Abd al-Rahman al-Awza'i

{{Short description|Muslim scholar, jurist, and theologian (707–774)}} {{Expand Arabic|topic=bio|date=April 2019}} {{Infobox religious biography | name = Al-Awza'i | native_name = ٱلْأَوْزَاعِيّ | native_name_lang = ar | image = Imam Oza'i Zawiya-زاوية الإمام الأوزاعي.jpg | title = Imam | birth_date = 707 | birth_place = Baalbek, Umayyad Caliphate | death_date = 774 (aged 66–67) | death_place = Beirut, Abbasid Caliphate | religion = Islam | era = Islamic Golden Age | region = Sham | denomination = Sunni | jurisprudence = Independent (eponym of the Awza'i school) | creed = | main_interests = {{plainlist| *Jurisprudence *Creed *Hadith }} | notable_ideas = Awza'i school | module1 = {{infobox Arabic name|embed=yes |ism=ʿAbd al-Raḥmān |ism-ar=عَبْد ٱلرَّحْمَٰن |nasab=Ibn ʿAmr |nasab-ar=ٱبْن عَمْرو |kunya=Abū ʿAmr |kunya-ar=أَبُو عَمْرو |nisba=Al-Awzāʿī |nisba-ar=ٱلْأَوْزَاعِيّ }} | caption = ''Zawiya'' of al-Awza'i, Beirut }}

'''Abū ʿAmr ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAmr al-Awzāʿī''' ({{langx|ar|أَبُو عَمْرو عَبْد ٱلرَّحْمَٰن بْن عَمْرو ٱلْأَوْزَاعِيّ}}; 707–774) was a Sunni Muslim scholar, jurist, theologian, and the chief representative and eponym of the Awza'i school of Islamic jurisprudence.

==Biography== {{Main|8th century in Lebanon}} Awzāʿī was of Sindhi origin,<ref>{{cite journal |author1=A.S Bazmee Ansari |editor1-last=Bearman |editor1-first=P. |title=Ḏj̲āt́́ |journal=Encyclopaedia of Islam New Edition Online (EI-2 English) |doi=10.1163/1573-3912_islam_sim_2021 |url=https://doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_2021 |publisher=Brill |language=en |quote=Imām al-Awzāʿi was of Sindhī origin and his forefathers might have belonged to those D̲j̲āťs who fell into the hands of Muḥammad b. al-Ḳāsim and were sent as prisoners of war to ʿIrāḳ|url-access=subscription }}</ref> born in Baalbek (in modern-day Lebanon) in 707. He was referred to by his nisbah Awzā (الأوزاع), part of Banu Hamdan.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://shamela.ws/browse.php/book-10906/page-4773|title=سير أعلام النبلاء|work=shamela|language=Arabic|access-date=28 November 2017|archive-date=1 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201032050/http://shamela.ws/browse.php/book-10906/page-4773|url-status=dead}}</ref> The biographer and historian Al-Dhahabi reports that Awzāʿī was from Sindh, and he was a mawali of ʾAwzā tribe in his early life.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZlLVAAAAMAAJ&q=Abd+al-Rahman+al-Awza'i+sindh |title=The Voice of Islam |date=1967 |publisher=Jamiyat-ul-Falah. |language=en|page=96|quote="The origin of al - Awza'i is traced from Sind, wherefrom he or his parents came to Syria..."}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Isḥāq |first=Muḥammad |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mZ4QAQAAIAAJ |title=India's Contribution to the Study of Hadith Literature|date=1955 |publisher=University of Dacca |language=en|page=199}}</ref> He may have descended from the Zutt (Jats), who had a strong presence in Syria and Iraq during Islamic Golden Age.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Encyclopaedia of Islam |volume= II (C-G) |date=1998-05-28 |url=https://brill.com/edcollbook/title/1481 |editor= Schacht |editor2=Lewis |editor3=Pellat |publisher=Brill |language=en |isbn=978-90-04-07026-4|quote=Imām al-Awzā'i was of Sindhī origin and his forefathers might have belonged to those Jāts who fell into the hands of Muhammad b. al-Kāsim and were sent as prisoners of war to 'lrāk.|page=489}}</ref> Very little of al-Awzāʿī's writings survive, but his style of Islamic jurisprudence (''usul al-fiqh'') is preserved in Abu Yusuf's book ''Al-radd ʿala siyar al-Awzāʿī'', in particular his reliance on the "living tradition," or the uninterrupted practice of Muslims handed down from preceding generations. For Awzāʿī, this was the true Sunnah of Muhammad. Awzāʿī's school flourished in Syria, the Maghreb, and Al Andalus but was eventually overcome and replaced by the Maliki school of Islamic law in the 9th century. He died in 774 and was buried near Beirut, Lebanon, where his tomb is still visited.<ref>John Esposito, ''The Oxford Dictionary of Islam'', Oxford University Press, 2003</ref>

