Qaffol ash-shoshiy faqih va

Scholars and historians’ confessions
about the Scientist
The scientist was a famous person in his time. His works has been in 
the spotlight. Historians of later times have also provided valuable 
information about his works.
“In the third and fourth centuries AH, the Shafi’i school of law 
competed with the Hanafi school of law in Central Asia”. (“Law in Islam”, 
p. 72. Collectors Majid Hadduri and Herbert J. Libesni. The group of 
authors includes 12 prominent lawyers, Islamic scholars and orientalists 
from the East and the West, including Muhammad Abu Zahra, Subhi 
Muhassamoni, Shukri Qardashi, Abul-A’lo Mordin, Joseph Shakht and etc. 
Tehran - New York, 1955.) The great representative of the Shafi’i school

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of law at that time was the great scholar from Tashkent Muhammad ibn Ali 
ibn Ismail al-Kaffal ash-Shashi.
According to Hayruddin Zarkali, he was one of the most famous 
scholars of his time in jurisprudence, hadith, dictionary and literature. His 
work on usul al-fikh was well known. He died in Tashkent and his grave is 
near the madrasa of Hastimam (Hazrati Imam).
The Arab scholar and bibliographer Ibn Khallikan (1211-1282) wrote 
about Kaffal ash-Shashi in his book “Vafayat al-Ayan” (“The Death of 
great men or News of the death of famous people and contemporaries”). 
He wrote: “Kaffal ash-Shashi was a linguist and a poet who knew the 
science of hadith. At that time, there was no scholar in Movarounnahr who 
could match with him. He traveled to Khorasan, Iraq, the Hijaz, Damascus 
(Syria) and other countries and became famous everywhere ... he had many 
works”14.
Kaffal ash-Shashi wrote works in such fields as law and logic. His 
poems are in Arabic, He wrote works, such as known “Odob al-qazi” or 
“Adab ul-qazi” (“ The etiquette of judges”), “Odob al-bahs” (“The etiquette 
of debate”). In this regard, the above-mentioned Arab scholar Ibn Khallikan 
writes: “It was Kaffal ash-Shashi who first jumped out of the lawyers and 
wrote “Husni Jadal” (“The Beauty of Dialectics”)”.
The Arab historian Abu Sa’d Abdulkarim ibn Muhammad Samani 
(1113-1167) gives the following information about the scholar in his book 
“Al-Ansab” (“Nasabnama” - “The Genealogy”): “Abu Bakr Muhammad 
ibn Ali ibn Ismail, who was given the ratio of al-Kaffal - the profession of 
locksmith, al-Kaffal ash-Shashi was from the family of Shash and was 
famous for his locksmithing. He was the imam of his time and a unique 
scholar in jurisprudence, hadith, usul al-fikh and linguistics. The name of 
Kaffal ash-Shashi is spread to the West and the East”.
Sheikh Abu Is’haq al-Sherazi writes, “There are so many works of 
Imam Abu Bakr al-Kaffal ash-Shashi that no one has yet classified them. 
He was the first jurist to write “al-Jadal al-Hasan” (“The Good debate”). 
He is also known in the Islamic world for his books, such as “The Book of
14 “M a’naviyat yulduzlari”. O‘zR FA akademigi M.M.Xayrullayev mas’ul muharrirligida. - Toshkent, A.Qodiriy 
nomidagi xalq merosi nashriyoti, 2001. - 85-bet.

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fikh methods”, “The Commentary to the “Risala”, “The Evidences of 
prophecy” and “The Beauty of the sharia”.
Sheikh Muhyiddin al-Navawi (1233-1277) states that if historical 
sources is mentioned Kaffal Shashi, it means that the great Imam Abu Bakr 
Kaffal Shashi is mentioned, and if Kaffal Marvazi is mentioned, then it is 
about the “Younger Kaffal” who lived later. The name Shashi (“Elder 
Kaffal”) is mentioned repeatedly in the sciences of tafsir, hadith, usul al- 
fikh, kalam. However, the name Marvazi (“Younger Kaffal”) is found only 
in works related to fikh (“ Tahzib ul-Asma”, vol. 2, p. 556).
Shamsiddin Muhammad al-Zhahabi said about the scholar: “The 
scholar who traveled the most of the time in Movarounnahr with the 
knowledge of usul al-fikh and the demand for hadith was Kaffal Shashi ... 
He was the imam of his time in Movarounnahr and the author of several 
books.
Kaffal ash-Shashi was also a good poet and wrote his poems in 
Arabic. However, his poetry has not survived to the present day, only 
fragments of his poems have survived in as-Subhi’s book, “Tabaqat al- 
Shafiyya” (“Levels of the Shafi’i mazhab”). These poems contain the 
following lines:
“Everyone who comes to my house, my table is always reserved for 
him. Whoever eats anything from my table, (let him know) that all the 
delicacies in it are found with the skin of my forehead, (that is, be honest).
W e’ll put everything i n front of the guest. If we can’t find anything 
to put, then we put vinegar with vegetables. Then, if there is a person who 
is open-minded, he will agree to it; If he is stingy, then I can’t fix it”.
Based on the above historical data that have come down to us, it can 
be said that the scientist was very productive and seriously engaged in 
creative work, as a result of which he wrote many works. Unfortunately, 
many of them have not survived to our time. Currently, there are