Abu l-Hasan al-Busrawi

Abu l-Hasan al-Busrawi

Personal Information
Full Name	Abu l-Hasan al-Busrawi
Birth	?
Death	443/1051
Burial Place	Baghdad
Scholarly Information
Professors	al-Sayyid al-Murtada
Students	Ibn Sharif al-Akmal al-Bahrani•Jibri'il b. Isma'il al-Qummi
Works	Al-Mufid fi l-taklif•Al-Mu'tamad•...

Abū l-Ḥasan Muḥammad b. Muḥammad b. Aḥmad al-Buṣrawī (Arabic: أبوالحسن‌ محمّد بن‌ محمّد بن‌ أحمد البُصْرَوي) (d. 443/1051), known as al-Buṣrawī (البُصْرَوي), was an Imamiyya scholar of fiqh in the 5th/11th century. He was a student of al-Sayyid al-Murtada. He also composed poems. He wrote works in fiqh and poetry. He presented his views in fiqh in al-Mufid fi l-taklif. He also provided a bibliography of the works of his teacher, al-Sayyid al-Murtada.

Biography

Al-Busrawi is attributed to a village, called "Busra", near 'Ukbara and Baghdad.

Little is known about the early years of his life. He finally died in Rabi' I, 443/ July-August 1051.

Teachers

He accompanied al-Sayyid al-Murtada for a long time and studied kalam (Islamic theology) with him. Al-Sayyid al-Murtada gave him a special permission to cite all his works. He is mostly known for being a student of al-Sayyid al-Murtada.

Students

• Ibn Sharif al-Akmal al-Bahrani, a Shiite scholar of hadith and fiqh.

• Jabra'il b. Isma'il al-Qummi, the father of Shadhan b. Jabra'il.

There are non-Imamiyya people who narrated hadiths from al-Busrawi, such as al-Khatib al-Baghdadi.

Special Views in Fiqh

Views of al-Busrawi in fiqh were always specifically important for Shiite scholars. He presented his views in his book, al-Mufid fi l-taklif which was cited by Shiite faqihss.

One of his views that was cited in works of fiqh during the subsequent centuries is the purity (tahara) of water in a water well in which something unclean (najis) fell only if the amount of water is equivalent to kurr. Another specific view of his is the requirement of having wudu' in ramy al-jamarat (Stoning of the Devil as a hajj ritual).

Works

• Al-Mufid fi l-taklif: the book was cited by Ibn Sharif al-Akmal al-Bahrani and Jabra'il b. Isma'il al-Qummi. In later periods it was taught as a textbook of Shiite fiqh. The book was indubitably available until the period of al-Shahid al-Awwal, but it is not available today.

• A Collection of al-Sayyid al-Murtada's work: al-Busrawi provided a bibliography of al-Sayyid al-Murtada's work together with his permission to him. A manuscript of his book is available in the Central Library of Tehran University. It is also available in the library of Astan Qods Razavi together with a collection of al-Sayyid al-Murtada's essays.

• Al-Mu'tamad: this book is probably concerned with fiqh.

• A Collection of poems: although al-Busrawi was a faqih, he also composed poems. Many people regarded his poems as good and pleasant. Some of his poems reproaching attachment to this material world is cited by al-Khatib al-Baghdadi.