by Ismaeel Ghouse
Imam ʿAbd Allāh b. Maḥmūd b. al-Mawṣilī was born in 599/1203 in Mosul, Iraq. He grew up in a family known for its scholarship. He first studied under his father Abū al-Thanāʾ Maḥmūd al-Mawṣilī (d. 623/1235), a well-known expert in Ḥanafī jurisprudence. He remained with him until he gained a mastery of the school, memorizing most of its rulings to the point of being able to dictate them from memory. Among al-Mawṣilī’s classmates under his father were his three brothers, ʿAbd al-Dāʾim (604/1208–680/1281), ʿAbd al-Karīm (632/1434-5–), and ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz.
He later moved to Damascus to continue his studies under the numerous muḥaddithīn (scholars of ḥadīth) and fuqahāʿ (scholars of jurisprudence) living there. He continued to increase his mastery of both the rulings of the Ḥanafī school as well as its legal methodology (uṣūl al-fiqh). He became an expert in legal evidences and in differentiating between the strong and weak opinions found in the legal corpus of the school. Al-Mawṣilī moved back to Iraq in 667/1268-9, where he was appointed as a judge in Kufa. He was later removed from the position, after which he moved to Baghdad, where he taught for sixteen years until his death in 683/1284. Al-Mawṣilī studied under numerous teachers. Among them were:
- His father, Abū al-Thanāʾ Maḥmūd al-Mawṣilī
- Abū Ḥafṣ Muwaffiq al-Dīn al-Baghdādī al-Dāraqazzī (516/1123–607/1210)
- Jamāl al-Dīn Abū al-Maḥāmid Maḥmūn b. Aḥmad al-Bukhārī al-Tājirī al-Ḥasīrī (564/1151-2–636/1238)
- Shihāb al-Dīn Abū Ḥafṣ ʿUmar b. Muḥammad al-Qurashī (539/1144-5–632/1234)
- Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Qādir b. ʿAbd Allāh al-Ruhāwī al-Ḥanbalī (536/1141-2–612 /1215)
- Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. Abī Bakr b. Rūzbah al-Baghdādī al-Qilānisī (c. 540/1145-6–633/1235)
- Abū al-Muẓaffar Fakhr al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Raḥīm al-Marwazī al-Shāfiʿī (537/1143–c. 617/1220-21)
He also had multiple students, among whom were:
- Al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Dimyāṭī (613/1217–705/1306)
- Ibrāhīm b. Aḥmad b. Barakah al-Mawṣilī. He wrote a commentary on Mawṣilī’s al-Mukhtār, which he read multiple times to his teacher.
- Quṭb al-Dīn Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Ḥalabī
- Abū Ḥayyān al-Andalusī (654/1256-7–745/1344-5)
Among the works he authored were:
- A commentary on al-Imām Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-Shaybānī’s al-Jāmiʿ al-Kabīr
- Al-Mushtamil ʿalā Masāʾil al-Mukhtaṣar
- Al-Mukhtār li-l-Fatwā
- Al-Ikhtiyār li-Taʿlīl al-Mukhtār
