Ibn Abidin

Muhammad Amin ibn Umar ibn Abdul-Aziz ibn Abidin (1784-1836 CE / 1198-1252 AH) was the most authoritative Hanafi jurist of the modern era, born in Damascus to a family of scholars. He studied under the leading Hanafi scholars of Syria, particularly his teacher Shakir al-Aqqad, and became the foremost Hanafi authority in the Levant.

Ibn Abidin's magnum opus is Radd al-Muhtar ala ad-Durr al-Mukhtar (Guiding the Perplexed: A Super-Commentary on The Chosen Pearl), a comprehensive gloss on al-Haskafi's ad-Durr al-Mukhtar. This monumental work, commonly known as Hashiyat Ibn Abidin, became the single most authoritative reference in the Hanafi school and remains so to this day. It is the default reference for muftis and judges in Hanafi-majority countries for resolving legal questions. He also authored Nashr al-Arf fi Bina Ba'd al-Ahkam ala al-Urf on the role of custom in Islamic law, and al-Uqud ad-Durriyyah fi Tanqih al-Fatawa al-Hamidiyyah.

Ibn Abidin's work is distinguished by its extraordinary thoroughness, precision, and practical applicability. He mastered the entire corpus of Hanafi legal literature and synthesized it with remarkable clarity. His treatment of commercial transactions, endowments (awqaf), and personal status law had a direct influence on Ottoman legal codes and later civil legislation in the Muslim world. He passed away in Damascus at the age of fifty-two, but his Hashiyah remains the final word in Hanafi fiqh.