Imām Ḥāfiḍh Jamāl al-Dīn Abū al-Muḍhaffar al-Surramarriyy (d. 776H)
He is “Jamāl al-Dīn” Abū al-Muḍhaffar Yūsuf bin Muḥammad bin Masʿūd bin Muḥammad bin ʿAlī bin Ibrāhīm bin al-ʿUbādī al-Surramarriyy[1], which is a shortened form of “Surra Min Ra’ī” a place formerly known as Sāmīrā (from Sāmīr bin Nūḥ). It was taken as a capital by the ʿAbbāsid Caliph, al-Muʿtaṣim in 221H, and he gave it that name, “Surra Min Ra’ī”. It was then shortened by people to Sāmarrā. It is around 125 kilometres north of Baghdād in Iraq.
He was born in 696H in Surra Min Ra’ī, into a family of scholarship, and spent his life moving between his place of birth, Baghdad and Damascus. In 729H, while in his thirties, he moved to Baghdad and finally moved to Damascus in 746H.
From his numerous shaykhs are Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah (d. 728H) and Shaykh al-Islām Ibn al-Qayyim (d. 751H), of whom he makes mention in his works.
He was skilled in a broad array of sciences and spent his life in authorships in various fields of knowledge. He also wrote defences of the Salafī ʿaqīdah, as well as a defence of Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah against the attacks of Taqī al-Dīn al-Subkī, the Ashʿarī Ṣūfī, who had criticised Shaykh al-Islām for writing a refutation (Minhāj al-Sunnah) against Ibn Muṭahhar al-Ḥillī, the Rāfiḍī, claiming that people are not in need of such a refutation.
Al-Subkī said (in poetry): “And the people can dispense with refutation of their slander, due to the vileness of Rafḍ and repugnance of its doctrine.” Al-Surramarriyy responded with what includes: “By Allāh, refutation of their slander is indispensable. Rather, refutation of it is obligatory, a greater duty. Are they to be left reviling the Companions, while Islām stands proudly in the face of its stubbornness (i.e. of Rafḍ). This is a vile saying, no one has spoken with it, not even the band of Jahm with [all] their factionalism...”
This defence in the form of poetry was called: “Al-Ḥimyah al-Islāmiyyah Fī Intiṣār Li Madhhab Ibn Taymiyyah” (The Islāmic Defence in Aid of the Way of Ibn Taymiyyah).
He also has a compilation of the ʿaqīdah of Ahl al-Sunnah in poetry which is titled, “Nahj al-Rashād Fī Naḍhm al-Iʿtiqād” (The Guided Methodology in Composition of Belief) (pictured), and in which he spoke about Allāh’s Names and Attributes, the Qurʾān, the Divine Decree, belief in the Last Day, the Companions and the rulers of the Muslims among other things. This has been published.
He also had medical knowledge and wrote on the subject of medicine with the titles, “Shifā al-Ālām fī Ṭibb Ahl al-Islām” (The Curing of Ailments in the Medicine of Islām) and “Al-ʿIlm al-Ṭibbiyy ʿan al-Nabiyy al-ʿArabiyy” (Medical Knowledge from the Arabic Prophet). In “Shifāʾ al-Ālām” he spoke of how medicine had been dominated by the people of disbelief, turned into a medical monopoly and the enterprise of criminals of various religions. He also combined worldy medical knowledge with the Prophetic medicine.
It is interesting to note details about the era in which he lived, with the following affairs taking place:
01 Lots of internal conflicts among the Mamlūk rulers which led to social unrest, and announcement of the death of one of the rulers would lead to great fear and the closing of shops and markets, making towns appear deserted.
02 There was much deception, monopoly and hoarding of goods, and fraud in weights and measures. Prices for goods and commodities were very high and there was widespread poverty and misery. So the scholars wrote works in order to address these issues, for limiting prices and holding the fraudsters to account.
03 There were famines and epidemics that took place which were caused by overflowing of rivers such as the Nile and the most severe of which took place in 694H-695H. Due to destruction of food sources and supplies people had to eat donkeys, horses and even dogs, until nothing of them were left. Likewise there was an epidemic in 749H in which between ten to twenty thousand people died daily.
