Ibn Abdul Berr
Ibn Abdul Berr Abu Umar Yusuf Ibn Abdullah (979 – 1071) in Cordova. Andalusian jurisconsult, traditionist, historian and man of letters. His father was a jurisconsult in Cordova. Ibn Abdul Berr studied the common sciences of his time in Cordova under the masters: Abul Walid Ibn Farzi, Abu Umar Talmanaki, Qasem Ibn Asbaq Bayani (In Hadith), Abu Umar Ibn Makwi, Saeed Ibn Nasr, Ahmad Ibn Fat’h Tajer, Ahmad Ibn Qasem Bazzaz (Ibn Abdul Berr stdied the books of Muhammad Ibn Jarir Tabari under this master), Ibn Safar and Ibn Jasur. First he was from ####“Zaheri sect” (name of a Sunni sect) then tended to Mlikites (a juridico-religious group of orthodox Islam which formed itself into a school after the adoption of the doctrine of Imam Malek Ibn Anas) and for some problems had a tendency towards Shafi’ites (the Sunni school of Islamic law, derived fropm the teachings of al-Shafi’i).
His students:
- Abul Abbas Dalayi
- Abu Muhammad Ibn Abi Qahafeh
- Taher Ibn Mafuz
- Abu Bakr Sufyan Ibn Aasi
- Abu Ali Qasani
- Ibn Barbal Hejazi
- Ibn Hazm
At that time Cordova was the city for caliphate of Umayyads (dynasty of caliphs which ruled the Islamic world from 661 till 750) in Andalus and Hesham Ibn Mo’ayyed was the caliph.
Works:
1- On introducing the companions of the Prophet
2- Criticizing and analyzing the ideas of the early jurisconsults
3- On the knowledge of lineage (about the people of the important tribes that have quoted Prophetic Hadiths)
4- On the 3 Imams of the Sunni sects (Malek, Shafi’i and Abu Hanifeh)
5- A collection of Andalusian poems, eastern poems, nice anecdotes, quotes, etc. (this book is one of the most important sources of Andalusian literature in the 10th and 11th century)
6- Al- Tamhid (on Hadith)
7- On the meaning of learning and the virtue of searching for learning
8- On the Prophet’s method and manner
9- On Mlikites (Sunni sect)
10- On the lineage of different nations such as: Egyptian, Greek, Turkish, Chinese, Arabs, Barbarian, Abyssinian , etc.
Sources :
Islamic encyclopedia