Al-Mawardi

Al-Mawardi
Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Habib (–1058), commonly known by the nisba al-Mawardi, was a Sunni polymath and a Shafi'i jurist, legal theoretician, muhaddith, theologian, sociologist and an expert in political science. He was considered an eminent scholar of his time who wrote on numerous subjects, including Qur'anic interpretations, religion, government, public and constitutional law, language, ethics and belles-letters.
Biography
Birth and Education
Al-Mawardi was born in in Basra, then part of the Buyid Emirate. Some authors make the claim that his family was Kurdish, a claim which is unsubstantiated. He studied under a number of scholars and one of his most prominent teachers was Abu Ishaq al-Isfarayini who taught him fiqh, usul al-fiqh, hadith and theology.
Career
After completing his studies, the Abbasid caliph appointed Al-Mawardi as his representative and sent him to a number of nations as the ambassador. He played a vital role in restoring Muslim unity by negotiating with the Buyid emirs and Seljuk sultans. He was rewarded with many grand gifts and tributes by majority of the Sultans and rulers of the time.
Due to his massive knowledge in jurisprudence ethics (matters of Fiqh), political science and literature. He was appointed in the highest office where he became Supreme Judge of Abbasid Caliphate. He maintained close relations with caliphs al-Qadir and al-Qa'im.
Death
Al-Mawardi died at an old age in Baghdad on 30 Rabi'a 450/27, May 1058.
Contribution to Political Science and Sociology
Al Mawardi's contribution impacted heavily to the two fields through a number of monumental of great books authored by him, his most famous were Kitab al-Ahkam al-Sultania, Qanun al Wazarah, and Kitab Nasihat al-Mulk. These books discuss the principles of political science with special reference and ministers, relationships between the populace and the administration, as well as calculations to strengthen the government and secure a victory in conflict.
Al Mawardi is was an author and advocator of the doctrine necessity in political science. He was in favour of a strong government and spoke out against unlimited powers given to the governors which he postulated would create disorder and chaos on the other hand, he has brought forth clear principles for elections of the Caliph rulers and standards of the voters among which the most important achievement of a degree of intellectual capacity and also morality of the character. On the subject of "Ethics", he wrote his book Kitaab adaab al-dunya wa al-din, which became widely a famous book on this topic and is still read in many Islamic countries of today.
Al-Mawardi has been considered one of the most renowned thinkers in the political science of the medieval of Islamic history. His original work influenced the development of this subject, together with the science of sociology, which was further developed and expanded later on by Ibn Khaldun.
Jurisprudence
According to Wafaa H. Wahaba, "For al-Mawardi the caliphate symbolized an entire politico-religious system that regulates the lives of men in a Muslim community to the smallest detail. Hence the emphasis in [The Ordinances] placed on the qualifications, power and duties pertinent to [a given office of government]... This approach to the matter would explain the working arrangement finally reached by the Buyids and the Abbasid caliphs, later followed also by the more efficient Seljuqs, whereby the military held actual power while recognizing the Caliph as the supreme head of government and receiving from him, in turn, recognition of their mundane authority."
Al-Mawardi postulated in his book al-Ahkam al-Sultania w'al-Wilayat al-Diniyya, That according to Shafiite ruling, an unclaimed land property could be freely given by Islamic government to particular individual whom they saw can cultivate and process the land plot so it can became productive land. Mawardi based this ruling on the case when Muhammad given 'Iqta''(taxable land) plot for Zubayr ibn al-Awwam who designed the property for horse riding training ground. This view also shared by 20th century Shafiite scholar, Wahbah al-Zuhayli, who highlighted that Zubayr ownership were legal per ruling of Shafii.
Works
al-Ahkam al-Sultaniyya w'al-Wilayat al-Diniyya (The Ordinances of Government)
Qanun al-Wazarah (Laws regarding the Ministers)
Kitab Nasihat al-Mulk (The Book of Sincere Advice to Rulers)
Kitab Aadab al-Dunya w'al-Din (The Ethics of Religion and of this World)
Personas of the Prophethood
al-Nukat wa’l-ʿuyūn fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān popularly Tafsir al-Mawardi
See also
List of Ash'aris and Maturidis
Islamic scholars
Nasîhatnâme
Appendix
References
Bibliography
External links
ABU AL-HASAN AL-MAWARDI
Review of al-Ahkam as-Sultanniyah
Kitab adab al-dunya wa-al-din, 1882, by Mward, Al ibn Muammad, 974?-1058
972 births
1058 deaths
Shafi'is
Asharis
11th-century Muslim theologians
11th-century jurists
Hadith scholars
Quranic exegesis scholars
11th-century people from the Abbasid Caliphate
Islamic mirrors for princes
People from Basra
Scholars from the Abbasid Caliphate