Ibrahim al-Nakha'i
Ibrahim al-Nakha'i | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
إبراهيم النخعي | |||||||||||
 Ibrahim al-Nakha'i rendered in Arabic calligraphy | |||||||||||
| Personal life | |||||||||||
| Born | c. 666 CE / 46 AH | ||||||||||
| Died | 714 CE / 96 AH Kufa, Umayyad Caliphate | ||||||||||
| Religious life | |||||||||||
| Religion | Islam | ||||||||||
| Muslim leader | |||||||||||
Influenced by | |||||||||||
Influenced | |||||||||||
| |||||||||||
Abu Imran ibn Yazid (Arabic: إبراهيم بن يزيد, romanized: Abū ʿImrān ibn Yazīd; c. 666–714), commonly known as Ibrahim al-Nakha'i (Arabic: إبراهيم النخعي, romanized: Ibrāhīm al-Nakhaʿī), was an early Kufan jurist of the tabi'in. A pioneer of the use of ra'y and qiyas, al-Nakha'i influenced later Kufan jurists through his student Hammad ibn Abi Sulayman, including Abu Hanifa.
Biography
[edit]Ibrahim al-Nakha'i was born in Kufa in c. 666, although there is some dispute on the exact year. He was of the Nakha, a branch of the Madhhaj tribe which had migrated to Kufa from Yemen following the Arab conquest of Mesopotamia, hence the nisba al-Nakha'i. His family was known for scholarly activity; his father was a hadith transmitter, his maternal uncle was Alqama ibn Qays and Aswad ibn Yazid was his maternal cousin.[1]
Al-Nakha'i was affiliated with the students of Abd Allah ibn Mas'ud, a companion of Muhammad, which included his uncle Alqama who became his principal mentor of fiqh.[2] He began travelling to the Hejaz from a young age,[2] and in his youth performed the Hajj with Alqama and Aswad ibn Yazid, during which he attended a gathering of Aisha.[1] While he met the companions of Muhammad, some of whom still lived in Kufa at the time of his death,[2] he is not believed to have directly narrated hadith from them, and the isnad of those where he appears to do so are considered to be mursal.[1]
Despite the tumult of the Second Fitna, al-Nakha'i continued teaching in Kufa. Mukhtar al-Thaqafi offered him an official post, which he declined. He had a strained relationship with the Umayyad authorities, openly criticising al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf and supporting the revolt of Ibn al-Ash'ath, which at times forced him into hiding.[1] Al-Hajjaj is said to have ordered the arrest of al-Nakha'i, who evaded apprehension. Upon hearing of al-Hajjaj's death, al-Nakha'i prostrated in thankfulness.[3]
Teaching in the Great Mosque of Kufa, al-Nakha'i accepted Hammad ibn Abi Sulayman into his halaqa (study circle), who became his foremost student. Upon al-Nakha'i's death in 738, Hammad would become the leader of his halaqa.[4]
Jurisprudence
[edit]The fiqh of al-Nakha'i is characterised by the use of ra'y (independent reasoning), and as a result he is considered as one of the progenitors of the ahl al-ra'y.[1] He developed and popularised the use of qiyas (analogical reasoning), which represented a systematic application of ra'y.[5] Both prophetic hadith and athar from Muhammad's companions were considered by al-Nakha'i to be authoritative;[6] the views of Ibn Mas'ud in particular formed the basis of his legal thought.[1]
Al-Nakha'i was among the first Kufan jurists who was interested in the summative body of Islamic law rather than specific parts.[7] Through qiyas, al-Nakha'i attempted to "deduce general propositions from the authoritative sources and then apply them to all relevant cases".[5] Zafar Ishaq Ansari has argued that al-Nakha'i was motivated by a "conscious search for greater coherence and consistency" in the law, underpinned by a "notion that that the teachings of the Prophet were embodiments of general principles, rather than arbitrary fiats."[5] However, due to the absence of an established legal tradition, al-Nakha'i fiqh was less technically developed and systematically consistent than that of the later Kufan jurists.[8]
The origins of the Kufan jurists' tradition of formulating and answering hypothetical legal questions can be seen in the thought of al-Nakha'i. Some of the hypothesised scenarios were impossible, although he entertained these less frequently than later Kufans.[9]
Legacy
[edit]Al-Nakha'i greatly influenced later Kufan and Hanafi jurists, primarily through Hammad.[10] Hammad's primary student, Abu Hanifa, often adduced al-Nakha'i as an authority but did not always agree with his views.[11] Quotations of al-Nakha'i and narrations in whose isnad he is present feature prominently in the two separate works named al-Athar authored respectively by Abu Hanifa's disciples Abu Yusuf and Muhammad al-Shaybani.[12] Al-Shafi'i describes al-Nakha'i and al-Sha'bi as the principal authorities of the Kufans.[12] Ahmad ibn Hanbal negatively contrasts al-Nakha'i with Hasan al-Basri and Ata ibn Abi Rabah,[12] but references al-Nakha'i 336 times in his musnad.[13]
References
[edit]Citations
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f Özen, Şükrü. "NEHAÎ". TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (in Turkish). Retrieved 2024-12-22.
- ^ a b c Hanif 2018, pp. 186-187
- ^ Melchert 2020, p. 65
- ^ Aras, Mehmet Özgü. "HAMMÂD b. EBÛ SÜLEYMAN". TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (in Turkish). Retrieved 2024-12-22.
- ^ a b c Ansari 1966, p. 106
- ^ Ansari 1966, pp. 99-100
- ^ Ansari 1966, p. 22
- ^ Ansari 1966, p. 107
- ^ Ansari 1966, pp. 108
- ^ Lecomte, G. (2012). al-Nak̲h̲aʿī, Ibrāhīm. In P. Bearman (ed.), Encyclopaedia of Islam New Edition Online (EI-2 English). Brill.
- ^ Hanif 2018, p. 185
- ^ a b c Melchert 2020, pp. 72-73
- ^ Melchert 2020, p. 70
Sources
[edit]- Hanif, S. (2018). A Tale of Two Kufans: Abū Yūsuf’s Ikhtilāf Abī Ḥanīfa wa-Ibn Abī Laylā and Schacht’s Ancient Schools. Islamic Law and Society, 25(3), 173–211.
- Ansari, Z. I. (1966). The early development of Islamic fiqh in Kûfah with special reference to the works of Abû Yûsuf and Shaybānī [Dissertation].
- Melchert, C. (2020). Ibrāhīm al-Naḫaʿī (Kufan, d. 96/714). Arabica, 67(1), 60–81.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
