{{Short description|Yemeni theologian (1759–1834)}} {{Infobox religious biography | religion = Islam | name = Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Abdullah al-Shawkani | caption = | title = Shaykh al-Islam, Imam, Qadi<ref>{{cite book |last= ibn Ali al Shawkani |first= Muhammad |author-link= |year=2009 |title= A Critique of the ruling of Al-Taqlid|url= |location= Birmingham, UK |publisher= Dar al Arqam Publishing|pages= 3–4, 12–13 |isbn=978-1-9164756-4-9}}</ref> | birth_name = | birth_date = 11 July 1759 CE /1173 AH | birth_place = | death_date = 30 October 1834 CE /1250 AH | death_place = Sana'a, Yemen | death_cause = | resting_place = | other_names = | region = South Arabia | nationality = Yemeni | ethnicity = | denomination = Sunni<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=2013|isbn=978-0-691-13484-0|editor-last=Bowering|editor-first=Gerhard|location=Princeton, NJ|pages=606|quote="a number of influential thinkers abandoned Zaydism for Sunnism. The best known of these are Muhammad b. Isma‘il al-San‘ani (d. 1769), Muhammad b. ‘Ali al-Shawkani (d. 1834), and more recently Muqbil al-Wadi‘i (d. 2001)"}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last= Moreau, Schaar |first= Odile, Stuart |title= Subversives and Mavericks in the Muslim Mediterranean: A Subaltern History|publisher= University of Texas Press |year=2016|isbn= 978-1477319956 |location=United States of America |pages=139 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Ahmed |first= Chanfi|title= West African ʿulamāʾ and Salafism in Mecca and Medina Jawāb al-Ifrῑqῑ—The Response of the African |publisher=Brill|year=2015|isbn= 978-90-04-27031-2 |location=Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands|pages=97|quote=“He taught both at the mosque and in his home, and was a prolific author who wrote in defense of Sunnī Islam..” |chapter=4: The Dār al-Ḥadīth in Medina and the Ahl al-Ḥadīth}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last= Hanssen, Weiss |first= Jens, Max |title= Arabic Thought Beyond the Liberal Age: Towards an Intellectual History of the Nahda|publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2016|isbn= 9781107136335 |location=United Kingdom |pages=95 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last= Saint-Prot |first= Charles |title= Happy Arabia : from antiquity to Ali Abdullah Salih, the Yemeni unifier|publisher= University of Michigan |year=1999 |isbn= 9781107136335 |location=USA |pages=31|quote=”In the late 18th century they supported the reform movement of the Sunni theologian Muhamed bin Ali al - Shawkani ( 1750-1834)..” }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last= Ala Hamoudi, Cammack |first= Haider, Mark |title= Islamic Law in Modern Courts |publisher= Aspen Publishing|year=2018 |isbn= 9781454830399 | location=USA |pages=576 }}</ref> | jurisprudence = Salafi<ref>Ali, Mohamed Bin. "Salafis, salafism and modern salafism: what lies behind a term?." (2015).</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=2013|isbn=978-0-691-13484-0|editor-last=Bowering|editor-first=Gerhard|location=Princeton, NJ|pages=484, 506|quote="Shawkani .. is a prominent authority for the Salafi version of Islam"}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last= Haykel, Hegghammer, Lacroix |first= Bernard, Thomas, Stéphane |title= Saudi Arabia in Transition: Insights on Social, Political, Economic and Religious Change|publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2015|isbn=9781107006294 |location=New York, USA |pages=158 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last= Orkaby |first= Asher |title= Yemen: What Everyone Needs to Know |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2021|isbn=9780190932268|location=New York, USA |pages=120, 160 }}</ref><br/>{{smaller|(with Zahiri influences)}}<ref name="Zahiri Madhhab; Shawkani">{{cite book |author1=Ahmad Farid Al-Mazidi |title=المذهب العارف ومذاهب أخرى (دائرة المعارف -8-) |trans-title= |date=2023 |publisher=f Dar Al Kotob Al Ilmiyah دار الكتب العلمية‎. |isbn=978-2745182647 |pages=iii, 28, 31 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K27dEAAAQBAJ |access-date=20 August 2024}}</ref> | movement = | creed = Athari<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=2013|isbn=978-0-691-13484-0|editor-last=Bowering|editor-first=Gerhard|location=Princeton, NJ|pages=506–507|quote="al-Shawkani, Muhammad b. ‘Ali (1760–1834)... dismissed speculative theology (kalām) and reason-based arguments as idle talk and was a staunch Salafi in matters of creed"}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Haykel |first=Bernard|title=Revival and Reform in Islam: The Legacy of Muhammad Al-Shawkani|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2003|isbn=9780521528900|location=Cambridge, UK |page=104|chapter=The Absolute Interpreter and Renewer of the Thirteenth Century AH|quote="Shawkänī, as was mentioned already, was opposed to kaläm, which he regarded as a science that led to more confusion than clarity for the believer. He admits that he felt confused by it (lam azdad bihā illā þpiratan) and he found it to consist of idle talk (khuza"balār)... Shawkānī appears to fit more properly, though perhaps not entirely, in the Hanbalī tradition, which rejected outright many of the theological claims made by the various schools of kalām."}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Beránek, Ťupek |first=Ondřej, Pavel |title=The Temptation of Graves in Salafi Islam: Iconoclasm, Destruction and Idolatry |publisher=Edinburgh University Press|year=2018 |isbn=978-1-4744-1757-0 |location=The Tun -Holyrood Road, 12 (2f) Jackson's Entry, Edinburgh EH8 8PJ |pages=7, 47, 73 |quote="Muhammad al-Shawkani (d. 1839), a famous Yemeni traditionalist and reformer..." "The legacies of Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya were also palpable in Arabia in the eighteenth-century traditionalist movement. In Yemen, the most prominent figures in this movement were Muhammad ibn Ismaʿil al-Sanʿani (referred to as al-Amir al-Sanʿani, d. 1769) and Muhammad al Shawkani (d. 1839)."}}</ref> | occupation = Historiographer, bibliographer, Islamic scholar, jurist | main_interests = Fiqh, Hadith, Aqeedah | notable_ideas = | notable_works = Nayl al-Awtar | Sufi_order = | influences = Ibn Taymiyyah,<ref>Nafi, Basheer M. "Abu al-Thana'al-Alusi: An Alim, Ottoman Mufti, and Exegete of the Qur'an." International Journal of Middle East Studies 34.3 (2002): 465-494. "...al-Shawkani (1760–1834), were all, in varying degrees, interested in Ibn Taymiyya's intellectual legacy."</ref> Ibn Qayyim, Dawud al-Zahiri, Ibn Hazm | influenced = Modern Salafism<ref name="auto3">{{cite book|author1=Oxford University Press|title=Islam in Yemen: Oxford Bibliographies Online Research Guide|date=1 May 2010|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780199804351|page=6}}</ref><br />Al-Sayyid Muhammad Rashid Rida<br />Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani<br />Abd al-Aziz ibn Baz<br />Siddiq Hasan Khan | module = {{Infobox Arabic name|embed=yes | ism = Muḥammad | ism-ar = محمد | nasab = ibn ʻAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn ʻAbd Allah | nasab-ar = بن علي بن محمد بن عبدالله | kunya = Abu ʻAlī | kunya-ar = أبو علي | nisba = Al-Shawkānī | nisba-ar = الشوكاني }} | post = Chief ''Qadi'' of Yemen (1795–1834) }} '''Muḥammad ibn Ali ibn Muḥammad ibn Abd Allah''', better known as '''al-Shawkani''' ({{Langx|ar|الشوكاني}}) (11 July 1759–30 October 1834) was a prominent Yemeni Sunni Islamic scholar, jurist, theologian and reformer.<ref name="auto">{{Cite book |title=The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-691-13484-0 |editor-last=Bowering |editor-first=Gerhard |location=Princeton, NJ |pages=606 |quote="a number of influential thinkers abandoned Zaydism for Sunnism. The best known of these are Muhammad b. Isma‘il al-San‘ani (d. 1769), Muhammad b. ‘Ali al-Shawkani (d. 1834), and more recently Muqbil al-Wadi‘i (d. 2001)."}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Moreau, Schaar |first=Odile, Stuart |title=Subversives and Mavericks in the Muslim Mediterranean: A Subaltern History |publisher=University of Texas Press |year=2016 |isbn=978-1477319956 |location=United States of America |pages=139}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Saint-Prot |first=Charles |title=Happy Arabia: From Antiquity to Ali Abdullah Salih, the Yemeni Unifier |publisher=University of Michigan |year=1999 |isbn=9781107136335 |location=USA |pages=31}}</ref><ref name="auto1">{{Cite book |last=Ala Hamoudi, Cammack |first=Haider, Mark |title=Islamic Law in Modern Courts |publisher=Aspen Publishing |year=2018 |isbn=9781454830399 |location=USA |pages=576}}</ref> Al-Shawkani was one of the most influential proponents of Athari theology and is respected as one of their canonical scholars by Salafi Muslims. His teachings played a major role in the emergence of the Salafi movement.