Ibn Harith Al-Khushani and His Methodology In His Book ((Akhbar Al-Fuqahaa’ wal Muhaditheen))

Abstract

Ibn Harith Al-Khushani has authored many books which enriched the library especially in biography. His book ((Akhbar Al-Fuqahaa’ wal Muhaditheen)) which is one of the early books in biography in Andalucía has presented adequate information related to most of the jurists and scholars of Andalucía as well as other scholars in different fields. He has written down their names, lineages, nicknames, years of birth, countries, names of their Sheikhs, students, books, narrated materials, the sciences they studied, specializations, journeys, movements among cities and he mostly mentions their dates of death. No doubt that these books give us adequate information which is transmitted by the author who in turn transmitted it from his Sheikhs since he accompanied them and knew them well so he became more reliable than others in reporting their stories and following up their conditions and what they have produced to enrich the Islamic civilization.This study tries to show the scientific efforts that have been exerted by them during their studies and journeys. It can be said that Ibn Harith Al-Khushani in his book has dealt with the information related to the jurists and narrators who belong to Andalucía. He mentioned some important events in his era and transmitted some poems that have been quoted by the jurists and narrators. Writing the biography of jurists and scholars, he mentioned the books authored by each one of them, the posts they occupied, their relations with rulers and princes of his time and the stands on general issues of the nation. He also touched on the characteristics of each sheikh they wrote about.The study consists of three sections. Section one deals with the life of Ibn Harith Al-Khushani and his status. The second section talks about Ibn Harith Al-Khushani’s methodology in his book. Section three investigates Ibn Al-Khushani’s references in his book. This section has been divided into three subsections.

Keywords

Ibn, Harith, Al-Khushani