==Views== Theologically, he was known as a persecutor of the Qadariyah, but also one of the main historical witnesses of them. He said the Qadariyya merely appropriated the heretical doctrines of Christians. Al-Awza'i had met their founder Ma'bad al-Juhani.<ref>Steven C. Judd, "The Early Qadariyya" in ''The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Theology'', ed. Sabine Schmidtke (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016), 47-48.</ref>

Al-Awza'i differed with other schools of jurisprudence in holding that apostates from Islam ought not be executed unless their apostasy is part of a plot to take over the state.<ref name=asmi-2012-169>{{cite book |chapter=8. Apostasy in Islam and the Freedom of Religion in International Law |last1=Wood |first1=Asmi |title=Freedom of Religion under Bills of Rights |editor1=Paul Babie|editor2= Neville Rochow |publisher=University of Adelaide Press |year=2012 |page=169 |jstor=10.20851/j.ctt1t3051j.13 |isbn=9780987171801 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.20851/j.ctt1t3051j.13 |accessdate=9 January 2021}}</ref>

In the introduction to his work ''al-Jarh wa-l-Ta'dil'', Ibn Abi Hatim al-Razi preserves a corpus of ten letters attributed to al-Awza'i. In these letters, al-Awza'i addresses a series of high-ranking officials in order to plead the cause of individuals and groups. Among other things, he encouraged the Abbasids to ransom Muslims who were captured by the Byzantines in Erzurum, and to increase the wages of the Syrian soldiers in charge of protecting the Levantine coast.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tillier |first=Mathieu |title=Autour de la Syrie médiévale. Études offertes à Anne-Marie Eddé |publisher=Peeters |year=2022 |isbn=9789042947986 |editor-last=Boudier |editor-first=Mathilde |location=Leuven |pages=65–114 |language=fr |chapter=La Syrie d’al-Awzāʿī (m. 157/774). Les pétitions d’un savant au pouvoir abbasside}}</ref>

Both Christians and Muslims from the Beirut area appealed to al-Awza'i for help. In one story, a local Christian in Beirut sought al-Awza'i's help in resolving a tax dispute. When his appeal to the tax administrator failed, al-Awza'i gave the Christian the 80 dinars he thought he was owed, and even tried to return the jar of honey the Christian had given him to thank him for his efforts.{{cn|date=August 2025}}

==Further reading== * {{cite book |last1=Judd |first1=Steven C. |title='Abd al-Rahman b. 'Amr al-Awza'i |publisher=Oneworld Publications |location=London |isbn=978-1786076854 |url=https://oneworld-publications.com/abd-al-rahman-b-amr-al-awza-i-hb.html |language=en |year=2019 }}{{Dead link|date=July 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

==References==  {{reflist}}

==External links== * [http://www.muslimscholars.info/manage.php?submit=scholar&ID=20024 Biodata at MuslimScholars.info]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Al-Awzai, Abd-Al-Rahman}} Category:707 births Category:774 deaths Category:Sunni Muslim scholars of Islam Category:Taba‘ at-Tabi‘in hadith narrators Category:Religious leaders from Beirut Category:Scholars from the Umayyad Caliphate Category:8th-century jurists Category:8th-century Arab people Category:8th-century Lebanese people Category:Critics of Abu Hanifa