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Thurston |first=Alexander |title=Salafism in Nigeria Islam, Preaching, and Politics |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-107-15743-9 |location=University Printing House, Cambridge CB2 8BS, United Kingdom |pages=47–48}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Azoulay |first=Rivki |title=Kuwait and Al-Sabah: Tribal Politics and Power in an Oil State |publisher=I.B. Tauris |year=2020 |isbn=9781838605070 |location=London, UK |pages=224}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Pall |first=Zoltan |title=Lebanese Salafis between the Gulf and Europe |publisher=Amsterdam University Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-90-8964-451-0 |location=Amsterdam |pages=18}}</ref> Influenced by the teachings of the medieval Hanbali scholar Ibn Taymiyya, al-Shawkani became noteworthy for his staunch stances against the practice of ''Taqlid'' (imitation to legal schools), calls for direct interpretation of Scriptures, opposition to ''Kalam'' (speculative theology) as well as for his robust opposition to various Sufi practices which he condemned as ''Shirk'' (idolatry).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Moussa |first=Mohammed |title=Politics of the Islamic Tradition: The Thought of Muhammad al-Ghazali |publisher=Routledge |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-138-84121-5 |location=New York, USA |pages=56–59 |chapter=3: Renewal in the Formation of the Islamic Tradition}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Leaman |first=Oliver |title=Routledge Handbook of Islamic Ritual and Practice |publisher=Routledge |year=2022 |isbn=978-0-367-49123-9 |location=New York, NY |pages=128}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Vassiliev |first=Alexei |title=The History of Saudi Arabia |publisher=Saqi Books |year=1998 |isbn=0-86356-399-6 |location=London, UK |pages=146}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Carr, Mahalingam |first=Brian, Indira |title=Companion Encyclopedia of Asian Philosophy |publisher=Routledge |year=1997 |isbn=0-203-01350-6 |location=London, UK |pages=931}}</ref>

==Name== His full name was Muhammad Ibn Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Abdullah al-Shawkani.<ref name="scholarofthehouse">{{Cite web|url=http://scholarofthehouse.stores.yahoo.net/dinistrandna.html|title=''Dogs in the Islamic Tradition and Nature'' (Article Included)|website=Scholar of the House}}</ref> The surname "ash-Shawkani" is derived from Hijrah ash-Shawkan, which is a town outside Sanaa.<ref>''Al-Badr at-Taali' bi Mahaasin man Ba'd al-Qarn as-Sabi' '', Vol. 2 p. 214.</ref>

==Biography== Born into a Zaydi Shi'a Muslim family, ash-Shawkani later on converted to Sunni Islam.<ref name="auto"/><ref>{{Cite book |last=Moreau, Schaar |first=Odile, Stuart |title=Subversives and Mavericks in the Muslim Mediterranean: A Subaltern History |publisher=University of Texas Press |year=2016 |isbn=978-1477319956 |location=United States of America |pages=139 |quote="Al-Shawkani... converted to Sunni Islam."}}</ref><ref name="auto1"/> He called for a return to the textual sources of the Quran and Hadith. As a result, ash-Shawkani opposed much of the Zaydi doctrines and engaged in vigorous Sunnification campaigns across Yemen during his tenure as Chief ''Qadi''.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Farhad Daftary|title=A History of Shi'i Islam|date=2 Dec 2013|publisher=I.B.Tauris|isbn=9780857735249|edition=revised|quote=In his view, Zaydi theological and legal teachings had no basis in revelation but reflected the unsubstantiated opinions of the Zaydi imams and therefore had to be rejected.