Muhammad bin Ahmed bin Juzayy Al Gharnati, better known as Ibn Juzayy was an Andalusian Sunni Muslim scholar of Arab origin. He was a distinguished Maliki jurist, legal theoretician, Quran commentator, Quran reciter, hadith scholar, historian, scholar in Arabic, poet, preacher, orator, and a literary figure. He achieved notoriety at a young age, known as a major scholar of his day. He is famed for authoring classical works and for achieving martyrdom during his jihad against the Spanish Christian crusade.

Lineage

Ibn Juzayy Al-Kalbi ancestry is originally from Yemen. He is a member of the Yemeni tribe called Kalb al-Quda'iyya, and his tribe Banu Kalb reached Andalusia in two ways: The first category was that of governors, which led Anbasa bin Suhaim al-Kalbi to enter in 103 AH as a governor. The second category was that of the conquerors, which Abu all-Khattam Hussam bin Dirar Al-Kalbi entered in 125 AH. All these kinds belonged to a tribe called the Kalb, although Ibn Juzayy al-Kalbi's forefathers were among the conquerors. His grandfather, Sultan Abu Bakr Abdul Rahman Ibn Juzayy, was given the position of president and exclusive management of Jaén in the year 539 AH.

Early life

Birth

He was born, on Thursday, the ninth of Rabi' al-Thani, in the year 693 AH corresponding to March 15, 1294 CE, in the city of Granada, the capital of Andalusia at that time.

Education

He came from an illustrious family renown for their knowledge and piety. His father Ahmad Ibn Juzayy (d. 710 AH approximately) was a scholar and a reciter. It was through his family's influence that led him to crave for knowledge. Ibn al-Khatib said: “He (may Allah have mercy upon him) was sincerely devoted to knowledge, studying, writing, and teaching, and he ventured into different areas of knowledge: Arabic language, Usool al-Fiqh, Quranic modes of recitation, Hadeeth, Arabic literature, and Tafseer. He memorized and comprehended the statements of the earlier scholars and studied many books and references.”

Teachers

His Famous Teachers are: He also narrated from:

Scholarly life

Career

After this stage, Ibn Juzayy devoted himself to teaching his students the Qur’an, the rules of its recitation, the readings with their narrations, and he taught them the Hadith, especially the six main Sunni Hadith collections (Kutub al-Sittah), including Muwatta Malik, the Arabic language, interpretation, legal theory and Maliki jurisprudence. He worked early on in writing and he mostly worked in issuing fatwas according to the Maliki school of thought. He was appointed as a preacher and led prayers in the Great Mosque in Granada, despite his young age; people commended his knowledge, righteousness and character.

Students

Many students graduated under him: And his three sons, they are:

Death

On Jumada al-Awwal 9th, 741 AH corresponding to October 30, 1340 AD, Ibn Juzayy was killed in the Battle of Tarifa at the young age of 46, which took place in southern Andalusia between the Muslim army, consisting of an alliance of the Marinid Sultanate and the Emirate of Granada, and the Christian army, consisting of an alliance of the Kingdom of Castile and the Kingdom of Portugal. Ibn Juzay was participating with the Muslim army and he was the forefront in vocalizing jihad urging them to fight and stimulating their enthusiasm, but when the battle ended with the defeat of the Muslim armies, Ibn Juzayy was killed and died as martyr.

Works

Ibn Juzayy was a multi-talented writer whose works demonstrate his depth of knowledge and virtue. He has written in a variety of fields, including the science of interpretation, recitation, Arabic, Hadith, history, fiqh, the principles of fiqh, the principles of religion, and a number of poems strewn throughout his works. Despite living a short life, his works have achieved prominence and still widely read till this day.

Family

He had three sons. His son Abu Abdullah Ibn Juzayy is mainly known as the writer to whom Ibn Battuta dictated an account of his travels. He wrote "The Travels of Ibn Battuta" (Riḥlat Ibn Baṭūṭah) in 1352-55.