220 – Abū Ishāq al-Isfarāyinī, Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad
The Imām, the unrivalled erudite scholar, the master teacher: Abū Ishāq Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Mihrān al-Isfarāyinī, a scholar of legal theory, a Shāfiʿī, known by the honorific Rukn al-Dīn.
He was one of the independent jurist-scholars of his generation and the author of brilliant compositions.
He travelled in pursuit of hadith and studied under: Daʿlaj al-Sijzī, ʿAbd al-Khāliq ibn Abī Rūbā, Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Shāfiʿī, Muḥammad ibn Yazdād ibn Masʿūd, Abū Bakr al-Ismāʿīlī, and several others.
He dictated a number of hadith sessions, some of which have come down to me.
Those who transmitted from him include: Abū Bakr al-Bayhaqī, Abū al-Qāsim al-Qushayrī, Abū al-Ṭayyib al-Ṭabarī—who trained under him in disputation—Abū al-Sanābil (1) Hibat Allāh ibn Abī al-Ṣaḥbāʾ, and a group besides them.
Among his writings is the book Jāmiʿ al-Khalī (2) on the principles of religion and a refutation of the heretics, in five volumes (3).
(*) References: Tabaqat al-Abbadi, p. 104; Tabaqat al-Shirazi, p. 106; Al-Ansab, 1 / 237; Tabyin Kadhib al-Muftari, pp. 243–244; Mujam al-Buldan, 1 / 178; Al-Lubab, 1 / 55; Tabaqat Ibn al-Salah, fol. 30 b; Tahdhib al-Asma wa-l-Lughat, 2 / 169–170; Wafayat al-Ayan, 1 / 28; Al-Mukhtasar fi Akhbar al-Bashar, 2 / 156; Al-Ibar, 3 / 128; Al-Wafi bi-l-Wafayat, 6 / 104–105; Mirat al-Jinan, 3 / 31; Tabaqat al-Subki, 4 / 256–262; Tabaqat al-Isnawi, 1 / 59–60; Al-Bidaya wa-l-Nihaya, 12 / 24; Tabaqat Ibn Hidayat Allah, pp. 135–136; Kashf al-Zunun, 1 / 539; Shadharat al-Dhahab, 3 / 209–210; Hadiyyat al-Arifin, 1 / 8; Tabaqat al-Usuliyyin, 1 / 228–229.
(1) Tabaqat al-Subki and Tabaqat al-Usuliyyin mistakenly read “Abu al-Saib.”
(2) The manuscript spells the word with the letter kha; Wafayat al-Ayan and Al-Wafi record al-Hilli with ha. Tabaqat al-Subki, Shadharat al-Dhahab and Tabaqat al-Usuliyyin cite the title as Al-Jami fi Usul al-Din…, whereas Kashf al-Zunun and Hadiyyat al-Arifin give it as Jami al-Jali wa-l-Khafi…
(3) He also authored Adab al-Jadal, Masa il al-Dawr, and a Gloss on Usul al-Fiqh; see Tabaqat al-Subki, Kashf al-Zunun, and Hadiyyat al-Arifin.