Abū ʿĀṣim al-ʿAbbādī (985–1066), called al-Qāḍī al-Harawī, [1] was a Shāfiʿī judge and jurist from Herat.
Abū ʿĀṣim was born into a prominent family of Herat and, according to Ibn al-Samʿānī, could trace his ancestry back to a certain ʿAbbād al-Samʿānī. [2] His full name was Abū ʿĀṣim Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbād al-ʿAbbādī. [3] He began his studies in fiqh (jurisprudence) in Herat and continued them at Nishapur under ʿAbd al-Ghāfir al-Fārisī, Abū al-Ṭayyib al-Ṣuʿlūkī and Abū Isḥāq al-Isfarāyinī. [2]
According to the biographical dictionary of Tāj al-Dīn al-Subkī, al-ʿAbbādī belonged to the fourth generation of Shāfiʿīs. [4] He travelled widely to learn and transmit ḥadīth (tradition). Upon his return to Herat, he was appointed qāḍī (judge), in which position he served until his death. [5] He died in September 1066. [2] He left a son, Abu l-Ḥasan, who wrote a Kitāb al-Raḳm. [6]
Al-ʿAbbādī wrote mainly on fiqh, but he also composed the first ṭabaqāt (biographical dictionary) devoted to a school of fiqh, in his case, the Shāfiʿīs. This book, Ṭabaqāt al-fuqahāʾ al-Shāfiʿiyya, is his only work to be independently preserved. [2] It survives in several manuscripts. [6] In addition, his Adab al-qaḍāʾ on the adab (etiquette) of judges, has survived in al-Ishrāf ʿalā Ghawāmiḍ al-Ḥukūmāt, a commentary written by his student, Abū Saʿd ibn Abī Aḥmad ibn Abī Yūsuf al-Harawī (died c. 1107). [7] The titles of other known works on judgeship include al-Aṭʿima and Aḥkām al-miyāh. [2]
In al-ʿAbbādī's lifetime, both Shāfiʿīs and Ḥanafīs were respected and influential in Greater Khurāsān and both received judgeships. Much of his work, therefore, was directed against the Ḥanafīs. [2] According to Ḥājjī Khalīfa, he wrote a thirty-volume compendium entitled al-Mabsūṭ. [8] The titles of several other works are known: Ziyādāt, Ziyādāt al-ziyādāt, Radd ʿalā al-Qāḍī al-Samʿānī and al-Hādī ilā madhāhib al-ʿulamāʾ. [9] All of these concerened the differences between the two schools of fiqh and the superiority of the Shāfiʿīs. [2]
Al-ʿAbbādī gained a reputation in his own time for his difficult style, which may explain the poor survival rate of his writings. [10]