Al-Muzani


Abu Ibrahim Isma'il ibn Yahya Al-Muzani was an Islamic jurist and theologian and one of leading member of Shafi'i school. A native of Cairo, he is one of close disciple and companion of Imam Shafi'i. He has been called as Al-Imam, al-'Allamah, Faqih al-Millah, and 'Alam az-Zahad. He was skilled in the legal verdicts and became one of the inheritors of Imam Shafi’i. Imam Shafi’i said about him: " al-Muzani is the standard-bearer of my school". He lived hard, long and ascetic life and died at the age of 89 on the 24th of Ramadan 264 and was buried near Imam Shafi'i.

Works

He wrote several works, among the most famous being his abridgement of Imam Shafi’is al-Umm and a theology book named Sharhus Sunnah, a treaty on the creed of the people of Sunnah. He wrote several other works such as; al-Jami’ al-Kabir, al-Saghir, al-Manthur, al-Targhib fil ‘Ilm, al-Masa’il al-Mu’tabara and al-Watha’iq. He was known to have debated many scholars on variety of issues, mostly with the Hanafi scholars. He is also the uncle of Abu Jafar at-Tahawi, a great scholar and Imam of Hanafi school.