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Hanssen, Weiss |first=Jens, Max |title=Arabic Thought Beyond the Liberal Age: Towards an Intellectual History of the Nahda |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2016 |isbn=9781107136335 |location=United Kingdom |pages=95}}</ref> He also opposed Sufism and mystical practices of Sufi orders, considering them to be an affront to ''Tawhid'' (monotheism).<ref>{{cite book|author1=Farhad Daftary|title=A History of Shi'i Islam|date=2 Dec 2013|publisher=I.B.Tauris|isbn=9780857735249|edition=revised|quote=Al-Shawkani also manifested the general Zaydi, as well as traditionist Sunni, aversion towards Sufism.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Knysh |first=Alexander |title=Islam in Historical Perspective |publisher=Routledge |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-138-19369-7 |edition=2nd |location=711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 |pages=238}}</ref> Ash-Shawkani is considered as a mujtahid, or authority to whom others in the Muslim community have to defer in details of religious law. Of his work issuing ''fatwas'' (judicial verdicts), ash-Shawkani stated "I acquired knowledge without a price and I wanted to give it thus."<ref>Messick, Brinkly ''The Calligraphic State: Textual Domination and History in a Muslim Society'', Berkeley 1993, p. 145.</ref> Part of the fatwa-issuing work of many noted scholars typically is devoted to the giving of ordinary opinions to private questioners. Ash-Shawkani refers both to his major ''fatwas'', which were collected and preserved as a book, and to his "shorter" ''fatwas'', which he said "could never be counted" and which were not recorded.<ref>Messick, Brinkly ''The Calligraphic State: Textual Domination and History in a Muslim Society'', Berkeley 1993, p. 150.</ref> Ash-Shawkani was known to be influenced by the thought of Dawud al-Zahiri school of jurisprudence and also practicing the jurisprudential independent thinking or ijtihad.<ref name="Zahiri Madhhab; Shawkani" />

He is credited with developing a series of syllabi for attaining various ranks of scholarship and used a strict system of legal analysis based on Sunni thought. He insisted that the ulama were required to ask for textual evidence, that the gate of ijtihad was not closed and that the mujtahid was to do ijtihad independent of any madhhab, a view which stemmed from his opposition to ''taqlid'' for a mujtahid, which he deemed to be a vice with which the ''Shariah'' had been inflicted.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Hallaq|first=Wael B.|title=Was the Gate of Ijtihad Closed?|journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies|volume=16|issue=1|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1984|pages=32–33|doi=10.1017/S0020743800027598|jstor=162939|s2cid=159897995 }}</ref> Al-Shawkani asserted that the decline of the Muslim community was due to their distancing from the Scriptures, the principle sources of religion. Hence he condemned the principle of ''taqlid'' and proposed ''ijtihad'' (independent legal reasoning) as the solution of the problems faced by Muslims.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=2013|isbn=978-0-691-13484-0|editor-last=Bowering|editor-first=Gerhard|location=Princeton, NJ|pages=506}}</ref> Shawkani equated unyielding imitation to the ''madhhabs'' as a type of shirk (polytheism) and accused scholars promoting such methodology of apostasy.<ref>{{Cite book |last=L. Esposito, O. Voll |first=John, John |title=Makers of Contemporary Islam |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2001 |isbn=0-19-514128-8 |location=New York, New York |pages=15 |chapter=1: Introduction: Muslim Activist Intellectuals and Their Place in History}}</ref>

