Abd Allah ibn Mahmud ibn Mawdud ibn Mahmud, Majd al-Din, Abu al-Fadl al-Mawsili commonly referred to as Imam al-Mawsili was a Faqih, Muhadith, and an accomplished scholar of the Hanafi Madhab. Born in Mosul on Friday, at the end of Shawwal in the year 599 AH.
Imam al-Mawsili grew up in a noble and scholarly household. The father of Imam al-Mawsili, Mahmud, was a well-known Hanafi scholar of his time and a student of Imam Ibn al-Jawzi (d. 597 AH). Al-Mawsili had three brothers, Abd al-Da’im, Abd al-Karim, and Abd al-Aziz (who served as a Qadi), all of whom were engaged in teaching and spreading the din.
Imam al-Mawsili became recognised as a teacher, jurist, and virtuous scholar, deeply versed in the Hanafi madhab. As a result, Al-Mawsili was appointed as a judge in Kufa, and later returned to Baghdad, where al-Mawsili taught near the resting place of Imam Abu Hanifa. The Imam remained engaged in issuing fatawa until passing away on the 19th of Muharram, 683 AH.
The authored works of Imam al-Mawsili include al-Mukhtar lil-Fatwa and the celebrated commentary al-Ikhtiyar li-Ta’lil al-Mukhtar and others. Allamah Qasim also notes that Imam al-Mawsili also composed a work entitled al-Mushtamil ʿalā Masāʾil al-Mukhtaṣar.
The work al-Mukhtar received wide acceptance within the Hanafi tradition and is regarded as one of the four relied-upon mutun of the madhhab. Ibn Abidin (d. 1252 AH) refers to “the authors of the relied-upon mutun among the later scholars” as the author of al-Kanz, the author of al-Mukhtar, the author of al-Wiqayah, and the author of al-Majma’. It is mentioned, Al-Mukhtar was commented upon by Imam Zaylai’ (743 AH), Ibn Amir Hajj (879 AH). Qasim ibn Qutlubugha authored a commentary on al-Mukhtar and sourced (Takhrij) the ahadith of al-Ikhtiyar.
The commentary, al-Ikhtiyar, further cemented the authority of al-Mukhtar, since it not only preserved the relied-upon rulings but also explained their reasoning. Due to its standing, al-Ikhtiyar became amongst the studied and transmitted texts in the madhab, taught in madrasas and continuing to be studied in institutes across the Muslim world until today.
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١. تاج التراجم في طبقات الحنفية
٢. الجواهر المضية في طبقات الحنفية لعبد القادر القرشي
٣. كشف الظنون عن أسامي الكتب والفنون
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