Abu al-Ma'ali al-Juwayni

Abu al-Maali Abd al-Malik ibn Abdullah al-Juwayni (419-478 AH / 1028-1085 CE), known as Imam al-Haramayn (Imam of the Two Holy Cities), was one of the most important Ash'ari theologians and Shafii jurists of the medieval period. Born in Juwayn in Khorasan, he studied under his father (a prominent Shafii scholar) and other leading authorities. When the Seljuk vizier al-Kunduri persecuted Ash'ari scholars, al-Juwayni fled to Mecca and Medina, where he taught for several years, earning his famous honorific.

Al-Juwayni's most important theological work is al-Irshad ila Qawati al-Adillah fi Usul al-Itiqad (The Guidance to Decisive Proofs in the Foundations of Belief), a systematic exposition of Ash'ari theology that refined and advanced the positions of al-Baqillani. In jurisprudence, he authored al-Burhan fi Usul al-Fiqh (The Proof in Legal Theory), one of the most sophisticated works on the principles of Islamic jurisprudence, and Nihayat al-Matlab fi Dirayat al-Madhhab (The End of Quest in Knowledge of the School), the most comprehensive single work of Shafii fiqh ever written.

After the fall of al-Kunduri, al-Juwayni returned to Nishapur, where the new Seljuk vizier Nizam al-Mulk appointed him to lead the Nizamiyyah college. There he taught a generation of scholars, the most famous being Abu Hamid al-Ghazali. He died in Nishapur in 478 AH (1085 CE). His contributions to both theology and legal theory represent a high point in the synthesis of Ash'ari kalam with Shafii jurisprudence.