Uzbekistan: a land multifarious geniuses. SADRU-SH-SHARIA II – UBAYDULLA IBN MAS’UD (Died in 1346)

Bukhara has always been famous throughout the world for its scholars and owned its special place among the famous cities of the world. The fact that such great geniuses as Imam Muhammad ibn Ismail Bukhari, an estimated expert in the field of Hadiths, a well-known doctor and philosopher Abu Ali Ibn Sina (Avicenna), a great Sufi and a founder of the Naqshbandiya order Bahauddin Naqshband and a number of other representatives of science and education were born and grew up on this holy land is a reliable proof of this idea.

Among the famous lawyers of Bukhara, the dynasty of Sadru-sh-sharia had a special status and served as representatives of the Hanafian law which had its own place and importance in the Islamic law. They paid special attention to the classical work in the field of law “Al-Hidaya” by Burkhan ad-din al-Marghinani.

A famous lawyer of hi^ time Sadru-sh-sharia Ahmad ibn Jamaluddin Ubaydulla al-Mahbubi al-Bukhari lived in the 13th century and became known as the author of important commentaries on the precious works in law, including “Al-Hidaya” by Burkhan ad-din al-Marghinani. His son Mahmud ibn Sadru-sh-sharia, also a well-known lawyer of his time as his father, was famous with the honourable title “Taju-sh-sharia”. He left unforgettable works in the field of the Hanafian law. With the purpose of teaching and educating his grandson Sadru-sh-sharia Assani (or Sadru-sh-sharia II) in the field of law, he compiled a small book for his grandson to study and included there the main subjects of “Al-Hidaya” in a shortened way and titled it as “Viqayatu-r-rivaya fi masaili-1 Hidaya” (Keeping the legends in matters of “Hidaya”).

Soon this book became famous and the lawyers began to use it as a precious manual for centuries. Later the leading experts in law wrote several commentaries on it.

Taju-sh-sharia’s grandson Ubaydulla ibn Mas’ud known as Sadru-sh-sharia II is a pride of this dynasty and a bright star of the Hanafian law. He was educated under the control of his grandfather and studied such subjects as Eastern philosophy, the science of kalam.law and some natural sciences. As a result of these attempts, he became known as a great and productive scholar in the field of the Hanafian law.

He collected the scientific works left by his ancestors and commented on his grandfather’s book “Viqayatu-r-rivaya” in the Arabic language and titled it as “Sharhu-l-viqaya”. This book is considered to be the best and full commentary.

Understanding that the students might have faced difficulties in the process of learning “Viqayatu-r-rivaya”, he chose the main points of the legal matters and compiled another manual titling it as “An-nuqaya” (A short explanation) or “Mukhtasaru-l-viqaya”. In the preface of the book, he wrote the following lines: “In order that I could study the law perfectly well, my grandfather Mahmud ibn Sadru-sh-sharia compiled the book “Viqayatu-r-rivaya fi masaili-1-Hidaya”. The world has not seen such a good book with clear and understandable language. Taking into consideration the difficulties that some students come across in the book, I decided to chose the most important points of the legal matters and compile another shortened version of the book “Mukhtasar” (A shortened book). He who wants to study the legal matters provided in “Al-Hidaya” and keeps them in mind should try to learn the book “Viqaya” compi­led by my grandfather. If a learner is in a hurry to study the law, he should learn “Mukhtasar” (“Mukhtasaru-l-viqaya”)”.

Besides that, Sadru-sh-sharia II compiled another book titling it as “At-Tanqiyh” (Generalization of the judgement on a definite matter) and then wrote a commentary on this book titling it as “At-Tavziyh”. This book united the teachings of the Shafi’i and Hanafi trends on legal matters, which was later commented on by the leading experts of that time.

The other books written by Sadru-sh-sharia II such as “Al-Muqaddimatu-l-arba”‘ (Four Introductions), “Ta’diylu-l-ulum va-sh-shurut”, etc. brought the author great fame among the lawyers. As was stated by Khayriddin az-Zirikli, his next book “Al-Vishah” (A Medallion) also brought him glory in the fields of “Maani” (books dealing with literature).

Sadru-sh-sharia II and his ancestors lived a life of respect and estimation. As was stated by a scholar from India Abdulhay Laknavi, in his book “Taaliyqu-l-anvar a’la durri-l-mukhtar” (Bright Commentaries on the Book “Duru-l-mukhtar”) the author al-Mavla Abdulmumin ad-Dimyati, who was Sayyid Ahmad at-Tahavi’s disciple connects his ancestors to Ibada ibn as-Samit, one of the sahabas of Prophet Muhammad (saas). In this particular matter, he writes the following lines: “In the tree of classification of the ances­tors made by my master Sayyid Murtaza Husain, I have seen that the ancestors of Sadru-sh-sharia are described in the following manner: Ubaydulla ibn Mas’ud ibn Taju-sh-sharia Mahmud ibn Great Sadru-sh-sharia Ahmad ibn Jamaluddin Abulmakarim Ubaydulla ibn Ibrahim ibn Ahmad ibn Abdulmalik ibn Umar ibn Abdulaziz ibn Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Mahbub ibn al-Valid ibn Ubadat ibn as-Samit al-Ansari al-Mahbubi. Alongside with it, my teacher said: “I have seen the tree of his ancestors in the History of Bukhara””.

Sadru-sh-sharias and their family members learned the science of law from the most famous lawyers of that time. The tree of generations of their teachers goes back to a famous lawyer of Bukhara Abu Abdulla ibn Abiyhafs Kibi.

Abdulhay Laknavi introduces the author of the book “Mukh-tasaru-l-viqaya” Sadru-sh-sharia II in the following way: “He was acknowledged by everyone as a famous imam, a defender of all the laws of Shariah,a settler of objective and subjective problems of law, a scholar of the sciences of mind and utterance, a perfect lawyer, a well-known expert in the styles of law, an estimated specialist in the fields of logic, hadith, tafsir, kalam, linguistics, literature and a man of the highest status who had inherited from his ancestors a great amount of knowledge”.

Sadru-sh-sharia II died in 747/1346. He was buried in the graveyard of his ancestors in Shar’abad quarters of Bukhara.