He is Abū al-Ḥusayn Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. Aḥmad al-Baghdādī al-Qudūrī. Some have said he is from a town in Baghdad called Qudūrah, and therefore he is named al-Qudūrī. Others have said he is attributed the name al-Qudūrī due to his involvement in the trade of pots, the Arabic being qidr, pl. qudūr.
He was born in 362 AH. He was brought up in an environment of knowledge and Islam. His maternal grandfather, Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. ʿUmar b. al-Ḥasan b. ʿUbayd b. ʿAmr b. Khālid b. Rafīl, more commonly known as Ibn Maslamah, was a great ascetic.
Imām al-Qudūrī strove hard to study Islamic knowledge during his early years such that he surpassed his companions. It was due to this early struggle that he was a shining light from amongst the scholars of his time. ʿAllāmah Ibn Khaldūn mentions that Imām al-Qudūrī was the Shaykh of his time, in regards to Ḥanafī fiqh (jurisprudence). He was the leader of the madhhab and a scholar of the greatest rank.
Even though he was regarded highly when it came to Ḥanafī fiqh, he would not be biased for the madhhab (school of thought). Rather it is found in his works, that whenever he would find a ruling which opposed the madhhab (school of thought), and he felt it to be stronger, he would clarify this.
Imām al-Qudūrī studied the sacred sciences from a number of scholars. Notable amongst them are:
Abū Bakr Aḥmad b. ʿAlī b. Thābit al-Khaṭīb al-Ḥāfiẓ, more famously known for his work Tārīkh Baghdād (A History of Baghdad), also known as al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī, narrates ḥadīth from Imām al-Qudūrī, and is from amongst his many students. Qāḍī Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Dāmighānī is another notable student of Imām al-Qudūrī.
Some have mentioned that Imām al-Qudūrī is from the fourth generation with regards to the grading of fuqahāʾ1. Others have argued that Imām al-Qudūrī was from the fifth grade, known as the aṣḥāb al-tarjīḥ. The author of al-Hidāyah, ʿAllāmah al-Marghīnānī, came much later; however, some have said he was also from the same ṭabaqah as Imām al-Qudūrī.
Imām al-Qudūrī was known to be frequent in his recitation of Qurʾān. During his era, he was the foremost expert on Ḥanafī fiqh in Iraq. He was a narrator of ḥadīth and was reliable and trustworthy.
He died on Sunday 5th Rajab 428 AH in Baghdad. Some have said he died at the age of 64, whilst 66 has also been mentioned. He was initially buried in his own house, but then later buried next to the grave of the Ḥanafī jurist Abū Bakr al-Khwārizmī.
He authored:
Hidāyat al-ʿĀrifīn Asmāʾ al-Muʾallifīn wa Āthār al-Muṣannifīn, Ismāʿīl Bāshā al-Baghdādī. Muʾassasat al-Tārīkh al-ʿArabī.
Kashf al-Ẓunūn ʿan Asāmī al-Kutub wa al-Funūn, Ḥājī Khalīfah. Beirut, Lebanon: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī.
Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ, Vol. 17, page 574, Muḥammad b. Aḥmad b. ʿUthmān al-Dhahabī. Beirut, Lebanon: Muʾassasat al-Risālah.
ʿAllāmah al-Lakhnawī, ʿAllāmah al-Marjānī et al. have criticised the grading system of Ibn Kamāl Pāshā, due to most being placed below their capacity. See https://uloom.com/dibaj/article/140813501. ↩
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A bibliographical survey of the major classical works in al-jarḥ wa al-taʿdīl, from the earliest rijāl compilations to Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī.
A biographical sketch of Imām al-Bukhārī: his lineage, character, scholarly competence, teachers, students, madhhab, writings, and death.
The first ḥadīth mentioned in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī under the chapter of prostration during recital of the Qurʾān, narrated by ʿAbdullāh ibn Masʿūd.
