Abdur-Rahmaan ibn 'Alee ibn Ja'far al-Jawzee

Assalamou aleikoum wa Rahmatoullah wa barakatou,



'Abdur-Rahmaan ibn 'Alee ibn Ja'far al-Jawzee was born in the city of Baghdad in approximately 1114CE and grew up studying under the leading scholars of his time, including his uncle, Muhammad ibn Naasir al-Baghdaadee, a scholar of Hadeeth, Fiqh and Arabic grammar.

Ibn al-Jawzee became an outstanding scholar of the twelfth century especially in the Hadeeth sciences for which he was titled "Al Haafith". He also was noted for his scholarship in the fields of History, Linguistics, Tafseer and Fiqh. In fact, he became the leading scholar of the Hambalee Madh-hab of his time and played a very important role in reviving and spreading it, especially after becoming a favorite of the 'Abbasid Caliph, al-Mustad'ee (1142-1180 CE). In the year 1179, he had five schools in the capital in which he used to lecture. However, his enthusiasm for his Madh-hab created ill-feeling and jealousies among the other scholars. During the reign of al-Mustad'ees son, Caliph an-Naasir Lideenillah (1159-1225 CE), he was banished to Wasit, where he remained for five years. In the year 1199, he was released and returned to Baghdad, where he died two years later. Ibn al-Jawzee lived to the ripe old age of 87 and was a prolific writer throughout most of his life. Recently, Professor 'Abdul-Hameed al-'Aloojee, an Iraqi scholar conducted research on the extant writings of Ibn al-Jawzee and wrote a reference work in which he listed Ibn al-Jawzee's works alphabetically, identifying the publishers and libraries where his unpublished manuscripts could be found. The number of Ibn al-Jawzee's books reached a staggering total of three hundred and seventy-six texts. However, even this large number cannot be considered surprising given Ibn al-Jawzee's high regard for time. He was reported to have said,

"Many people used to pay me social visits and I likewise until I realized that time is a most noble and precious thing, and hence began to dislike visiting. However, I became caught between two possibilities; if I refused their visits, I would ultimately feel lonely and miss something which I had grown accustomed to, but if I accepted their visits, my time would be wasted. Consequently, I began to avoid visits to the best of my ability and if it became unavoidable, I would limit my conversation in order to hasten the visit's end. I also prepared work to do during my visits so that no time would pass idly by."

Among the most famous of Ibn al-Jawzee's works in the field of sectarianism is Talbees Iblees. In the field of biography of the Sahaabah's and the early generation of scholars is his book, Sifah as-Safwah, which consists of three large volumesof Tareekh 'Umar ibn al-Khattab. His book, Taqweem al-Lisaan, was written in the field of Arabic linguistics. In the field of science of Tafseer, Ibn al-Jawzee wrote a nine volume work entitled Zaad al-Maseer fee 'Ilm at-Tafseer, and in Hadeeth al-'Ilal al-Mutanaahiyah fee al-Ahaadeeth al Waahiyah, and Al-Mawdoo'aat, which consists of three volumes.



Source: Ibn Al-Jawzee's The Devil's Deception
Edited Translation By Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips (Author's biography p. 11-12)