Ibn Aqil

For other uses, see Ibn Aqil (disambiguation).
Ibn Aqil
Personal
BornAH 431 (1039/1040)[1]
Baghdad[1]
DiedAH 513 (1119/1120)[1]
ReligionIslam
EraIslamic golden age
DenominationSunni Muslim
SchoolHanbali[1]
CreedAsh'ari[2]
Main interest(s)History, Tafsir, Hadith and Fiqh
OccupationMuslim scholar

Abu al-Wafa Ali Ibn Aqil ibn Ahmad al-Baghdadi (1040–1119) was an Islamic theologian from Baghdad, Iraq. He was trained in the tenets of the Hanbali school (madhhab) for eleven years under scholars such as the Qadi Abu Ya'la ibn al-Farra'.[1] Despite this, Ibn Aqil was forced into hiding by the Hanbalis for frequenting the circles of groups who were at odds with the Hanbali tradition.[1] In one of his reminiscences, he remarks that his Hanbali companions wanted him to abandon the company of certain scholars, and complains that it hindered him from acquiring useful knowledge.[1]

Ibn ‘Aqil studied with Hanbalis, Hanafis, Shafi'is, Mu'tazilis, and Sufis, and was described by Ibn Taymiyya as more knowledgeable than al-Ghazali.

His early teachers included three women scholars: al-Huraniyya, Bint al-Junayyid, and Bint al-Gharrad.

Ibn ‘Aqil had completed five years of undergraduate study and seven years of graduate study in law, but at that time, for a candidate to qualify for a professorial position in law, one normally needed fifteen years of graduate level study in jurisprudence. Ibn ‘Aqil, despite being younger than all the other professorial candidates, was selected to occupy the professorial chair at the Mosque of the Caliph al-Mansur, and with this, Ibn ‘Aqil became the head of the Hanbali school in Baghdad.[3]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, B.; Menage, V.L.; Pellat, Ch.; Schacht, J. (1986) [1st. pub. 1971]. Encyclopaedia of Islam. Vol. III (H-Iram) (New ed.). Leiden, Netherlands: Brill. p. 699. ISBN 9004081186.
  2. ^ Louis Massignon (2019). The Passion of Al-Hallaj, Mystic and Martyr of Islam, Volume 2: The Survival of Al-Hallaj. Translated by Herbert Mason. Princeton University Press. p. 158. ISBN 9780691657219.
  3. ^ Abou El Fadl, Khaled. "Chapter 59, The Scholar's Road, from The Search for Beauty in Islam: A Conference of the Books".