Aswhab al-Wujuh: Imam Abu al-‘Abbas Ahmad ibn ‘Umar ibn Surayj al-Baghdadi (r.a.) in Brief

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ 

The following is adapted and extracted from “Biographies of Some of the Aswhab al-Wujuh in the Shafi’i Madzhab.”  The Aswhab al-Wujuh are the scholars who developed and transmitted the Shafi’i madzhab from the time of the immediate students of Imam Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn Idris ash-Shafi’i (r.a.), circa 200 AH, to the time of Imam Abu Hamid Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Ghazali (r.a.), circa 500 AH.  Thereafter there was a pressing need for recension of all this development into a single body of work.  This task was met by Imam Abu al-Qasim ‘Abd al-Karim ibn Muhammad ar-Rafi’i (r.a.) and Imam Abu Zakariya Yahya ibn Sharaf an-Nawawi (r.a.), who became known as the Shaykhayn in the madzhab. 

Imam Abu al-‘Abbas Ahmad ibn ‘Umar ibn Surayj al-Baghdadi (r.a.) was the famous imam of the madzhab, who played an essential role in its dissemination.  His grandfather, Imam Surayj (r.a.), was a scholar of ahadits known for his piety.  Imam ibn Surayj (r.a.) is known as Shaykh al-Madzhab and Imam al-Aswhab to indicate his great renown.  After the direct disciples of Imam Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn Idris ash-Shafi’i (r.a.) himself, Imam ibn Surayj (r.a.) takes the primary rank.  Some even consider him greater than Imam Abu Ibrahim Isma’il ibn Yahya al-Muzani (r.a.), and Imam Abu al-Fadhl ‘Abd ar-Rahman ibn Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad Jalal ad-Din as-Suyuthi (q.s.) considered him to be the mujaddid of the third century. 

Imam ibn Surayj (r.a.) studied the madzhab under Imam Ahmad ibn al-Hasan al-Anmati (r.a.), who in turn had studied under Imam al-Muzani (r.a.) and Imam Abu Muhammad ar-Rabi’ ibn Sulayman al-Muradi (r.a.), two of Imam ash-Shafi’i’s (r.a.) greatest direct disciples in Egypt.  He was appointed qadhi of Shiraz early in his life, but later refused official positions.  This early appointment was frowned upon by some of the purists among the Aswhab, who deemed government involvement to be a Hanafi affair. 

He was a strict traditionalist, and refrained from ‘ilm al-kalam, saying one should accept the mutashabihat, ambiguous texts, without ta’wil, interpretation, and believe in them without tamtsil, anthropomorphism.  He attended, out of curiosity, some sessions of Imam Abu al-Qasim al-Junayd ibn Muhammad al-Baghdadi (r.a.), and maintained an objective approach to taswawwuf throughout his life.  Indeed, when asked for a fatwa in 297 AH, during the infamous Hajjaj affair, he refrained, declaring himself ignorant of his source of inspiration. 

He wrote over 400 books, most of which unfortunately have not reached us, perhaps due to the disaster of the Mongol destruction of Baghdad.  There seems to be some manuscripts in Dublin, though they have not been published yet.  Most of his books dealt with ikhtilafat, nazhar, and jadal.  The most notable seems to have been at-Taqrib bayna al-Muzani wa ash-Shafi’i, which tabulated the independent views of Imam al-Muzani (r.a.), distinguished from Imam ash-Shafi’i (r.a.), and setting the parameters of the madzhab.  He said, of this work, “On the Day of Resurrection, ash-Shafi’i will be brought forth, and with him, al-Muzani.  He will say, ‘This one has corrupted my knowledge.’  I shall say, ‘Be merciful towards Abu Ibrahim, for I have not ceased to repair what he corrupted.’” 

He also wrote al-Mukhtaswar fi al-Fiqh, al-Ghunya fi al-Furu’, and Kitab al-Fara’idh.  These books, if discovered, would be hugely important.  Of interest to scholars is the fact that Imam ibn Surayj (r.a.) coined a mas’alah that has come to be known as “mas’alah as-Surayjiyyah”, “mas’alah al-da’irah”, or “dawr ath-thalaq”.