Al-Shawkani wrote the book ''Nayl al-Autar'', a major reference in Islamic law. He also wrote several treatises condemning various popular mystical practices which he viewed to be ''shirk'' (polytheism). He praised the contemporary Arabian Islamic reformer Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab (1703–1792) who had advocated for similar views and refuted his Yemeni theological opponents in correspondence. Upon hearing the death of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, al-Shawkani wrote a poem praising his efforts to eradicate shirk, defend ''Tawhid'' and his call to Quran and Hadith.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Abualrab |first=Jalal |title=Biography and Mission of Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab |publisher=Madinah Publishers and Distributors |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-9856326-9-4 |location=New York, NY |page=497}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=ul Haq |first=Asim |date=August 2011 |title=Imam al-Shawkani (d. 1250H) on the Writings, Da'wah and Adversaries of Shaykh Muhammad Bin Abd Al-Wahhab |url=http://www.wahhabis.com/articles/ytouz-imam-al-shawkani-d-1250h-on-the-writings-dawah-and-adversaries-of-shaykh-muhammad-bin-abd-al-wahhaab.cfm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140724110456/http://www.wahhabis.com/articles/ytouz-imam-al-shawkani-d-1250h-on-the-writings-dawah-and-adversaries-of-shaykh-muhammad-bin-abd-al-wahhaab.cfm |archive-date=24 July 2014 |website='Wahhabis'.com}}</ref> Reviving the classical theologian Taqi al-Din ibn Taymiyya's (1263 - 1328 CE/ 661 - 728 AH) doctrines on ''Tawḥīd'' and shirk, al-Shawkānī equated the adherents of Sufi orders to the pagan Arabs of Quraysh.<ref>{{Cite book|last=M. Bunzel|first=Cole|title=Manifest Enmity: The Origins, Development, and Persistence of Classical Wahhabism (1153-1351/1741-1932)|publisher=Princeton University|year=2018|location=Princeton, New Jersey, USA|page=223|quote="Ibn al-Amīr and al-Shawkānī took issue with the cult of saints on the same grounds on the same grounds as Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb: they both adopted Ibn Taymiyya’s ideas concerning tawḥīd and shirk and compared the participants in the cult of saints (al-qubūriyyūn) to the pagan Arabs of Quraysh, arguing that the latter were in reality monotheists."}}</ref>

The Imam of Yemen Mansur Ali appointed al-Shawkani as the Chief ''Qadi'' of Yemen in 1795, an office he held until his death.<ref name="auto4">{{Cite journal|last=Peters|first=Rudolph|date=September 1980|title=Ijtihad and Taqlid in 18th and 19th century Islam|url=https://pure.uva.nl/ws/files/1486104/94781_Ijtihad_and_taqlid.pdf|journal=Die Welt des Islams|publisher=University of Amsterdam|volume=XX, 3-4|pages=134|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190217064715/https://pure.uva.nl/ws/files/1486104/94781_Ijtihad_and_taqlid.pdf|archive-date=17 February 2019}}</ref> He made a powerful critique of Zaydism, arguing that many Zaydi theological and legal doctrines have no basis in Scriptures. Meanwhile, Zaydis believed that their Imams of ''Ahl al-Bayt'' (Prophetic family) had stronger authority than the Sunni Hadith collections; which was the heavy focus of al-Shawkani's approach.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-691-13484-0 |editor-last=Bowering |editor-first=Gerhard |location=Princeton, NJ |pages=507 |quote="Zaydis continue to insist that their imams, as members of the Prophet’s family, are more authoritative sources for religious teachings than the Sunni canonical hadith collections on which Shawkani’s interpretive methodology is so heavily focused."}}</ref> Zaydi doctrines also stipulated that unjust rulers be removed and replaced by a just ''Imam'', through force, if necessary. In contrast, al-Shawkani supported the Quietist Sunni doctrine that necessitated obedience to rulers, even the unjust who lacked qualifications. Hence, the ruling Qasimid dynasty of Yemen supported scholars like al-Shawkani who legitimized their dynastic rule.<ref name="auto2">{{Cite book|title=The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=2013|isbn=978-0-691-13484-0|editor-last=Bowering|editor-first=Gerhard|location=Princeton, NJ|pages=507}}</ref>

