The Iraqi jurist Ismail Al-Azji, nicknamed "Fakhr Al-Din", is considered one of the thinkers and philosophers. The parish was not like that, and his life ended tragically on April 10, 1223.

Fakhruddin Ismail bin Ali bin Al Hussein Al Shaibani Al Azji Al Baghdadi Al Hanbali was born in Baghdad in the month of Safar in the year 549 AH, and grew up there, according to the academic and researcher in Islamic history, Dr. Siham Jamil Jassim.

The Iraqi Academy adds - to Al Jazeera Net - that Fakhr Al-Din Al-Azji was nicknamed "Ghulam Ibn Al-Sani" out of affection for his teacher, who was taught by him, and Al-Azji was known for his knowledge and virtue.

So he emerged in the science of disagreement, origins, consideration and controversy, and he learned jurisprudence from his sheikh, Imam Abi Al-Fath Nasr bin Fatyan bin Mutahhar Al-Nahrawani, known as “Ibn Al-Mani,” and Abi Abdullah, known as “Ibn Al-Raqqa Ibn Al-Mashatah,” and he heard from the reciter, Haqiq bin Karah.

Dr. Siham points out that he took over teaching after his sheikh in his mosque in Al Mamounia, and he had a seminar at the Qasr Mosque in which the jurists gathered for debate, and he gave lessons at his home and the jurists attended with him.

Siham Jamil Jassim: Al-Azji was an eloquent debater with a keen intelligence who set an example in debate in his time (Al-Jazeera)

Controversy and philosophy

Siham Jassim talks about the ingenuity of Al-Azji in the principles of jurisprudence and poetry, as he was an eloquent debater with a keen intelligence, who set an example in debate in his time, and he was proficient in doctrine, origins, jurisprudence, controversy and issues of contention.

He also classified his own way of arguing, and he was eloquent, well-spoken, had a high voice and was able to respond to opponents, and he took imams from him, including the scholar Majd al-Din Ibn Taymiyyah and others.

And the teacher of the history of the Abbasid Caliphate, Dr. Saad Abdul Halim Al-Hayali, points out that despite the religious and scientific upbringing of Al-Azji, his fondness for theology and debate opened new horizons in his life until he tended to study logic and philosophy at the hands of the Christian doctor Ibn Marqash, who was not in his time more knowledgeable than him. with those sciences.

Al-Hayali adds - to Al-Jazeera Net - that Al-Azji has become frequent to him and learns from him in the pledge of allegiance to the Christians, and from here he had strange ideas and opinions that he did not keep for himself, but began to publish those ideas and opinions that contradict the Muslim faith. The prophets - peace be upon them - are nothing but wise men whom God has endowed with wisdom, as He granted wisdom to Hermes and Aristotle.

And he points out that Al-Azji used to reproach the men of hadith and fall into them, saying: “They are ignorant people who do not know the rational sciences, nor the true meanings of the hadith; That was an accusation of him, for his knowledge and philosophy, in which he reached an affair unlike his contemporaries.

Al-Hayali pointed out that Al-Azji's fondness for theology and dialectic led him to study logic and philosophy (Al-Jazeera).

Controversial ideas

During his scientific career, Al-Azji authored many works, some of which contained many controversial philosophical ideas and opinions.

Al-Hayali mentions that among the most prominent works of Al-Azji are the Paradise of the Beholder, the Paradise of the Viewers, Commentary on Controversy, and the Laws of the Prophets, while Dr. Al-Muhammadi mentions that among Al-Azji’s books are “The Light of the Lamp in the Statement of Terminology” in the debate, the book “Al-Mujaz fi Al-Farid” and the book “Al-Ijaz”. On Interpretation of Miracles” which is the interpretation of the Qur’an, and the book “Sahih Al-Manqul and Sareeh Al-Maqul” and it has poems, including:

Evidence for the keenness of the son of Adam is that… you see his palm clenched when he is laying down and he spreads it out when he

dies


, as a sign… to zero it from what it contains after collecting


it, and also to him:


I am sorry that the cup will not be broken by someone else.


To the pits,


we have the right to affliction before affliction, and that ... we run tears out of fear and of caution


.

Caliph tiles

Regarding his work in the Caliphate Diwan, Al-Hayali mentions that Al-Azji worked as an overseer in Al-Mutabbaq’s Diwan for a period of time, and his biography was not praised, so he was isolated and detained for a period in the Diwan, then released.


He continues: "Then the Caliph Al-Nasir appointed him his own estate, so he oppressed the people, collected money, and was harming people and slandering."

The decision to remove Al-Azji from his position caused a psychological shock to him, so he retired from people and lived in his home idle and poor, living on people's alms.

Obaid confirmed that the frequent abuse of people and his domination angered the Caliph with his actions and decided to punish him (Al-Jazeera)

his death

It seems that the end of Al-Azji was not like its beginnings, as he persisted in publicizing immorality and the people's complaints about him increased.


According to the professor of Abbasid history, Dr. Taha Khader Obaid, the frequent abuse, slander, and domination of people by the arrogant man angered the Caliph with his actions and decided to punish him.

And he adds - to Al-Jazeera Net - that when Al-Azji returned from Levant to Baghdad, the Abbasid Caliph Al-Nasir Li-Din Allah cut his tongue and circled with it and exiled him to Wasit and threw him in a buried place until he died.

Obaid points out that jurists and historians, such as Ibn al-Najjar, Ibn al-Muzaffar, Ibn al-Jawzi, al-Hafiz al-Diyaa, and Sheikh Shams al-Din, agreed that al-Azji was far from the Hanbali school of thought and was closer to philosophy.

In turn, Al-Hayali draws attention to the different accounts about the death of Al-Azji. In addition to the account of his death in the buried area, others mention that after his isolation, he stayed in his house idle, broken, lamenting about the mattresses and money he was getting until diseases rolled over him and he died in his house in the path of the pit, then he was transferred to a cemetery. Bab Harb, known as the Karkh cemetery in Baghdad, where he was buried.