Chapter Two
Al Shawkani & Fat’h Al Qadeer
Muhammad Bin Ali Bin Abdullah Al Shawkani
His full name is Muhammad Ibn Ali Ibn Muhammad Ibn Abdullah Al Shawkani. The surname “Shawkani” is derived from Hijrat Ash-Shawkan, which is a town outside the capital San‘a, YEMEN, where he was born in the Hijri year 1173 (1759 AD). He became a Judge in 1229 A.H and died as Chief Justice and Imam of San’a in 1255 A.H. (1839 AD).
Biography, Thought & Works
Born and brought up in Sana’a into a Zaydi Shi’a Muslim family, his father - who was a Muslim Scholar - was his first teacher. He later on read and memorized the Glorious Qur’an, essential Hadeeth source books as well as the major Zaydi Jurisprudence books.
Imam Al Shawkani later on renounced the Zaydi school of Shi’a Islam and adopted the Sunni Muslim ideology. He called for a return to the textual sources of the Quran and Hadeeth. He is considered as a Mujtahid (or assiduous) i.e, Religious authority to whom the Muslim community may refer to in details relating to Muslim Shari’a and Jurisprudence. His work as a Muslim Scholar issuing Fatawi (plural for Fatwah; Religious Advisory Opinion) Al Shawkani stated: “I acquired knowledge without a price and I wanted to give it thus.” Al Shawkani refers both to his issuing of major fatawi, which were collected and preserved as a book, as well as to his “shorter” fatawi, which he said could never be counted and thus were not recorded.
Al Shawkani is credited with developing a series of syllabi for attaining various ranks of scholarship and used a strict system of legal analysis based on Sunni thought, ideology and doctrine. He insisted that any Muslim Jurist who wanted to be a Mujtahid Fīl Madhhab (i.e, A Muslim scholar who is qualified to exercise assiduity within a school of Islamic ideology or doctrine), was required to do so strictly without Taqleed (or imitation) for a mujtahid, which Al Shawkani deemed to be a vice or a shortcoming within the application of Al Shari’a (or Islamic Law).
Bernard Haykel (1) wrote an important book entitled: Revival and Reform in Islam: The Legacy of Muhammad Al Shawki. The review of the book by Abdulmalik Bedriddin Eagle – a British/Saudi scholar who taught English in Saudi schools as well as to Saudi Princes. The review is given hereunder.
Revival and Reform in Islam: The Legacy of Muhammad Al-Shawkani
by Bernard Haykel Reviewed by Abdulmalik Bedriddin Eagle
Cambridge University Press (Cambridge Studies in Islamic Civilization), 2003. Pp.xv + 265.
The Zaydi branch of Shia Islam was brought to Yemen in the closing years of the 9th century by a descendant of the Prophet, Yahya bin al-Husayn, who declared himself Imam with the title of al-Hadi ila ‘l-Haqq. From that time, despite the 1962 Revolution which abolished the imamate, the Zaydi madhhab (school of jurisprudence) has been the predominant one in the northern regions of Yemen; although in Hadhramaut, the southern provinces of Yemen and Tihama the Shafa’i school of Sunni Islam holds sway. In any survey of those Yemenis who have contributed to Zaydi thought and theology, Muhammad bin Ali al-Shawkani will figure prominently. He was a mujtahid, that is to say one who is qualified to issue juridical edicts (fatwas), and from 1795 until 1834 he was chief judge (qadhi al-qudhah) in the Zaydi state, based in Sana’a and serving under four imams. He is often referred to as Imam al-Shawkani out of deference to his intellectual achievements, but not being a sayyid (a descendant of the Prophet) he could never have been ruler of the state.
Al-Shawkani has been hailed as mujaddid (‘renewer’) of the century in which he lived, and also referred to as Shaykh al-Islam, a title not previously used by Zaydis. He enjoys a following which extends beyond Yemen and Zaydi circles. This reviewer purchased his copy of al-Shawkani’s Nayl al-Awtar, a 4-volume tome on hadith (sayings of the Prophet) in Taif, Saudi Arabia, in the 1970s where it was, and continues to be, esteemed by the Sunni Hanbali School of Jurisprudence.
