Abu l-Fath al-Amidi

Abu l-Fath al-Amidi

Personal Information
Full Name	Abu l-Fath Nasih al-Din Abd al-Wahid b. Muhammad al-Amidi
Well-Known As	Abu l-Fath al-Amidi
Death	510/1116-7 or 520/1126-7 or 550/1155-6
Scholarly Information
Works	Ghurar al-hikam wa durar al-kalim,Jawahir al-kalam fi l-hukm wa l-ahkam
Scholarly Activities	Scholar of Hadith
Socio-Political Activities
Socio-Political Activities	Judge of Amid (now Diyarbakir, Turkey)

Abū l-Fatḥ Nāṣiḥ al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Wāhid b. Muḥammad al-Āmidī (Arabic: أبو الفتح ناصح‌الدین عبدالواحد بن محمد الآمدي) (b.? - d. 510/1116-7, 520/1126-7 or 550/1155-6) was a hadith narrator, judge of Amid (now Diyarbakir, Turkey) and among Shi'a scholars. He owes his reputation to his Ghurar al-hikam wa durar al-kalim which is a great collection of Imam Ali's (a) maxims and short sayings.

Name

His name has also been recorded as Muhamamd b. 'Abd al-Wahid.

Birth

There is not much information about his life. Exact date of his birth or death are not mentioned in any reference of rijal. In his introduction to Jawahir al-kalam, al-Amidi mentions Ahmad al-Ghazzali (d. 520/1126-7) as his contemporary scholar. Also when listing Shi'a references, Ibn Shahrashub (d. 588/1192) mentions that he has received the permission for narrating Ghurar al-hikam wa durar al-kilam from al-Amidi.

Demise

His demise is recorded differently as 510/1116-7, 520/1126-7 or 550/1155-6. In the introduction to Ghurar al-hikam, Muhaddith Urmawi prefers 550/1155 due to some evidences.

Religion

Since Ibn Shahrashub has had permission for narrating Ghurar al-hikam from him and has counted this book among Shi'a references, other scholars such as al-Majlisi, Afandi Isfahani and Nuri have considered him a Twelver Shi'a and have regarded the complement expression "Karram-Allah-u wajhah" [May Allah brightens his face] which al-Amidi has used in his introduction to Ghurar al-hikam for Imam 'Ali (a) as an act of Taqiyya or a later modification by scribes.

Works

Ghurar al-hikam wa durar al-kalim

Main article: Ghurar al-hikam wa durar al-kalim (book)

In this book, Maxims are ordered alphabetically (the first word of sayings) and considering their rhythmic pronunciations. This book was translated to Persian and explained by Jamal al-Din Muhammad Khwansari (d. 1121/1709-10 or 1125/1713-4) in 12th/18th century, following the order of Shah Sultan Husayn Safavi.

Jawahir al-Kalam

Haji Khalifa has quoted a part of the introduction of this book.