View source for Al-Qurtubi

{{Short description|Andalusian jurist and Islamic scholar (1214–1273)}}
{{lower case}}
{{for|the surname|al-Qurtubi (surname)}}
{{Infobox religious biography
|era = [[Islamic golden age]]
|image = 
|caption = 
|name = '''Abu 'Abdullah al-Qurtubi'''
|birth_date = 1214<br />[[Córdoba, Spain|Qurtuba]], [[Taifa of Córdoba|Emirate of Taifa]], [[Al-Andalus|Andalus]]
|death_date = 29 April 1273<br />[[Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo)|Egypt]]
|region = [[Al-Andalus|Andalus]] 
|religion = [[Islam]]
|denomination = [[Sunni]] 
|jurisprudence = [[Maliki]]<ref name="Brill">{{EI2|volume=5|page=512|title=al-Ḳurṭubī}}</ref>
|creed = [[Ash'ari]]<ref>{{cite book|author=[[Namira Nahouza]]|title=Wahhabism and the Rise of the New Salafists: Theology, Power and Sunni Islam|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=myaODwAAQBAJ&pg=PT154|date=2018|publisher=[[I.B. Tauris]]|isbn=9781838609825|page=154|quote=The master of Qur'anic exegetes, Imam Qurtubi (d.671/1273; [[Rahimahullah]]), author of '[[Tafsir al-Qurtubi|al-Jami' li Ahkam al-Qur'an]]', was [[Ash'ari]].}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Bennett|first1=Clinton|authorlink=Clinton Bennett|title=The Bloomsbury Companion to Islamic Studies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZsWFBwAAQBAJ|publisher=[[Bloomsbury Academic]]|date=15 January 2015|isbn=9781472586902|page=128|quote=There are many followers of the Ash'ariyyah among the great Muslim scholars, such as al-Qurtubi, Ibn Kathir, al-Sauiti, al-Mazari, Ibn Hajer al Askalani, and al Nawawi}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Aaminah-Kulsum Patel|title=The Ascent of Adam: Re-Evaluating the First Prophet in Quranic Exegesis|url=https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/en/studentTheses/the-ascent-of-adam|publisher=[[King's College London]]|date=1 July 2022|isbn=|page=33|quote=Al-Qurṭubī and al-Bayḍāwī are contemporaries... who belong the same theological school, the Ashʿarite school.}}</ref> 
|ethnicity = 
| main_interests = [[Tafsir]], [[fiqh]] and [[hadith]]
}}

'''Abū ʿAbdullāh Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Abī Bakr al-Anṣārī al-Qurṭubī''' ({{langx|ar|أبو عبدالله القرطبي}}) (1214{{Spaced en dash}}29 April 1273)<ref>{{cite book |last1=Nasr|first1=Seyyed Hossein |author1-link=Seyyed Hossein Nasr|title="Commentator key [[The Study Quran]]  |date=April 2015|publisher= [[HarperOne]]|location=San Francisco}}</ref> was an [[Islamic Spain|Andalusia]]n [[Sunni]] [[Muslim]] [[polymath]], [[Maliki]] [[Faqih|jurisconsult]], [[Tafsir|mufassir]], [[muhaddith]] and an expert in the [[Arabic language]].<ref>Status and Preservation of Hadith: Answering the contentions of orientalists, Christian missionaries and modernists on Hadith pg 49 by Syed Nooruzuha Barmave</ref> Prominent scholars of [[Córdoba, Spain]], taught him, and he is well known for his classical commentary of the [[Quran]] named ''[[Tafsir al-Qurtubi]]''.

==Biography==
He was born in [[Córdoba, Spain|Qurtubah]] (modern-day Córdoba), [[Al-Andalus]], in the 13th century. His father was a farmer and died during a Spanish attack in 1230. During his youth, he contributed to his family by carrying clay for use in potteries. He finished his education in Qurtubah (Córdoba), studying from renowned scholars Ibn Abu Hujja and Abdurrahman ibn Ahmed Al-Ashari. After the [[Siege of Córdoba (1236)|fall of Cordoba]] in 1236, he left for [[Alexandria]], where he studied [[hadith]] and [[tafsir]]. He then passed to [[Cairo]] and settled in Munya Abi'l-Khusavb, where he spent the rest of his life. Known for his modesty and humble lifestyle, he was buried in [[Minya, Egypt|Munya Abi'l-Khusavb]], [[Egypt]], in 1273. His grave was carried to a mosque where a mausoleum was built under his name in 1971,<ref>26, el-Kasabî Mahmûd Zelat. p. 30</ref> still open for visiting today.

