57 – Ibn Māza ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn ʿUmar al-Bukhārī
Shaykh of the Ḥanafīs and the pre-eminent scholar of the East: Abū Ḥafṣ ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Māza al-Bukhārī.
He studied jurisprudence with his father, the erudite Abū al-Mafākhir, until he surpassed his peers, so much so that he became a by-word for excellence. His standing with the sultan was exalted, and the ruler continued to act on his legal opinions until Allah, exalted is He, granted him martyrdom at the hands of the unbelievers after the battle of Qatwān and the Muslims’ defeat (1).
Al-Samʿānī said: “I was informed that when he set out he bade farewell to his companions and his children with the farewell of one who knows he will not return—may Allah Most High have mercy on him.”
He received ḥadith from his father and from ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn Khidām (2); I met him in Marw and attended his debate. Among those from whom he narrated were Abū Saʿd ibn al-Ṭuyūrī and Abū Ṭālib ibn Yūsuf, who was known as al-Ḥusām. Crowds studied law under him, and Abū ʿAlī ibn al-Wazīr al-Dimashqī heard ḥadith from him.
He was executed in captivity at Samarkand, in Ṣafar of the year 536 AH, at the age of fifty-three (3).
(*) Al-Kamil fi al-Tarikh, vol. 11, p. 86; Duwal al-Islam, vol. 2, p. 55; al-Jawahir al-Mudiyya, vol. 2, pp. 649–650; al-Nujum al-Zahira, vol. 5, pp. 268–269; Taj al-Tarajim, pp. 46–47; Tabaqat al-Fuqahaʾ by Tash Kubri, p. 93; Miftah al-Saʿada, vol. 2, p. 277; Kataʾib Aʿlam al-Akhbar, no. 342; al-Tabaqat al-Saniyya, no. 1629; Kashf al-Zunun, pp. 11, 46, 113, 563, 569, 1222, 1224, 1228, 1403, 1404, 1431, 1435, 1471, 1998; al-Fawaʾid al-Bahiyya, p. 149; Hadiyyat al-ʿArifin, vol. 1, p. 783; Idah al-Maknun, vol. 2, p. 124; Tadhkirat al-Nawadir, p. 57; Brockelmann, Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur, vol. 6, pp. 294–296.
(1) For a full account of this incident, see al-Kamil, vol. 11, pp. 81–86. — Qatwan is a village belonging to Samarkand, situated five farsakhs away; cf. Muʿjam al-Buldan, vol. 4, p. 375.
(2) The name is vocalised with a kasra under the letter kha and a plain dal; Ibn Nuqtah records it with a dotted dhal. See al-Ansab, vol. 5, pp. 56–57 (entry al-Khaddami), al-Mushtabih, p. 146, Tabsir al-Muntabih, vol. 1, p. 312, and al-Istidrak, under “al-Judhami/al-Khudhami.”
(3) His works include: al-Fatawa al-Kubra, al-Fatawa al-Sughra, al-Fatawa al-Khassiyya, ʿUmdat al-Fatawa, al-Waqiʿat al-Husamiyya fi Madhhab al-Hanafiyya, and Usul al-Fiqh =