillī, Jaʿfar b. al-Ḥasan al-. Mukhtalaf al-Shīʿa fī aḥkām al-sharīʿa. Qom: Jāmiʿat al-Mudarrisīn, 1413 AH.
  • Ḥurr al-ʿĀmilī, Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-. ʾAmal al-āmil. Baghdad: Maktabat al-Andalus, 1385 AH.
  • Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī, Aḥmad b. ʿAlī. Lisān al-mīzān. Hyderabad: 1329-1331 AH.
  • Ibn Shahrāshūb, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī. Maʿālim al-ʿulamā. Tehran: 1353 Sh.
  • Mudarris Tabrīzī, Muḥammad ʿAlī. Rayḥānat al-adab. Tehran: [n.p.], 1369 Sh.
  • Muntajab al-Dīn al-Rāzī, ʿAlī b. ʿUbayd Allāh. Al-Fihrist. Edited by Jalalal-Din Muhaddith Urmawi. Qom: [n.p.], 1366 Sh.
  • Nūrī, Ḥusayn b. Muḥammad Taqī. Khātima al-mustadrak al-wasāʾil. Qom: Muʾassisat Āl al-Bayt, 1415 AH.
  • Ṭurayḥī, Fakhr al-Dīn b. Muḥammad al-. Majmaʿ al-baḥrayn. Edited by Sayyid Aḥmad Ḥusaynī. Tehran: al-Maktaba al-Murtaḍawīyya, 1375 Sh.
  • Ṭūsī, Muḥammad b. al-Ḥaasn al-. Al-Rijāl. Najaf: 1961.
  • Tustarī, Asd Allāh b. Ismāʿīl Kāẓimī al-. Maqābis al-anwār wa nafāyis al-asrār fī aḥkām al-nabī al-mukhtār wa ʿitratih al-aṭhār. Qom: Āl al-Bayt, [n.d.].