The Zaydi madhhab is a ‘broad church’ and ranges from an uncompromising Shi’ism to a more open approach towards Sunni Islam. The former group was dominant in Yemen until the end of the 17th century. The latter position is exemplified by ulema such as the early 15th century Muhammad bin Ibrahim al-Wazir, the 17th century Salih bin Mahdi al-Maqbali and the 18th century Muhammad bin Isma’il al-Amir.
What is paradoxical in Yemen is that even though Imam al-Hadi enunciated the principle that following a living mujtahid was preferable to following a dead one, the jurisprudence (fiqh) of al-Hadi (fiqh Hadawi) has dominated Zaydi law in Yemen over the centuries. Even the numerous mujtahids since al-Hadi’s day have generally kept themselves very much within al-Hadi’s methodology. For instance, they rejected wholesale the authority of the 6 canonical books of the Sunnis.
The process of following a mujtahid is called taqlid. Al-Shawkani defines this as following someone else’s opinion without knowing the textual proof underpinning it. He therefore rejects the validity of taqlid. Haykel justly observes that, in practice, this would lead the ordinary Muslim, unfamiliar with the various texts or unable to sift them, to adopt a taqlid approach to al-Shawkani’s juridical opinions. Much of al-Shawkani’s anti-taqlid polemic was no doubt a reaction to what he perceived as the fossilisation of jurisprudence in Yemen.
Al-Shawkani may have abandoned Hadawi fiqh but was he still a Zaydi? Haykel seeks to show that al-Shawkani wasn’t and that he also questioned other characteristic features of Zaydism. For instance, he mistrusted kalam, the scholastic or dogmatic theology beloved by the Zaydis, so there is not much kalam in his legal works and other treatises. Haykel says that it would be inappropriate to label al-Shawkani an Ash’arite (the dominant dogmatic theology of the Sunnis) and concludes that he ‘appears to fit more properly, though perhaps not entirely, in the Hanbali tradition which rejected outright many of the theological claims made by the various schools of kalam.’ Al-Shawkani’s insistence that the scholar must follow in the path of al-salaf al-salih (‘the pious forefathers’) – the Companions of the Prophet and the two generations following them – is indeed a concept dear to the Hanbali tradition and to those who considered themselves faithful to that tradition like the 13/14th Century AD, Ibn Taymiyya and the 18th Century AD Muhammad Abd al-Wahhab (although Haykel is at pains to show al-Shawkani regarded the Wahhabis as extremists).
It seems that al-Shawkani favoured the literalist approach to the Qu’ran and hadith, which is indeed the Hanbali line; but without more detailed evidence from his writings especially on articles of Zaydi faith such as tawhid (Divine Unity) and ‘Adl (Divine Justice) such a conclusion can only be tentative. Dwelling, as Haykel does, on al-Shawkani’s attitude of deference towards the first three Caliphs and their followers, and how this brought him into conflict with many of his contemporaries, does not help to resolve the uncertainty, since Zaydis, unlike the other Shia sects, have displayed, and still do, a multitude of positions on this issue.
Haykel refers to al-Shawkani and his disciples and to those who, in Haykel’s view, held similar ideas at an earlier period, as ‘Traditionists’. He even speaks of ‘the Sunni [sic] Traditionists’ of highland Yemen, but I have never heard any Zaydi refer to Zaydi ulema such as Muhammad bin Isma’il al-Wazir in this way. Haykel defines ‘traditionists’ as scholars who broadly accepted as authoritative the six Sunni canonical collections of hadith (primarily Bukhari and Muslim). But a term such as ‘Sunni-orientated’ would seem a more apt appellation in this context than ‘traditionist’ which could equally well be applied to al-Shawkani’s opponents, whom Haykel calls ‘Hadawis’, since they adhered closely to al-Hadi’s fiqh and theological stance.
