Istahri's Scientific Personality and His Place in the Sect

Abstract

Abu Sa'id al-Istahri (d. 328/940), a prominent Shafi'i jurist of the third generation, who concentrated on the science of Fiqh after studying the basic Islamic sciences from various scholars of the period, Abu'l-Qasim al-Anmati (d. 288/901) he took lessons from many scholars, especially. 
 Istahri, who drew attention to himself with his ability to understand Fiqh issues and was soon paid the compliment of both the fuqaha and the mujtahids belonging to another sect, was appointed “qadi” in Qom and Sicistan by the caliphs of the period and “muhtesib” in Baghdad. Although Istahri mostly agreed with the opinion accepted in the sect, he sometimes expressed different opinions based on a number of reasons, such as Imam Shafi'i's interpretation of his opinion differently, his literary approach to the issue, and his basing it on. Of course, his scientific equipment and strong ability to present evidence, as well as his ability to effectively use the ictihad activity, have a big role in this. For this reason, his ijtihadi fame was not limited to the sect he was a member of; his views were examined in many works written as muqaran alongside the main fiqh sources of Hanafi, Maliki and Hanbali sects. The different views of Istahri, which brought great wealth to the sect, -although contrary to the general opinion of the sect - were valued by the fuqaha; these views have gained a place in many fiqh works. Therefore, he was evaluated in the category of “ashab al-vujuh/mujtahid fi'l-mazhab” in the Shafi'i mujtahid ranking. In this study, the life of Istahri, one of the leading mujtahids of the third generation, in general terms, some of his teachers whom he took lessons from, some of his students whom he taught, his works he wrote, his scientific personality and his position in the sect will be included.
 Keywords: Fıqh, Shafi'i sect, Scribe, Abu Sa'id al-Istahri, Ashab al-vujuh