04 There was also severe sectarian enmity and disputation. Many of the Tartars were inclined to the creed of the Rāfiḍah and in 707H, one of them called Khudābanda, proclaimed the slogan of Shīʿism, and erased the mention of the two Shaykhs Abū Bakr and ʿUmar (رضي الله عنهما) from the sermons, and instead inscribed the names of the twelve imāms. In response, the Mamlūk rulers promoted the Sunnī madhhab, whilst waging war against the Bāṭinī Ismāʿīlī Shīʿite beliefs that were spread by the ʿUbaydiyyah. At the same time, the doctrine of Waḥdat al-Wujūd (Unity of Existence) was spread, about which Ibn Taymiyyah said, “Had not the adherents of this saying increased, come out openly and become spread, there would have been no need for us to explain the corruption of these sayings and make clear this misguidance.”[2]
05 There was also much sin and disobedience that was widespread. From them, the spread of prostitution, bribery, intoxicants, drugs like ḥasīsh. Likewise, singing and musical instruments. Likewise, deceptive maneuvres (in justifying the unlawful) were out in the open. Al-Surramarriyy alluded to these affairs by mentioning the ḥadīth of Ibn ʿUmar about the five things that appear in a people, among which are open lewdness, cheating in weights and measures, and he commented on it saying: “And the punishments for these affairs have appeared – as you can see – and to Allāh we belong and to Him shall we return.”[3] However, due to the efforts of the scholars who enjoined the good and forbade the evil, this affair was turned around.
06 The Tartars, during their conquests of Islāmic lands, had placed many of the Jews and Christians in power over the Muslims, especially in Shām. Muslims were made to show respect for their religious symbols, having to stand out of respect for them. And whoever refrained was subjected to humiliation and abuse. Jews and Christians lived comfortably in this period having acquired prominent administrative positions. Among them were the major traders, money-exchangers, physicians and pharmacists, and they wore the most luxurious of garments. These were the people behind the medical monopoly and criminal enterprise which al-Surramarriyy spoke of in his book on medicine at the time, and they have their counterparts today.
As for what has been said in his biographical accounts by the historians:
01 Al-Ḥāfiḍh Ibn Nāṣir al-Dīn said:[4]
The Shaykh, Imām, ʿAllāmah, Ḥāfiḍh, blessed, example (model). Possessor of exquisite arts, and beneficial authorships, ‘Jamāl al-Dīn’, the chief-support for the scholarly investigators… He was an Imām, trustworthy (thiqah), a pillar (relied upon by others), abstemious, a worshipper, proficient in his efforts. He authored in many [disciplines] both prose and composition, and he source-referenced [and graded ḥadīths], and brought benefit [through that], and he also dictated both transmission [of reports] and knowledge. He was also a pillar (relied upon by others} in criticism of the narrators of ḥadīth and precision [in their wordings].
02 Imām Taqī al-Dīn al-Maqrīzī said:[5]
He was an Imām, an ʿĀlim, trustworthy, a pillar (relied upon by others), abstemious, a worshipper, he has [writings of] prose and composition, and knowledge of the narrators of ḥadīth and precision [in its wordings] and of Arabic and inheritance [laws].
03 Al-Ḥāfiḍh Ibn Ḥajar said:[6]
He was skilled in the Arabic language, and the [laws] of inheritance, he authored (poetic compositions) in numerous disciplines…
He (رحمه الله) died in 776H and was buried in the graveyard by the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, near to Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah (رحمه الله).
Footnotes
1. Details of the biography are taken from “Manhaj al-Imām Jamāl al-Dīn al-Surramarriyy Fī Taqrīr al-ʿAqīdah” by Khālid Manṣur Muḥammad al-Muṭlaq (1436H, Riyāḍh).2. Majmūʿ Fatāwā (2/357).
3. In his book discussing the plague, “Kitāb al-Wabāʾ wal-Ṭāʿūn”.
4. Al-Radd al-Wāfir (p. 232).
5. Durar al-ʿUqūd al-Farīdah (3/558).
6. Al-Durar al-Kāminah (6/247).