The book contains much vivid narrative not least Haykel’s account of events leading to the execution in August 1825, on the orders of Imam al-Mahdi Abdullah, of a strict Hadawi, Muhammad al-Samawi (a.k.a. Ibn Hariwah), in which many are convinced that al-Shawkani had a hand in as a prosecuting judge.
The final chapter, ‘Shawkani’s legacy’, is especially interesting since it takes the story up to the present and will be useful to any student of modern Yemen, where the polemic which emerged in al-Shawkani’s day is by no means dead. There are several pages about Imam Yahya Hamid al-Din whom Haykel rightly describes as a mujtahid (which was not the case with the Imams whom al-Shawkani served) and who was essentially a Hadawi in legal matters but not a rigid one like his father; Yahya issued his own ikhtiyarat (legal choices) when differing from the Hadawi norm. The plentiful footnotes detailing the sources are excellent, there is a 20-page bibliography and the transliteration has been done meticulously throughout. Minor factual errors include the name of the slightly curved dagger worn by sayyids and qadhis which is called thuma not ‘asib (p.5), and the date of the Prophet’s last pilgrimage which was in 10 AH not 9 AH (p.39). More serious is the mis-translation of the Prophet’s words at Ghadir Khumm on p.39. The correct translation is: ‘0 God be a friend of whomever befriends [Ali] and an enemy of whomever takes him [Ali] as an enemy’.
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Muhammad Al-Shawkani & Fat’h Al Qadeer – Exegesis of the Glorious Qur’an
This exegesis (tafseer in Arabic) is regarded as one of original exegeses which is based on tafseer Al Qur’an through novel (or Al Riwayah in Arabic) and through knowledge (or Al Dirayah in Arabic). For either novel or knowledge narrations, Al Shawakni’s contribution was both remarkable and extraordinary compared to contemporary works of Qur’anic exegeses. He started his work in Fat’h Al Qadeer in the Spring of the year 1223 AH and completed it in the year 1250 AH. Al Shawkani based his work on his predecessors work: Abu Jaafar Al Nahhas, Ibn Attiayyh Al Damashqi, Ibn Attiyyah Al Andalusi, Al Qurtubi, Al Zamakhshari and others.
Al Shawkani’s Methodology in Fat’h Al Qadeer
Al Shawkani’s method in Tafseer Fat’h Al Qadeer rests on the following criteria:
He bases his conception of Tafseer (exegesis or interpretation) on two important aspects of Arab cultural tradition: Al Ma’thoor (Gnomic) narrative and Al Ra’i (Opinion-based) narrative. This conception led to arriving at the nomenclature of Al Riwayah (= Ma’thoor) and Al Dirayah (= Al Ra’i).
Based on the above, each Ayah in the Qur’an is interpreted in both an acceptable and reasonable way. After this basic task Al Shawkani mentions the most prominent Qur’anic exegeses of his predecessors.
Al Shawkani mentions in between interpretation of Ayat, the occasions where or when the Ayat were revealed to the Prophet Muhammad (SAAS) (known in Arabic as: Asbab Al Nozool). He invokes the Arabic language intensively and draws upon its Masters (or A’immah: Plural for Imam in Arabic) like: Al Mubrid, Al Fra’a and Abu Ubaidah. Al Shawkani also invokes whenever he feels appropriate any one or more of the SEVEN TONGUES with which the Qur’an is RECITED.
Al Shawkani does not miss an opportunity in his Fat’h Al Qadeer without mentioning doctrines of jurisprudential scholars. He would have his own analysis and opinion regarding jurisprudential issues and gives himself wide latitude for deduction (or Istinbat in Arabic) since he sees himself as a Mujtahid (or assiduous) equal to other Mujtahideen (plural for Mujtahid in Arabic).
Al Shawkani’s Reporting of Weak or Fabricated Narrations
Al Shawkani is criticized by his contemporaries and by more recent Qur’anic exegesis compilers that he does not point out the weak or even fabricated narrations in relation to a particular Ayah. Specifically, he does not make any distinction between the Sunni from the Shi’i sources of reporting narrations and Ahadeeth (Arabic plural for Hadeeth) relating to the Ayat being interpreted. Perhaps his upbringing as a Shi’i Muslim scholar (before changing his persuasion to the Sunni school of Islam) had both an effect and influence on his writings and scholarly pursuits and research.
