al-Amidi

Abu al-Hasan Sayf al-Din 'Ali ibn Abi 'Ali ibn Muhammad al-Amidi al-Hanbali (later Shafi'i) was one of the greatest scholars of Islamic jurisprudential theory (usul al-fiqh). His al-Ihkam fi Usul al-Ahkam (Verdicts on the Foundations of Legal Rulings) is considered the most technically rigorous and analytically sophisticated work in classical usul al-fiqh, engaging with legal theory at the level of systematic philosophy. He also wrote al-Mubin fi Sharh Alfaz al-Hukama' (on philosophical terminology). He was born in Amidah (modern Diyarbakir, Turkey) and died in Damascus in 631 AH.