Imam Al-Bayhaqi

Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn al-Hussayn al-Bayhaqi the jurisprudent imam,  hadith master, authority in the foundations of doctrine, defender of the School both in its foundations and its branches, one of the mountains of Islamic knowledge was born in the year 384 AH in the Small town of Khusraugird near Bayhaq in Central Asia.

Al-Bayhaqi belongs to the the third generation of Imam Abu al-Hasan al-Ash`ari’s students and took kalam from the two Ash`ari imams Ibn Furak and Abu Mansur al-Baghdadi. His oldest shaykh was the imam and hadith scholar of Khurasan al-Sayyid Abu al-Hasan Muhammad ibn al-Husayn ibn Dawud al-`Alawi al-Hasani al-Naysaburi al-Hasib (d. 401), who was also the shaykh of the hadith master al-Hakim al-Naysaburi.

It is noteworthy that neither al-Tirmidhi’s Sunan, nor al-Nasa’i’s, nor Ibn Majah’s were transmitted to al-Bayhaqi, as stated by al-Dhahabi and others. Al-Dhahabi said, “His sphere in hadith is not large, but Allah blessed him in his  narrations for the excellence of his method in them and his sagacity and expertise in the subject-matters and narrators.”

His works

(The works of al-Bayhaqi count among the treasures of Islamic knowledge for their meticulousness, reliability, and near-perfection in the estimation of the scholars. Among those which have been published are the following:

• Al-Sunan al-Kubra (“The Major Work of the Prophet’s (s) Sunna”) in about ten large volumes, concerning which Ibn al-Subki waid: “No such book was ever compiled in the science with respect to classification, arrangement, and elegance,.”

• Ma`arifa al-Sunan wa al-Athar (“The Knowledge of Sunnas and Reports”) in about twenty volumes, which lists the textual evidence of Shafi`i school under fiqh sub-headings. Ibn al-Subki said: “No Shafi`i jurist can do without it.” While his father said,: “He meant by the title: Al-Shafi`i’s Knowledge of the Sunnas and Reports.”

• Bayan Khata Man Akhta`a `Ala al-Shafi`i (The  Exposition of the Error of Those who have Attributed Error to al-Sahfi`i). This book complements the Sunan and the Ma`rifa in the presentation of the textual evidence of the Shafi`i school.

• Al-Mabsut (The Expanded [Reference Book]), on Shafi`i Law.

• Al-Asma’ wa al-Sifat (The Divine Names and Attributes), concerning which Ibn al-Subki said: “I do not know anything which compares with it.”

• Al-I`tiqad `ala Madhhab al-Salaf Ahl al-Sunna wa al-Jama`a (Islamic Doctrines According to the School of the Predecessors Which is the School of the People of the Prophet’s (S) Way and Congretgatoin of His Companions) in about forty brief chapters.

• Dala’il al-Nubuwwa (The Signs of Prophethood) in about seven volumes, the foremost large ook exclusively devoted to the person of the Prophet  (s), as al-Qadi `Iyad’s al-Shifa’ fi Ma`rif Huquq al-Mustafa (The Healing concerning Knowledge of the Elect Prophet’s Rights) is the foremost condensed book on this noble subject.

• Shu`ab al-Iman (The Brances of Belief) in about fourteen volumes, in which al-Bayhaqi provides an exhaustive textual commentary on the hadith of the Prophet (s) whereby, “Belief has seventy-odd branches.”
  (The Seventy-Branches of faith offered (ref25 q) is based on this Work as abridged by al-Qazwini)

• Al-Da`awat al-Kabir (The Major Book of Supplications) in two volumes, which arranges the narrations related to the subject by circumstance, like al-Nawawi’s al-Adhkar and al-Jazari’s similar book.

• Al-Zuhd al-Kabir (The Major Book of Asceticism), which arranges the relevant narrations fo the Companions and early Sufis by subject-heading.

• Al-Arb`un al-Sughra (The minor Colleciont of Forty Hadith), which is devoted to the purification of the self and the acquisition of high manners.

• Al-Khilafiyyat (The Divergences [between al-Shafi`i and Abu Hanifa) of which Ibn al-Subki said: “No-one preceded him in writing a book of this kind, nor followed him in writing its like. It is an independent method in hadith science which is appreciated only by experts in both fiqh and hadith. It is precious for the texts it contains.

• Fada’il al-Awqat (Times of Particular Merit [for worship]).

• Manaqib al-Shafi`i (The Immense Merits of al-Shafi`i) in two volumes, which al-Nawawi said was the most reliable book on the merits of the Imam. Ibn al-Subki said: “Of al-I`tiqad, Dala’il al-Nubuwwa, Shu’ab al-Iman, Manaqib al-Shafi`i, and al-Da`awat al-Kabir, I swear that none of them has any peer.”

• Manaqib al-Imam Ahmad (The The Immense Merits of Imam Ahmad).

• Tarikh Hukama al-Islam (History of the Rulers of Islam), Etc.

Al-Bayhaqi is the last of those who comprehensively compiled the textual evidence of the Shafi`i school including the hadith, the positions of the Imam and his immediate companions. Imam al-Haramayn said: “There is no Shafi`i except he owes a hurge debt to al-Shafi`i, except al-Bayhaqi, to who al-Shafi`i owes a huge for his works which imposed al-Shafi`i’s school and his sayings.” Al-Dhahabi comments: “Abu al-Ma`ali is right! It is as he said, and if al-Bayhaqi had wanted to found a school of Law for himself he woul dhave been able to do so, due to the vastness of his sciences and his thorough knowledge fo juridical differences.” Among al-Shafi`i’s legal positions reported by al-Bayhaqi is the following in his book Fafa’il al-Awqat:

Reference:

The Seventy-Branches of faith - Imam Al-Bayhaqi Translatewd by A k Murad  
Web Articles by Dr. Jibril Haddad - Damascus

www.kitaabun.co.uk

Kitaabun (KBS)

Send a Kitaabun Gift Voucher to a Friend

"And say: truth has  arrived, and falsehood has  perished: for falsehood is ever  bound to perish." [TMQ Al-Isra:81]

Top       old links              New Articles     All Articles    Classical Biographies     Excerpts - Classical     Excerpts - Other