Al Shawkani’s Predecessorist Creed and His Criticism of Immitators
Being of a predecessorist creed (Belonging to Aqeedat Al Salf or simply Salafi Al Aqeedah in Arabic) Al Shawkani when explaining SIMILAR AYAT (Ayat Mutashabihat in Arabic) does so in a PHASE VALUE fashion (Dhahiriyyan in Arabic) which is the way of the Salafi School of Jurisprudence.
Al Shawkani is also seen as a severe critique of immitators of the A’immah of the Four Sunnah Schools of Jurisprudence: Al Ahnaf (or Hanafiyyah), Al Shawaf’a (or Shafi’iyyah), Al Hanabilah (or Al Hanbaliyyah) and finally Al Malikiyyah. He claims that such imitators have in fact DESERTED the Glorious Quran and the Purified Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad (SAAS) being busy imitating each other.
Al Shawkani’s View of the Retreatists
Before becoming a Sunni scholar, Al Shawkani belonged to the Zaidi Shi’a Yemeni tribes. After changing to the Sunni school, he is documented as being against the Retreatists (Al Mu’tazilah in Arabic). He strongly disagreed with most of their speeches and principles sometimes making a mockery of their teachings. He is also noted for his criticism of Sunni scholars who had their own contributions to the exegesis of Ayat Al Qur’an Al Kareem.
Outstanding Works
Al Shawkani produced over his lifetime 114 documented works related to the Qur’an and Hadeeth, the most outstanding of which are listed hereunder.
Fath Al-Qadir.
Nayl Al-Awtar
Al-Badr Attali.
Tuhfatu Al-Dhakirin.
Al-Fawaid Al-Majmu’ah Fil Ahadith Al Mau’zoo’ah.
Irshad Ul Fuhool.
Ad-Durur Ul-Bahiyyah Fil-Masaa’il Il-Fiqhiyyah.
Ad-Daraaree Al-Mudhiyyah Sharh Ud-Durur Il-Bahiyyah.
Adab Ut-Talab Wa Muntaha Al-Arab.
Al-Qawl Ul-Mufeed Fee Hukm It-Taqleed.
Al Shawkani’s Piers & Teachers
As mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, Al Shawkani’s first teacher was his father who was a knowledgeable Muslim scholar. As he grew up he was exposed to the writings of Learned scholars in Islam (A’lla’mah in Arabic). Amongst them were the following:
Muhammad Bin Ibraheem Al Wazeer (Deceased: 840 AH.).
Muhammad Bin Ismaeel Al Ameer (Deceased: 1182 AH.).
Al Hasan Bin Mehdi Al Miqbili (Deceased: 1108 AH.).
Al Husein Bin Ahmad Al Jalal (Deceased: 804 AH.).
The above four scholars were Yemeni nationals and contemporaries to Al Shawkani. The other prominent Learned scholars who preceded him in time and belonged to other Arabian communities are:
Ibn Hazim Al Andalusi – known as Imam Adduniyh (Deceased: 456 AH.) who lived in Al Andulus (now Spain).
Ibn Taimiyyah – known as Sheikh Al Islam (Deceased: 728 AH.).
Epilogue
In this second chapter we expose the reader to Al Shawkani’s biography, thought and works. This is followed by a section (pages 3-5) outlining the his legacy in the reform and revival of Islam published by Bernard Haykel in 2003 and reviewed by Abdulmalik Bedriddin Eagle.
We give some insight into Al Shawkani’s methodology in producing FAT’H AL QADEER which is considered his ‘flagship’ for the Qur’anic Exegesis. His views on weak and fabricated Prophetic Ahadeeth narrations, imitators and retreatists are also visited.
Finally his most outstanding works are listed as well as his contemporary piers and teachers and the Learned Muslim Scholars who influenced his thinking and understanding of Islam.