Abū Ḥanīfa al-Nuʿmān ibn Muḥammad ibn Manṣūr ibn Aḥmad ibn Ḥayyūn al-Tamīmiyy or as ibn Ḥayyūn was an Isma'ilijurist and the official historian of the Fatimid Caliphate. He was also called Qaḍi al-Quḍāt "Jurist of the Jurists" and Dāʻī al-Duʻāt "Missionary of Missionaries".
Biography
Born in Kairouan, in what is now Tunisia, al-Nu'man converted to Isma'ilism and began his career in Ifriqiya under the first Fatimid caliph, Abdullah al-Mahdi Billah, quickly rising to become the most prominent judge of the Fatimid state. During his lifetime, he served four Fatimid Caliphs:
Abdullah al-Mahdi Billah
al-Qa'im
al-Mansur Billah
al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah
During al-Nu'man's fifty years of service to the Fatimids, he wrote a vast number of books under the encouragement of the caliphs on history, biography, fiqh and the esoteric interpretation of the Quran. After the Fatimid conquest of Egypt and Syria, al-Nu'man left Ifriqiya and travelled to the newly founded city ofCairo, where he eventually died in 974 CE/363 AH. Under Al-Mahdi began the career of Qadi Al-Numan, the founder of Ismaili law and author of its most authoritative compendium, the Kitab da'a'im Al-Islam. In the absence of an Ismaili legal tradition, Qadi Al-Numan relied primarily on the legal teaching of Imams Muhammad Al-Baqir and Jafar Al-Sadiq, transmitted by Twelver Shii traditionists, and secondarily on Zaydi traditions. As a former Maliki jurist, he was evidently also influenced by Maliki legal concepts. In substance Ismaili law naturally agrees closely with Twelver Shii law, it prohibits, however, the temporary marriage allowed in the latter and nullifies bequests to a legal heir except when consent of the other legal heirs is obtained. It gives the imam authority for determining the beginning of the month without regard to the sighting of the new moon as required by all other Muslim legal schools. Since the early Fatimid period the beginning of the months was generally established in practice on the basis of astronomical calculation and thus often fell one or two days earlier than for other Muslims; this discrepancy often caused intercommunal quarrels about the beginning and end of the fasting month of Ramadan.
His works
Al-Nu'man's work consists of over 40 treatises on fiqh, history, religious beliefs and Quranic esoteric exegesis. Fuat Sezgin cites 22 works by him. Al-Nu'man's most prominent work, the Da'a'im al-Islam, which took nearly thirty years to complete, is an exposition of Isma'ili jurisprudence. This work was finally completed during the reign of the fourth caliph, Al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah, was accepted in its time as the official code of the Fatimid Caliphate, and serves to this day as the primary source of religious law for some Musta'li communities, particularly Tayyibi Isma'ilis. Iran incorporated the Da'a'im al-Islam into their constitution.. The book consists of 32 chapters in two volumes. The first volume consists of 7 chapters discussing the Seven pillars of Ismailism. The second volume consists of 25 chapters about various topics relating to different facets of life. Another major work, the Kitab iftitah al-da‘wa wa-ibtida’ al-dawla narrates the rise of the Fatimids. It mentions the initial stages of the Isma'ili dawah in Yemen under Ibn Hawshab. It also discusses Abu Abdallah al-Shi'i's correspondence with the Kutama Imazighen and their military expeditions, leading to the conquest of the Aghlabids, who ruled Ifriqiya. It discusses Imam al-Mahdi's emigration from Salamiyah, his captivity in Sijilmasa and eventual release, culminating in the establishment of the Fatimid state in 909. The book also gives an account of the circumstances leading to the revolt of al-Shi'i, for which it holds responsible the incitement of his elder brother Abu al-Abbas, and his later execution. It also gives a description of the Fatimid state up to the year 957, when the book was completed. Ikhtilaf usul al-madhahib was a refutation of Sunniprinciples of Islamic jurisprudence written at roughly the same time as the earliest of such works. Nu'man's book borrows heavily from those of Dawud al-Zahiri, Muhammad bin Dawud al-Zahiri and al-Tabari, three Sunni authors about whom Nu'man displays complex mixed feelings. It has been noted that while Nu'man's book is famous, it was not the first Ismali refutation of Sunni juristic principles. Al-Nu'man's other major works are the Kitab al-majalis wa’l-musayarat and the Kitab al-himma fi adab atba‘ al-a’imma.
