Abu al-Layth al-Samarqandi
Jurist, Quran commentator, moralist
A tenth-century Hanafi jurist and Quran commentator born in Samarkand, known simply as 'the Jurist'. His books of moral counsel were read across the Muslim world for centuries.
A jurist of Samarkand
Abu al-Layth Nasr ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Samarqandi was born and raised in Samarkand. The sources disagree on his dates: he was probably born in the first quarter of the 10th century, and his death is variously placed in 983, 985 or 1003. Some accounts say his family had moved to Samarkand from Tus.
He learned first from his father, then studied law in Balkh under Abu Ja'far al-Hinduwani, nicknamed 'the little Abu Hanifa', and spent time in Bukhara and Baghdad. He never served as a judge, yet as a jurist who issued fatwas, a preacher and a teacher he commanded enormous respect. Later generations called him Imam al-Huda, 'the Imam of Guidance', or simply al-Faqih, 'the Jurist'. Belonging to the generation after al-Maturidi, he embodies the flowering of Samarkand's scholarly life in the 10th century.
His books
His largest work is a Quran commentary, also known as Bahr al-Ulum (The Sea of Sciences), which weaves traditional reports together with linguistic, theological and legal discussion. Khizanat al-Fiqh is a concise handbook of Hanafi law, and al-Nawazil a collection of legal opinions.
His widest fame, though, came from two books of moral guidance, Tanbih al-Ghafilin (Admonition to the Heedless) and Bustan al-Arifin (Garden of the Gnostics). Through hadith, anecdotes and parables they discuss the rights of parents and children, honesty, envy, kindness to orphans, honest earning, and the virtues of learning and good manners. Translated into many languages, Turkic ones among them, they served as madrasa textbooks for centuries; old manuscripts are kept, among other places, at the Institute of Oriental Studies in Tashkent.
Samarkand today has a street named after him.
