By Qāri Izhār Ahmad Thānawi [1]
Translation and footnotes by Faraz Abdul Moid
Shams al-Dīn Abū ‘l-Khayr Muhammad bin Muhammad bin Muhammad bin Ali al-Jazarī was born in Damascus on the 25th of Ramadan, 751 AH (corresponding to 1350 CE). By the of age 15 or 16, he had not only memorized the Qur’an but had also committed to memory the famous book of Shafi’ī law al-Tanbīh, plus two books on qirā’ah: the Shātibiyyah and al-Taysīr [2]. His teachers included Taqi al-Dīn al-Baghdādi, Ibn al-Husayn al-Hanafi, Shaykh Ibn al-Labbān, and others. In his studies in law, he benefited from Jamāl al-Isnawī, Ibn Raslān, Abu ‘l-Baqā al-Subkī, and others. Amongst his teachers in Hadith were Ibn Abd al-Karīm al-Hanbali, Bahāuddīn Amīnī, Ibn al-Muhibb al-Maqdisi, and Allāmah Ibn Kathīr amongst others. Imam Tāsh Kubrā Zādah [3] has mentioned, “He learnt Hadith from a cohort of scholars.”
Imam Jazari memorized over 100,000 Hadiths, along with having acquired expertise in Hadith, law, and qirā’āh. Imām Sakhāwi mentions, “Many scholars had granted him licenses to issue legal verdicts, lecturing, and teaching the sciences of qirā’ah.”
He studied the sciences of qirā’ah from approximately 40 scholars by traveling through Damascus, Makkah, Madinah, Cairo, and Alexandria. Thereafter he was elected to the post of Shaykh al-Qurrā in Damascus. At that time the Levant was a province of the regime in Egypt. The king of Egypt, Malik al-Žāhir Sayf al-Dīn Barqūq, appointed Imam Jazari as the head of the educational department at al-Jāmi’ah al-Salāhiyyah.
In 797 AH, the governor of the Levant, Amīr Altamash, appointed him to the post of Qādī (judge) of Shām. Imam Jazari, however, had disagreements with the government in important matters related to the judicial post. Furthermore – due to the plotting of some individuals who were envious of him – the central government began to mistreat him. Inevitably, he decided to leave Damascus and migrated to Bursa in modern-day Turkey. The king of Turkey, Bāyazīd bin Uthman Yaldaram – who was already acquainted with the personality of Imam Jazari – treated him with great honor and respect, requesting Imam Jazari to permanently take residence in Bursa which Imam Jazari accepted. From thereon, the fruits of his lectures and writings began to materialize. Those who valued his knowledge, especially the students of qirā’ah, benefited from him tremendously.
In 805 AH, Timur Lang [4] had set out to attack Turkey and overthrew the government of Bāyazīd. Bāyazīd was arrested and passed away while imprisoned. Aside from accruing gold and riches, Timur Lang was interested in convening elite experts of various sciences and fields to his kingdom in Samarqand. Hence, Timur respectfully had Imam Jazari and a few selected scholars travel along with him. He took them with him, amidst the royal army, to major cities of learning in Transoxiana. During Imam Jazari’s stay in these cities, great scholars of the localities came to benefit from his knowledge and considered it to be an enormous blessing for them, especially after having benefited from his published works that had reached them. Timur Lang placed much deference and trust in Imam Jazari. He would say that Imam Jazari was a person who would experience clairvoyance (kashf) and would be blessed with visions of the Prophet sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam whenever he wished.
In 807 AH, after the passing of Timur Lang, Imam Jazari headed towards Shiraz via Khorasan, Herat, Yazd (in Iran), and Esfahan. He arrived to Shiraz in 808 AH. Pīr Muhammad, the governor of Shiraz and a paternal grandson of Timur Lang, held much respect for and conviction in Imam Jazari. He obliged Imam Jazari to stay in Shiraz and appointed him to the position of Chief Judge. After a long stay in Shiraz, Imam Jazari set off for the Hajj pilgrimage in 827 AH. After the Hajj, he traveled to Cairo where scholars and students came from far off places to visit him. Droves of Qurrā and scholars were seen in Cairo, all of them seeking to receive ijāzah from him as a source of blessing. Amidst these crowds of scholars was a young Ibn Hajr al-Asqalāni, who subsequently became the renowned commentator of Sahīh al-Bukhāri. In addition to this, Imam Jazari conducted lectures on the Musnad Ahmad, Musnad al-Shāfi’ī, as well as other works and conferred ijāzāt.
After returning to Shiraz, Imam Jazari founded a large seminary named Dār al-Qur’ān. It should be noted that he had already established a seminary in Damascus with the same name. Also to note is that some have inaccurately mentioned “Dār al-Qurrā” as the name of this seminary.
Since his era till present, no one has reached the level of Imam Jazari in the sciences of qirā’ah. al-Hāfiž Ibn Hajr al-Asqalāni states, “He held the highest position in the world in the science of qirā’ah.”
