Al-Qassab

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This article is about the Muslim warrior-scholar. For the social group in South Asia, see Qassab. For a list of towns with the same name, see Qassab, Iran (disambiguation). For the town in Syria, see Al-Qassabin.
Al-Qassab
Personal life
BornMuhammad al-Karaji
Karaj, Iran
Died970
EraIslamic Golden Age
RegionIranian plateau
Religious life
ReligionIslam
DenominationSunni
Muslim leader
Influenced

Abu Ahmad Muhammad bin Ali bin Muhammad al-Karaji, better known as al-Qassab, was a Muslim warrior-scholar, exegete and specialist in Hadith studies.[1][2] He has, at times, been confused with his son Abu al-Hasan Ahmad bin Muhammad bin Ali bin Muhammad al-Karaji.

Life

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Qassab lived in Karaj in Central Iran. He died in the year 360 according to the Islamic calendar, corresponding to 970 on the Gregorian calendar.[3] Having been a soldier under the Abbasid Caliphate, he received the nicknamed Qassab or "the butcher" due to his skill on the battlefield and the large number of opponents he slayed.[4]

In his exegesis of the Qur'an, he would often refer to linguistic arguments in order to prove his point.[1] Qassab was noted among Muslim theologians as holding the view that the testimony of a convicted criminal could later be accepted in unrelated cases if they performed a public repentance for their own crime.[5] Like Ibn Hazm who would come after him, Qassab did not accept the Hadith regarding rejection of the convict's testimony as authentically linked to the Islamic prophet Muhammad.[6] The issue is a much debated one in Islamic law.

Works

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Qassab authored an exegesis of the Qur'an centered on its applications in Islamic law.[7]

Edited works

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  • Nukat al-Qur'an al-Dallah 'ala al-Bayan. Eds. Ali al-Tuwaijiri, Ibrahim al-Junaydil and Shayi' al-Asmari. Dammam: Dar Ibn al-Qaiyim; Cairo: Dar Ibn 'Affan, 2003. 4 volumes.[2][8]

Citations

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  1. ^ a b Hussein Abdul-Raof, Theological Approaches to Qur'anic Exegesis: A Practical Comparative-Contrastive Analysis, pg. 147. Abingdon-on-Thames: Routledge, 2012.
  2. ^ a b Ahmad Al-Saiid Zaki Hemeidah, Repentance as a Legal Concept, pg. 26. Master's thesis for the University of Arizona's Department of Near Eastern Studies, 2011.
  3. ^ Hemeidah, pg. 117.
  4. ^ Dr. Abdul-Baqi al-Sayyid Abdul-Hadi, Soldiers and Martyrs of the Zahirites. Alhady Alzahry, September 30, 2010.
  5. ^ Hemeidah, pg. 121.
  6. ^ Hemeidah, pgs. 127-128.
  7. ^ Hemeidah, pg. 149.
  8. ^ Abdul-Raof, pg. 282.