Biography of Ibn Juzayy al-Kalbi

20-10-2015 | IslamWeb

Question:

Assalaamu alaykum. Can you give a short biography of Ibn Juzayy Al-Kalbi? Was he considered from Ahlus-Sunnah (the peole of the Sunnah)? And what have other scholars mentioned of him? And is his Tafsir (explanation/interpretation) reliable?
Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah and that Muhammad sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) is His slave and Messenger.

Ibn Juzayy may Allaah have mercy upon him is the great Muslim imaam, Haafith (memorizer), Tafseer scholar, scholar of Fiqh and Usool Al-Fiqh (fundamentals of Islamic Fiqh), Abu Al-Qaasim Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn 'Abdullaah ibn Yahya ibn Juzayy Al-Kalbi Al-Ghirnaati Al-Andalusi. He died as a martyr on 741 AH at the age of 48. He participated in jihaad and was known for his aspiration to attain martyrdom.

Muslim scholars highly praised him; Ibn Al-Khateeb may Allaah have mercy upon him wrote:

"He may Allaah have mercy upon him was sincerely devoted to knowledge, studying, writing, and teaching, and he ventured into different areas of knowledge: Arabic language, Usool Al-Fiqh, Quranic modes of recitation, Hadeeth, Arabic literature, and Tafseer. He memorized and comprehended the statements of the earlier scholars and studied many books and references ... He penned many books in different disciplines and areas of knowledge; some of his writings are: Waseelat Al-Muslim fi Tahtheeb Saheeh Muslim, Al-Anwaar As-Saniyyah fi Al-Kalimaat As-Sunniyah, Ad-Daʻwaat wal-Athkaar Al-Mukharrajah min Saheeh Al-Akhbaar, Al-Qawaaneen Al-Fiqhiyyah fi Talkhees Math-hab Al-Maalikiyyah, At-Tanbeeh ʻala Mathhab Ash-Shaafiʻiyyah wal-Hanafiyyah wal-Hanbaliyyah, Taqreeb Al-Wusool ila ʻilm Al-Usool, An-Noor Al-Mubeen fi Qawaaʻid ʻAqaai’d Ad-Deen, Al-Mukhtasar Al-Baari’ fi Qiraa'at Naafiʻ, Usool Al-Qurraa’ As-Sittah ghayra Naafiʻ, Al-Fawaa’id Al-ʻAammah fi Lahn Al-ʻAammah, in addition to other books in Tafseer, Quranic modes of recitations, and other academic disciplines. He studied at the hands of many scholars from different parts of the world..." [Al-Ihaatah fi Akhbaar Ghirnaatah 3/11]

Ibn Hajar Al-ʻAsqalaani may Allaah have mercy upon him wrote:

"Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn 'Abdullaah ibn Yahya ibn ʻAbd Ar-Rahmaan ibn Yoosuf ibn Juzayy Al-Kalbi Al-Ghirnaati, who was nicknamed Abu Al-Qaasim. Ibn Al-Khateeb said about him, 'He was sincerely devoted to knowledge, studying, writing, and teaching, and he ventured into different areas of knowledge: Arabic language, Usool Fiqh, Fiqh, Arabic literature, and Hadeeth. He was appointed as a Khateeb of his hometown despite his young age; people commended his righteousness and character. He studied at the hands of Abu Jaʻfar ibn Az-Zubayr, Abu Al-Hasan ibn Samʻoon, Abu 'Abdullaah ibn Al-ʻImaad and accompanied Al-Haafith Ibn Rasheed. He also narrated from Abu 'Abdullaah ibn Abi ʻAamir ibn Rabeeʻ and Abu Al-Majd ibn Abi ʻAli ibn Abi Al-Ahwas. He penned Hadeeth collections, some of which are Waseelat Al-Muslim fi Tahtheeb Saheeh Muslim, Al-Baari’ fi Qiraa’at Naafiʻ, and Al-Fawaa’id Al-‘Aammah fi Lahn Al-ʻAammah. He was killed in Al-Kaaʻinah, in Tareef, on Jumaada Awwal, 7, in 741 AH." [Ad-Durar Al-Kaaminah fi Aʻyaan Al-Mi’ah Ath-Thaaminah 5/89]

He was one of the honorable scholars of the Ahlus-Sunnah Wal-Jamaaʻah. His Tafseer book is among the best and most accurate in Tafseer science; he adopted a thorough approach interpreting the Quran by the Quran, the Sunnah, or the interpretations of the Companions, identifying their preponderant opinions and the outweighing ones in case of a difference in opinion. He also investigated the statements of the commentators of the Quran, identifying the authentic and inauthentic ones and the preponderant opinions and the outweighed ones. He wrote in the introduction of his Tafseer book:

'I included in this book the commentary of the Quran and the other Quranic sciences; I adopted a useful approach to make it a brief and comprehensive textbook; I intended it to accomplish four objectives:

Firstly, citing a great number of statements of scholars in one small book to make it easier for the seekers of knowledge. The book includes the same information cited in the long references but briefly summarized and filtered with no room for redundancy ... I included all the Quranic sciences and the brief and most important conclusions, not the unneeded or irrelevant information.

Secondly, I cited some anecdotes and subtle benefits that can be rarely found in any other book because they are the product of my wisdom, experience, and knowledge imparted to me by my teachers or the anecdotes cited in other books.

Thirdly, I keenly illustrated the problems either by addressing the problematic topics or by eliminating the possibilities and explaining the general points.

Fourthly, I verified the statements of past commentators of the Quran, identifying the authentic and inauthentic and the preponderant and the outweighed; this is because the opinions are of different levels (of authenticity); some are authentic and can be relied on as evidence, others are false and should simply be overlooked and rejected, and a third category includes those that are possibly authentic and possibly inauthentic. This possibility may be equal or not, and there are other levels in between as well. I classified the statements and opinions of scholars into different categories in order to identify each category easily marked with certain expressions indicating each of them; those declared false or void were referred to as 'weak or far-fetched', underlining that there are other preponderant, stronger, or most famous ones outweighing them and then citing the preponderant ones or remarking that 'such-and-such was said' so as not to attribute to anyone what he has not actually stated...''[110]"

Allaah Knows best.

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