Allāmah Shawkāni mentions, “He was unmatched in the science of qirā’ah in the entire world.”
Allāmah Suyūti says, “When it came to the science of qirā’ah he was unparalleled in the world during his time, and he was a hāfiž of Hadith.”
Mawlana Abd al-Hayy Farangi Mahalli mentions, “Amongst the glorious personalities of Islam in the 8th century were Zayn al-Dīn Iraqi, Shams al-Dīn Jazari, and Sirāj al-Dīn Balqīnī.”
Imam Jazari authored around 45 works on different sciences. From amongst them, his most famous works are al-Nashr fi Qirā’āt al-`Ashr, Taqrīb al-Nashr, al-Durrah, Munjid al-Muqriīn, al-Muqaddamah al-Jazariyyah, Tahbīr al-Taysīr, Tabaqāt al-Qurrā, al-Tamhīd fi `Ilm al-Tajwīd, Tayyibat al-Nashr fi al-Qirā’āt al-`Ashr, and al-Hišn al-Hašīn.
On the 5th of Rabi’ al-Awwal, 833 AH (corresponding to 1429 CE), at the age of 82, Imam Jazari passed away. He was buried within the precincts of the Dār al-Qur’ān seminary.
May Allah (SWT) quench him with His vast mercy.
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Footnotes:
[1] Qāri Izhār Ahmad Thanawi was born in Thanabhawan, India, in 1346 AH/1927 CE. His initial studies were completed in his hometown at the Imdād al-‘Ulūm institute. In 1362 AH/1943 CE he registered for higher studies at Mazāhir al-‘Ulūm in Sahāranpūr, and in 1366 AH/1947 CE he completed his hadith studies under Shaykh al-Hadith Muhammad Zakariyya al-Kandhlawi. In 1373 AH/1954 CE he met the outstanding student of Shaykh Abd al-Rahmān al-Makkī, Shaykh Abd al-Mālik. He spent six years under the tutelage and apprenticeship of this great scholar, mastering the science of tajwīd and qirā’āt at his hands. In 1379 AH/1959 CE he completed his study of the ten qirā’āt and became a teacher of Arabic at a Dār al-‘Ulūm in Lahore, Pakistan. His students include Shaykh Ahmad Mia al-Thānawī. His date of demise is not known. Check Husn al-Muhādarāt fī Rijāl al-Qirā`āt, Vol. 2 pg. 286. (Taken – with minor edits – from Qari Saleem Gaibie’s commentary on the Jazariyyah.)
Qāri Izhār has commentaries on many major works of qirā’ah. He is the author of al-Jawāhir al-Naqiyyah – a commentary of al-Muqaddimah al-Jazariyyah – from where this biography of Imam Muhammad Ibn al-Jazari was taken. This article, translated into English from Urdu, was checked and approved by Mawlana Ahteramul Haque (Chicago, IL).
[2] A work on the seven qirā’āt by Uthmān bin Sa’īd bin Uthmān al-Umawi (371 AH – 444 AH), more commonly known as Abu Amr al-Dāni from Dénia, a historical coastal city of Alicante province in Spain. After studying locally, he began his educational travels in 397 AH during which he ventured through Qayrawan and Egypt, and performed Hajj. He was a follower of the Māliki madhhab, and was counted amongst the huffāž of hadith, along with being renowned as an Imam of qirā’ah, ulūm al-Quran, and tafsīr. Ibn Ubaydullah al-Hijri quotes Abu Amr as having said, “I did not see anything except that I wrote it, and I did not write anything except that I memorized it, and whatever I memorized I did not forget.” He authored around 120 works which include al-Ishārah in the science of qirā’ah, al-Tajdīd fi al-Itqān wa al-Tajwīd, al-Ihtidā’ fi al-Waqf wa al-Ibtidā’, al-Bayān fi `Addi Āyi al-Quran, Tabaqāt al-Qurrā, and more. (Siyar A’lām al-Nubalā by al-Dhahabi and al-A’lām by Khayr al-Dīn al-Zirkalī)
[3] Isām al-Dīn Abu al-Khayr Ahmad bin Mustafa bin Khalīl (d. 968 AH), more commonly known as Tāsh Kubrā Zādah, a dynamic Ottoman Turkish Hanafi scholar who wrote a commentary on al-Muqaddimah al-Jazariyyah. He also authored Tabaqāt al-Fuqahā and various other works in the field of history, Arabic grammar, and scholastic theology. In 958 AH, he was appointed as a judge in Istanbul. (al-Madhhab al-Hanafi by Ahmad al-Naqīb and al-A’lām by Khayr al-Dīn al-Zirkalī)
[4] Also known as Tamerlane, a Turco-Mongol conqueror and founder of the Timurid Empire in Central Asia and Persia. He passed away in February 1405 CE, and is buried at the Gur-i-Amir mausoleum in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
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