As chief judge from 1795 until 1834, al-Shawkani implemented his reformist project with state-backing and placed many of his students in positions of influence, who subsequently carried on his legacy into the 21st century. During the 1796 and 1802 street clashes between Sunni traditionists and Zaydi Shi'is, al-Shawkani was able to convince the Qasimid rulers to side with the Sunnis. He also campaigned for the 1825 execution of the Zaydi scholar Ibn Hariwa who criticised al-Shawkani's Sunnification efforts and state policies. Due to the official patronage of al-Shawkani and other Sunni scholars, Zaydi clerics were unable to stop the spread of Hadith-centric approach of al-Shawkani and his students; who upheld the authority of Sunni ''Hadith'' over the opinions of Zaydi Imams. Hence, the Zaydis viewed al-Shawkani as seeking to undermine Zaydism by creating a sect modelled on the ''Ahl al-Hadith'' school.<ref name="auto2"/><ref>{{Cite book|last=Afzal Upal, M. Cusack|first=Muhammad, Carole|title=Handbook of Islamic Sects and Movements|publisher=Brill|year=2021|isbn=978-90-04-42525-5|location=Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands|pages=220}}</ref>

Acting as al-Mansur's secretary, Shawkani would often correspond with the leaders of the Emirate of Diriyah between 1807 and 1813.<ref name="auto4"/> Defending the Saudi rulers, ash-Shawkani refuted the allegations that they were from the Khawarij since they followed Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab who learned Hadith from the scholars of Medina and they campaigned against superstitious beliefs prevalent in Najd acting upon the views of the Hanbali scholars Ibn Taymiyyah and Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya.<ref>{{Cite web|last=ul Haq|first=Asim|date=16 September 2020|title=Al Shawkani refuted the notion that followers of Shaykh Muhammad bin Abdil Wahaab are Khawarij|url=http://www.systemoflife.com/al-shawkani-refuted-the-notion-that-followers-of-shaykh-muhammad-bin-abdil-wahaab-are-khawarij/ |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210310210627/http://www.systemoflife.com/al-shawkani-refuted-the-notion-that-followers-of-shaykh-muhammad-bin-abdil-wahaab-are-khawarij/ |archive-date=10 March 2021|website=System of Life}}</ref> The reform efforts of ash-Shawkani throughout the 39 years of his tenure as Chief Judge would fundamentally transform the religious landscape of Yemen. By his death in 1834, the Qasimid rulers had fully turned from Hadawi principles to embrace Sunni-style traditionism.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Afzal Upal, M. Cusack|first=Muhammad, Carole|title=Handbook of Islamic Sects and Movements|publisher=Brill|year=2021|isbn=978-90-04-42525-5|location=Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands|pages=220|quote="In 1795, al-Manṣūr ʿAlī (r. 1775–1809) appointed al-Shawkānī to the post of chief judge. He would hold this position for the next thirty-nine years, serving three Qāsimī Imāms and, in the process, fundamentally altering the religious landscape of Yemen... When al-Shawkānī died in 1834, the Qāsimī Imāms had fully embraced Sunnī traditionism... The result was a split among Zaydī scholars in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries between those with a classical understanding of Zaydism (the Hādawī position) and those with a commitment to a traditionism that resembled Sunnism (the al-Shawkānī position)."}}</ref>

==Legacy== Muhammad ash-Shawkani is widely regarded as one of the most prolific Hadith scholars of his time; whose ideas influenced later Salafi movements. He played a major role in the revival of the works of medieval theologian Ibn Taymiyya.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Beránek, Ťupek |first=Ondřej, Pavel |title=The Temptation of Graves in Salafi Islam: Iconoclasm, Destruction and Idolatry |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |year=2018 |isbn=978-1-4744-1757-0 |location=The Tun, Holyrood Road, 12 (2f) Jackson's Entry, Edinburgh EH8 8PJ |pages=12, 77, 223 |quote="Al-Shawkani was an outstanding scholar of hadith of his time, who made a lasting impression on later Salafi thought in Yemen, India, Iraq and Syria" ... "Among the most influential of these scholars who shaped later Salafism was the Yemeni scholar Muhammad al-Shawkani."}}</ref> He was one of the most prominent figures in the late lineage of hadith-oriented Sunni scholars that emerged in Yemen with Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Wazir (d. 1436 A.C).