==Views==
He was very skilled in [[tafsir|commentary]], [[hadith|narrative]], [[Qira'at|recitation]] and [[Islamic jurisprudence|law]], which is evident in his writings, and the depth of his scholarship has been recognized by many scholars.<ref name="scholarship">[http://www.bysiness.co.uk/quran/qurtubi.htm Al-Qurtubi's depth of scholarship]</ref> In his works, Qurtubi defended the [[Sunni]] point of view and criticised the [[Mu'tazilah]].<ref>{{EI2|volume=5|page=513|title=al-Ḳurṭubī}}</ref>

==Reception==
The hadith scholar [[Dhahabi]] said of him, "...he was an imam versed in numerous branches of scholarship, an ocean of learning whose works testify to the wealth of his knowledge, the width of his intelligence and his superior worth."<ref name="Brill"/>

Islamic scholar [[Nuh Ha Mim Keller]] said of him:

{{blockquote|Imam Qurtubi is Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Abu Bakr ibn Farah, Abu Abdullah al-Ansari al-Qurtubi, of Cordova (in present-day Spain). A Maliki scholar and hadith specialist, he was one of the greatest Imams of Koranic exegesis, an ascetic who divided his days between worship and writing. Educated in hadith by masters like Ali ibn Muhammad al-Yahsabi and al-Hasan ibn Muhammad al-Bakri, he wrote works in the sciences of hadith and tenets of faith. However, his enduring contribution is his twenty volume al-Jami li Ahkam al-Qur’an [The compendium of the rules of the Koran], from which he mainly omitted the stories and histories customary in other commentaries, and recorded instead the legal rulings contained in the Koran and how scholars have inferred them, together with canonical readings (qira’at), Arabic grammar, and which verses abrogate others and which are abrogated (nasikh wa mansukh). Scholars have used it extensively ever since it was written. It is related to Qurtubi's disdainful airs, and how he used to walk about in a simple caftan with a plain cap (taqiyya) on his head. He travelled east and settled in Munya Abi al-Khusayb in upper Egypt, where he died in 671/1273<ref>Reliance of the Traveller (Revised Edition), p. 1090, by Sh. Nuh Keller</ref>}}

==Works==
#[[Tafsir al-Qurtubi|Tafsīr al-Qurṭubī]]: The most important and famous of his works, this 20-volume commentary has raised great interest and has had many editions.<ref>* MV, Kahire 1950; 1353-1369/1935-1950; 1380; I-XX, 1386-1387/1966-1967; nşr. Muhammed İbrahim el-Hifnâvî ve Mahmûd Hâmid Osman, l-XXll, Kahire 1414/1994, 1416/1996</ref> It is often referred to as ''al-Jamī' li-'Aḥkām'', meaning "All the Judgements." Contrary to what this name implies, the commentary is not limited to verses dealing with legal issues,<ref>{{TDV Encyclopedia of Islam | first = Tayyar | last = Altıkulaç | volume = 26 | title = KURTUBÎ, Muhammed b. Ahmed}}</ref> but is a general interpretation of the Quran with a Maliki point of view. Any claims made about a verse are stated and thoroughly investigated.
#al-Tadhkirah fī Aḥwāl al-Mawtà wa-Umūr al-Ākhirah (Reminder of the Conditions of the Dead and the Matters of the Hereafter): a book dealing with the topics of death, the punishments of the grave, the end times and the day of resurrection
#Al-Asnà fi Sharḥ al-Asmā' al-Ḥusnà
#Kitāb ut-Tadhkār fi Afḍal il-Adhkār
#Kitab Sharḥ it-Taqaṣṣi
#Kitab Qam' il-Ḥirṣ biz-Zuhd wal-Qanā'ah
#At-Takrāb li-Kitāb it-Tamhīd
#al-Mufhim lima Ushkila min Talkhis Sahih Muslim

==See also==
* [[List of Ash'aris and Maturidis]]
* [[List of Islamic scholars]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{wikisourcelang|ar|مؤلف:القرطبي|Al-Qurtubi}}
* [http://www.muslimscholars.info/manage.php?submit=scholar&ID=70024 Biodata at MuslimScholars.info]
* {{in lang|en}} [http://bewley.virtualave.net/ulum.html Selections from the Introduction of Tafsir Al Qurtubî]
* {{in lang|fr}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20120517012749/http://www.at-tawhid.net/article-les-differentes-manieres-d-aborder-les-versets-ambigus-du-coran-al-qurtubi-78983770.html Fatwâ of Al Qurtubî about the Ayat Mutashabihat]
* {{in lang|fr}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20110817030107/http://www.at-tawhid.net/article-la-spiritualite-de-l-adhan-al-qurtubi-75802901.html The Secret of Adhan by Imâm Al Qurtubî]

{{Maliki scholars}}
{{Ash'ari}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Qurtubi}}
[[Category:1214 births]]
[[Category:1273 deaths]]
[[Category:13th-century Muslim scholars of Islam]]
[[Category:13th-century jurists]]
[[Category:Asharis]]
[[Category:13th-century writers from al-Andalus]]
[[Category:Maliki scholars from al-Andalus]]
[[Category:People from Córdoba, Spain]]
[[Category:Quranic exegesis scholars]]
[[Category:Sunni Muslim scholars of Islam]]
[[Category:Sunni imams]]