Al-Qurtubi
Al-Qurtubi
Imam Abu Abdullah Muhammad bin Ahmad bin Abi Bakr Ansari Al-Qurtubi was a famous Interpreter of Quran, Hadith and Faqih scholar from Cordoba, Spain. He belongs to Maliki school of thought but not strict with it. He was most famous for his commentary of the Quran, Tafsir al-Qurtubi.
He was born in
Córdoba, Spain in the year 1214 AD. His
father was a farmer and was killed during an attack by Christian Spaniards on
16th July, 1230. During his youth, Kurtubi helped the family livelihood by
transporting soil used in pottery.
He spent initial
years of his education in Cordoba from Abu Jafar Ahmed bin Muhammed Al-Kaysi,
Rabi bin Abd-ul-Rahman bin Ahmad Al-Ashari, Abul Hasan Ali. He also benefited from scholars such as
Kutral al-Ansari
After Cordoba’s
capture in 1236 by King Ferdinand III of Castile, he left for Alexandria, where
he studied hadith and tafsir. He then moved to Cairo, and settled in Munya Abil-Khusavb,
where he spent the rest of his life. Known for his modesty and humble
lifestyle, he was buried in Munya Abi'l-Khusavb, Egypt in 1273. His grave was
carried to a mosque where a mausoleum was built under his name in 1971, still
open for visiting today.
He was very skilled
in Quranic commentary, narrative, recitation and law; clearly evident in his
writings, and the depth of his scholarship has been recognized by many
scholars. In his works, Kurtubi defended the Ahl-e-Sunnat in his works, and
criticized other sections such as Mutazila, Imamiyya, Rafiziya, Karramiya and
reject their concepts and believes.
Though he is a
Maliki, but he opposed sectarian bigotry and stated that he did not adopt
imitation as a method. He was not against sufism and did not oppose the people
of Sufism who followed the Book and Sunnah but he clearly showed his negative
attitude towards the Sufis, whose views were based on ignorance and
superstition.
Meanwhile, he also criticized
the statesmen without hesitation, stated that the rulers of the time took
bribes and argued that they acted illegally, ruled in exchange for benefits,
and changed the religion of Allah
Imam Dhahabi
described Kurtubi with his works, who showed that he was very well educated in
fields such as tafsir, hadith, recitation, and fiqh, and other scholars used
similar expressions about him.
The famous hadith
scholar, Imam Dhahabi said about him, “he was an imam versed in numerous
branches of scholarship, an ocean of learning whose works testify to the wealth
of his knowledge, the width of his intelligence and his superior worth”.
He died on 29 April
1273 and buried at his town. His grave was transferred to his tomb in the
mosque built in his name in 1971 and is still open to visitors
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