Abd al-Rahman al-Awza'i

Al-Awzāʻī
Al-Awzāʻī
	أبو عمرو عبدُ الرحمٰن بن عمرو الأوزاعي
Personal
Born	707 CE; Baalbek, Lebanon
Died	774 CE (aged 66–67); Beirut, Lebanon
Religion	Islam
Ethnicity	Arab
Era	Islamic golden age
Jurisprudence	Awza'i
Creed	Sunni
Main interest(s)	Hadith, Fiqh
Notable idea(s)	Awza'i madhhab

Abu Amr Abd al-Rahman ibn Amr al-Awzai (Arabic: أبو عمرو عبدُ الرحمٰن بن عمرو الأوزاعي‎) (707–774) was the chief representative and eponym of the Awza'i school of Islamic jurisprudence. Awzai was referred to by his tribe "Awza" (الأوزاع), part of Banu Hamdan.[1]

Biography

Apparently born in Baalbek, Lebanon in 707, very little of al-Awzai's writings survive, but his style of Islamic jurisprudence (usul al-fiqh) is preserved in Abu Yusuf's book Al-radd ala siyar al-Awzai, in particular his reliance on the "living tradition," or the uninterrupted practice of Muslims handed down from preceding generations. For Awzai, this is the true Sunnah of Muhammad. Awzai's school flourished in Syria, the Maghreb, and Al Andalus but was eventually overcome by the Maliki school of Islamic law in the 9th century. However, given his authority and reputation as a Sunni Imam and pious ancestry, his views retain potential as a source of law and a basis for alternative legal approaches and solutions. He died in 774 and was buried near Beirut, Lebanon, where his tomb is still visited.[2]

Views

As with Malik ibn Anas, al-Awza'i holds that one is not permitted to kill civilians even if it seems necessary in order to achieve a military objective, and declared that killing women and children is never permissible during warfare.[3]

Theologically he was known as a persecutor of the Qadaris, but also one of the main historical witnesses of them. He alleged that the Qadaris merely appropriated heretical doctrines from the Christians. Awzāʿī had met their founder Maʿbad.[4]

al-Awzai, differed with most schools of fiqh in holding that apostates from Islam ought not to be executed unless their apostasy is part of a 'plot to take over the State', i.e. treason.[5]

References

"سير أعلام النبلاء". shamela (in Arabic). Retrieved 28 November 2017.
John Esposito, The Oxford Dictionary of Islam, Oxford University Press, 2003
Jonathan AC Brown, Is Islam a Death Cult? Martyrdom and the American-Muslim Imagination. Yaqeen Institute. Retrieved 9-13-2017.
Steven C. Judd, "The Early Qadariyya" in The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Theology, ed. Sabine Schmidtke (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016), 47-48.
Wood, Asmi (2012). "8. Apostasy in Islam and the Freedom of Religion in International Law". In Paul Babie; Neville Rochow (eds.). Freedom of Religion under Bills of Rights. University of Adelaide Press. p. 169. Retrieved 9 January 2021.

External links

Biodata at MuslimScholars.info

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[1] "سير أعلام النبلاء". shamela (in Arabic). Retrieved 28 November 2017.

[2] John Esposito, The Oxford Dictionary of Islam, Oxford University Press, 2003

[3] Jonathan AC Brown, Is Islam a Death Cult? Martyrdom and the American-Muslim Imagination. Yaqeen Institute. Retrieved 9-13-2017.

[4] Steven C. Judd, "The Early Qadariyya" in The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Theology, ed. Sabine Schmidtke (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016), 47-48.

[asmi-2012-169-5] Wood, Asmi (2012). "8. Apostasy in Islam and the Freedom of Religion in International Law". In Paul Babie; Neville Rochow (eds.). Freedom of Religion under Bills of Rights. University of Adelaide Press. p. 169. Retrieved 9 January 2021.