<ref name="auto2"/> Salafis in Sa'ada, would later claim ash-Shawkani as an intellectual precursor. Future Yemeni regimes would uphold his Sunnization policies as a unifier of the country,<ref>{{cite book|author1=Barak A. Salmoni|author2=Bryce Loidolt|author3=Madeleine Wells|title=Regime and Periphery in Northern Yemen: The Huthi Phenomenon|date=28 Apr 2010|publisher=Rand Corporation|isbn=9780833049742|page=72}}</ref> invoking his teachings to undermine Zaydi Shi'ism under the broad label of "Islamic reform".<ref>{{cite book|author1=Farhad Daftary|title=A History of Shi'i Islam|date=2 Dec 2013|publisher=I.B.Tauris|isbn=9780857735249|edition=revised|quote=Since 1962, republicans in Yaman have continuously used al-Shawkani's teachings and works to undermine the past doctrines of the Zaydi imamate and Zaydi Shi'ism itself. The modern Yamani state has indeed pursued an anti-Zaydi policy in the guise of Islamic reform, drawing extensively on al-Shawkani's teachings.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=2013|isbn=978-0-691-13484-0|editor-last=Bowering|editor-first=Gerhard|location=Princeton, NJ|pages=507|quote="The modern Yemeni state has indeed pursued an anti-Zaydi policy and justifies this under the broad label of Islamic reform and by invoking Shawkani's teachings."}}</ref> Ash-Shawkani is popularly deemed as a ''Mujaddid'' of his era by adherents of the Wahhabi and various Salafi movements.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Esposito |first=John L. |title=The Oxford Dictionary of Islam |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2003 |isbn=0-19-512558-4 |location=New York |pages=290 |quote="Shawkani, Muhammad al- (d. 1834) ...he is regarded as a great revivalist of Sunni Islam in his time by various Salafi and Wahhabi movements..."}}</ref>

Beyond Yemen, his works are widely used in Sunni schools.<ref name="auto3"/> He also profoundly influenced the Ahl-i Hadith in the Indian subcontinent (such as Siddiq Hasan Khan) and Salafis across the globe.<ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=Böwering|editor1-first=Gerhard|editor2-last=Crone|editor2-first=Patricia|editor3-last=Mirza|editor3-first=Mahan|title=The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought|date=2013|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=9780691134840|page=507|edition=illustrated}}</ref> Much of the ''Ahl-i Hadith'' literature condemning grave-visits (''ziyarat'') and idolatry (''shirk'') was modelled on the literature of Yemeni scholarship, most notably al-Shawkani, who followed the works of Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn Qayyim. In recognition of his contributions, Siddiq Hasan Khan ranked al-Shawkani as amongst the "''Huffāz al-Islām''" (greatest guardians of Islam) alongside Ibn Taymiyya, Ibn Qayyim and Ibn al-'Amir al-San'ani.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Beránek, Ťupek |first=Ondřej, Pavel |title=The Temptation of Graves in Salafi Islam: Iconoclasm, Destruction and Idolatry |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |year=2018 |isbn=978-1-4744-1757-0 |location=The Tun, Holyrood Road, 12 (2f) Jackson's Entry, Edinburgh EH8 8PJ |pages=90–92 |chapter=2: Early Wahhabism and the Beginnings of Modern Salafism |quote=}}</ref> Apart from the ''Ahl-i Hadith'', the Wahhabis also often refer to al-Shawkani for legitimacy; citing his support for Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Beránek, Ťupek |first=Ondřej, Pavel |title=The Temptation of Graves in Salafi Islam: Iconoclasm, Destruction and Idolatry |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |year=2018 |isbn=978-1-4744-1757-0 |location=The Tun, Holyrood Road, 12 (2f) Jackson's Entry, Edinburgh EH8 8PJ |pages=77 |chapter=2: Early Wahhabism and the Beginnings of Modern Salafism |quote=}}</ref>

Ash-Shawkani had been a prominent representative of the traditionalist school that advocated Ibn Taymiyya's doctrines such as opposition to ''Falsafa'' (Islamic philosophy), ''Kalam'' (scholastic theology), ''Isrāʾīliyyāt'', etc. emphasising literalist interpretations of the ''Qur’an''.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Shah, Muhammad |first1=Mustafa, Muhammad |title=The Oxford Handbook of Qur'anic Studies |last2=Pink |first2=Johanna |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2020 |isbn=978-0-19-969864-6 |location=Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX2 6DP, United Kingdom |page=829 |chapter=55: Classical Qur'anic Hermeneutics |quote="A different strand of the scripturalist tradition, represented by al-Shawkānī (d. 1250/1834), shares Ibn Taymiyya’s mistrust of philosophy, scholastic theology, isrāʾīliyyāt, and ‘heretical’ opinions, but places more emphasis on the ‘literal meaning’ of the Qur’an."