al-Qurtubī

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Al-Qurtubī ( Arabic أبو عبد الله محمد بن أحمد بن أبي بكر بن فرج الأنصاري الخزرجي الأندلوسي القرطبي, DMG Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad b. Aḥmad b. Abī Bakr b. Faraǧ al-Anṣārī al-Ḫazraǧī al-Andalusī al-Qurṭubī , b. 1214 in Cordoba , Spain; died 1272 in Munyat Abī l-Chusaib, Upper Egypt) was an Islamic scholar of the Maliki school of law from Andalusia .

Life

Little is known about his life. It is certain that he was one of those Muslim scholars who left Andalusia to study. Al-Qurtubī thereby acquired a wide range of knowledge. In addition, he was known as a pious and devout ascetic. He is said to have only ever gone into public with one piece of clothing and a small cap.

Adh-Dhahabī described al-Qurtubī as "one of the most outstanding Islamic scholars". According to adh-Dhahabī's account, Al-Qurtubī increased his knowledge steadily throughout his life and wrote a variety of works. Because of this, and because of his broad knowledge, al-Qurtubī was considered particularly outstanding.

Works (selection)

Tafsīr al-Qurtubī

He is the author of the work al-Ǧāmiʿ li-aḥkām al-Qurʾān wa 'l-mubayyin li-mā taḍammana min al-sunna wa-āyāt al-furqān, which is also known under the name Tafsīr al-Qurṭubī (تفسير القرطبي) and made him famous.

It emphasizes al-Qurtubi from the beginning the value of the Koran and the special status of mujtahid UN , as these scholars would seek the meaning which God wanted to send humans. The Mujtahid also has the task of always thinking about what God forbids while doing his work . In addition, he should constantly fear God and respect him at all times; the mujtahid is also the bearer of the burden of every prophet.

In chapter 17 he writes that those who want to obtain knowledge from the Qur'an should free themselves from all hypocritical reflections of the self ( taḥḏīr min al-riyāʾ ), turn to God through tauba and ināba, and attain righteousness ( iḫlās ) through purification . The Islamic scholar Roger Arnaldez believes that this passage could be interpreted as Sufism- inspired piety based on the terms riyāʾ and iḫlās . In fact, in chapter 20 there then follows a description of those things that the soul must observe and not neglect. Furthermore, al-Qurtubī deals in his work with topics such as respect for the Koran, the interpretation of the Koran through hadīthe and how one should study and understand the Koran and Sunna .

Chapter 49 contains a detailed history of the origins of the Koran, which also describes the compilation under the Caliph ʿUthmān . In addition, al-Qurtubī deals with important terms such as sūra , ayā , kalima or ḥarf and non-Arabic words in the Koran.

What is special in Tafsīr al-Qurtubī is the use of many hadeeth that do not appear in at-Tabarī . In general, al-Qurtubī is less interested in the chains of narration ( isnād ) than more in the content of the hadeeth ( matn ). The hadiths used are therefore arranged in the order in which they can provide information about the content of a verse. In this sense, the Tafsīr al-Qurtubī is more like a work in Fiqh , an explanation by Arnaldez that can be found in the introduction to the second part of the work: “This work is such that the reader is almost applying it in the area of ​​Fiqh can ".

Part of the work is also a philological and stylistic commentary using methods of grammar , rhetoric and adab ( literary studies ). Al-Qurtubī also deals with questions of the kalām , some of which he comments on himself. Unlike Fachr ad-Dīn ar-Rāzī, however, his aim is not to derive philosophical concepts from the Koran. In the end, he greatly reduces the Isrāʾīlīyāt , although he does not entirely ignore it.

Volume I is available online in English .

Kitāb at-tadhkira fī ahwāl al-mawtā wa-umūr al-āchira

In his three-volume work Kitāb at-taḏkira fī aḥwāl al-mawtā wa-umūr al-āḫira (Memorandum on the Conditions of the Dead and the Matters of the Hereafter), which was written by the Islamic scholar Ahmed al-Ahmed as part of a dissertation at the University of Cologne al-Qurtubī deals with aspects of death and the afterlife .

In the short introduction, al-Qurtubī writes that he had written this work to "talk about death and the conditions of the dead, about gathering and distribution, about paradise and hell, about discord and the omens of the hereafter" To provide information. But his own well-being is also important to him and therefore he hopes that by composing this work on the day of the Last Judgment, Muhammad will intercede before God.

In contrast to the works on this subject written before him, al-Qurtubī, according to al-Ahmed, deals most extensively with the afterlife. In addition, al-Qurtubī made the arrangement of the subjects more systematic: each chapter began with the Islamic sources, followed by the opinion of other scholars and finally his own.

In terms of content, the first book deals with the situation of man after death, the second book with the division of people into those who go to paradise and those who have to go to hell and the third book finally deals with the end-time battle, the Antichrists and the devil.

The Arabic original is available online .

Other works

All works listed here are taken from the article by Arnaldez in the EI² .

  • Urǧūza , about the names of Muhammad
  • al-Asnā fī šarḥ asmāʾ allāh al-ḥusnā , on the interpretation of the most beautiful names of God.
  • Sarḥ at-Taḫaṣṣī
  • Kitāb Qamʿ al-ḥirṣ bi 'l-zuhd wa' l-qanāʿa wa-radd d̲ill al-suʾāl bi 'l-kutūb wa' l-šafāʿa
  • at-Tad̲kār fī afḍal al-ad̲kār

Others

In Bogotá , Colombia , an Islamic center named "El Centro de Estudios Islámicos Al-Qūrtubi [sic!]" (Al-Qurtubī Center for Islamic Studies) was established.

literature

  • Ahmed al-Ahmed: Studies on al-Qurṭubī (st. 1273). "Memorandum on the Conditions of the Dead and the Matters of the Hereafter". A contribution to the study of Islamic eschatological literature and the Islamic concept of the afterlife . Inaugural dissertation to obtain a doctorate at the University of Cologne. Cologne 2007.
  • Arnaldez, R .: al-Ḳurṭubī . In: Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition . Leiden: Brill. Online Edition or Volume V, pp. 512-513.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ R. Arnaldez: al- Ḳurṭubī. In: Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Brill, accessed July 17, 2016 .
  2. ↑ Ahmed al-Ahmed: Studies on al-Qurṭubī . Cologne 2007, p. 8 .
  3. ↑ R. Alnardez: al-Kurtubi. In: Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Brill, accessed July 19, 2016 .
  4. ↑ R. Alnardez: al-Kurtubi. In: Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Brill Online.
  5. ↑ R. Alnardez: al-Kurtubi. In: Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Brill Online.
  6. ↑ R. Alnardez: al-Kurtubi. In: Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Brill Online.
  7. ↑ R. Alnardez: al-Kurtubi. In: Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Brill Online.
  8. ↑ Ahmed al-Ahmed: Studies on al-Qurṭubī . Cologne 2007, p. 5 .
  9. ↑ Ahmed al-Ahmed: Studies on al-Qurṭubī , p. 17.
  10. ↑ Ahmed al-Ahmed: Studies on al-Qurṭubī , p. 207.
  11. ↑ Ibid., Table of contents.
  12. ↑ El Centro de Estudios Islámicos Al-Qurtubi. Retrieved July 17, 2016 (Spanish).
personal data
SURNAME Qurṭubī, al-
ALTERNATIVE NAMES القرطبي (Arabic)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Andalusian Islamic Asharite theologian and scholar of the Maliki school of law
DATE OF BIRTH 1214
PLACE OF BIRTH Cordoba
DATE OF DEATH 1272
Place of death Munyat Abi'l-Chusaib , Upper Egypt