JAMALUDDIN GHAZNAWI

Jamaluddin Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Mahmud Ghaznawi

(d. 593/1197)

Not much information about the life of Jamaluddin Ghaznawi has been preserved. It is known that he learned jurisprudence from the famous Hanafi jurist Alauddin Kasani and Ahmad ibn Yusuf Alawi Husayni. In his time, Ghaznawi was considered one of the leading Hanafi scholars in furu al-fiqh and usul al-fiqh. Ghaznawi died in 593/1197 in the city of Aleppo.

His works. 1. "Al-Muqaddima al-Ghaznawiyya fil-Furu' al-Hanafiyya". About 30 copies of the book, which consists of eight chapters on prayers, are stored in the library of Sulaymaniya. There are some commentaries on this work such as "Az-Ziya al-Ma'nawiyya 'alal-Muqaddima al-Ghaznawiyya" by Abul Baqa Muhammad ibn Ahmad Qurashi, known as Ibn Ziya, "Fath al-Aziz sl-Ghani fi sharhi al-Muqaddima al-Ghaznawiyya" by Ahmad ibn Hasan Kafawi, and “Nur an-Nabawi” by Abu Bakr Sayfulhaq ibn Muslihuddin Bosnawi al-Travniki. 
2. "Al-Hawi al-Qudsi". The work is called “al-Qudsi” since it was written in Jerusalem. It is about fiqh and consists of three parts. The first part is about the faith and kalam and the second part is about usul al-fiqh. After these two parts, which are quite short, the third part covers issues in the style typical of general fiqh books. There are various copies of the work in the library of Sulaymaniya (Asad Afandi, No. 660; Raisulkuttab Mustafa Afandi, No. 424, 425; Shahid Ali Pasha, No. 1017; Yangi Jami', No. 408). 3. "Aqaid al-Ghaznawi". A copy of this work was found in the library of Sulaymaniya in the collection of aqaeed treatises of Abu Hanifa, Abu Ja'far Tahawi and Abu Hafs Nasafi (Wahbi Afandi of Baghdad, No. 2028/3). 
4. "Ahadith al-Ahkam". 5. "Rawza al-Mutakallimin fi Usul ad-Din". This work is an important book of Ghaznawi on the science of aqeedah. It was published in Beirut in 1998 under the name “Usul ad-Din”. 6. "al-Muntaqa min Rawza al-Mutakallimin". This work is considered a summary of the work entitled "Rawza al-Mutakallimin fi Usul ad-Din".

Also, the sources mention that Ghaznawi wrote works entitled "ar-Rawza fi Ikhtilaf al-Ulama" and "Kitab fi Usul al-Fiqh".