}}</ref> Alongside Shah Waliullah Dehlawi (1703-1762 A.C), Shawkani made significant contributions to the field of ''Tafsir'' (Qur'anic exegesis) during the era of revivalist trends of 18th and early 19th centuries. He completed his seminal ''Qur'anic'' commentary ''Fath al-Qadir'' in 1814, which demonstrated remarkable methodological similarities to ''Fawz al-Kabir'', the ''Tafsir'' work compiled a few decades earlier by Shah Waliullah. Ash-Shawkani's Qur'anic interpretations demonstrated a firm belief in Scriptural perfection; which upheld that literal meanings of the ''Qurʾān'' and the ''Sunnah'', are to be the sole authoritative sources of exegesis. ''Fath al-Qadir'' laid the groundwork for future reformist exegetical endeavours; such as Ṣiddīq Ḥasan Khān’s ''Fatḥ al-Bayān'', Syrian Salafi reformer Jamal al-Din al-Qasimi's ''Maḥāsin al-Taʾwīl'' and Muhammad Rashid Rida's ''Tafsir al-Manar''.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Schmidtke|first1=Sabine|title=The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Theology|last2=Pink|first2=Johanna|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2014|isbn=978-0-19-969670-3|location=New York, United States of America|pages=768–770|chapter=Striving for a New Exegesis of the Qurʾān}}</ref>

==Works== He has been described as "an erudite, prolific, and original writer who composed more than 150 books (many of which are multivolume works)",<ref>Ahmad S. Dallal, ''Islam without Europe: Traditions of Reform in Eighteenth-Century Islamic Thought'', UNC Press Books (2018), p. 11.</ref> some of his publications including: *''Nayl al-Awtar'' *''Fath al-Qadir'', a well known tafsir (exegesis) *''al-Badr at-Tali'' *''Tuhfatu al-Dhakirin'' – Sharh Uddatu Hisna al-Haseen: a superb one volume commentary on the collection "Uddatu Hisna al-Haseen", on ahadith of Adhkar, by Ibn Al-Jazari (d. 833H) *''Al-Fawaid al-Majmu'ah fil Ahadith al-Maudhuah'' a collection of fabricated hadith *''Irshad al-Fuhul'' – ''a book on Usul al-fiqh'' *''Ad-Durur al-Bahiyyah fil-Masaa'il il-Fiqhiyyah'' – a concise Fiqh manual *''Ad-Daraaree al-Mudhiyyah Sharh ad-Durur il-Bahiyyah'' – his detailed explanation of his Fiqh manual *''Adab at-Talab wa Muntaha al-Arab'' – advice on the etiquette and manners of one who is seeking Islamic knowledge *''Al-Qawl al-Mufeed fi Hukm at-Taqlid'' – an explanation of the ruling regarding blind following (Taqlid) of the opinions of Fiqh schools (Madhahib) and its harms. *''Al-Sayl al-Jarrar'' - includes the denunciation of a text written by the Zaydi Imam Al-Mahdi Ahmad bin Yahya.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Daftary |first=Farhad |title=A History of Shi'i Islam |date=2 Dec 2013 |publisher=I.B.Tauris |isbn=9780857735249 |edition=Revised |quote=In his book entitled ''al-Sayl al-Jarrar'', al-Shawkani denounced the ''Kitab al-Azhar fi Fiqh al-A'immat al-Athar'' of Imam al-Mahdi Ahmad b. Yahya al-Murtada (d. 830/1437), the legal corpus of opinions recognised by the Hadawi Zaydi school, which, according to him, represented opinions not rooted in the revelation.}}</ref>

==See also== {{Wikisourcelang|ar|مؤلف:الشوكاني|Shawkani}} *List of Islamic scholars

==References== * ''Revival and Reform in Islam: The Legacy of Muhammad al-Shawkani'' by Bernard Haykel {{Reflist}}

==Further reading== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20061005174309/http://www.al-bab.com/bys/books/haykel05.htm Book review: Revival and Reform in Islam: The Legacy of Muhammad al-Shawkani]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muhammad Ash-Shawkani}} Category:1759 births Category:1834 deaths Category:19th-century Yemeni people Category:Non-conformists Category:Yemeni Sunni Muslim scholars of Islam Category:Shaykh al-Islāms Category:Atharis Category:Mujaddid Category:Proto-Salafists Category:Quranic exegesis scholars Category:Converts to Sunni Islam from Shia Islam Category:Biographical evaluation scholars Category:Hadith scholars