'Abd al-Rahman ibn Ziyad, mufti of Zabid

Abu al-Diya' Abd al-Rahman ibn Abd al-Karim ibn Ibrahim ibn Ali ibn Ziyad al-Akki al-Muqri al-Zabidi al-Shafi'i in law, Ash'ari in creed, a Hukmi in his association with the Yafi'i Sufi tradition. He described himself as a Shafi'i in the branches of law, a Yafi'i in Sufism and an Ash'ari in belief. He was born in Rajab 900 AH. He memorised the Qur'an and the Ishara and studied with Muhammad Musa al-Dabba'i, Ahmad al-Mizjad and his student al-Tanbadhawi, under whom he graduated and benefited. He took tafsir, hadith and biography from the hafiz Wajih al-Din ibn al-Dayba', the rules of inheritance from al-Gharib al-Hatki, the foundations of jurisprudence from Jamal al-Din Yahya Qabib, and Arabic from Muhammad Mufaddal al-Lahhani. ²

He sought knowledge with effort until he became one of the notables of his age. Questions reached him from distant lands, and he took up issuing legal opinions from the death of his shaykh al-Tanbadhawi in 948 AH. He lived in great poverty, so that he would wake without the food for his day. Once his wife gave birth while he had nothing, and he could not afford a lamp, so they spent the night in darkness. ¹

In 964 AH his sight failed. He accepted this with patience and said, "Welcome to the gift of God." Some came offering to restore his sight, and a wealthy man offered to support him and his family for as long as needed, but he refused, saying: "It is something God has clothed me in, and I will not be the cause of its removal." Nevertheless he kept his habit of teaching, issuing opinions and writing. Among his works are: a defence of raising the hands at the beginning of prayer, at bowing, at rising from bowing and when standing up from the two cycles; "The Clear Victory on the Rulings of Donation by a Debtor"; "The Clear Treatise" and "The Appendix" and "The Summary", three books he wrote because of his dispute with Ibn Hajar over whether a debtor's donation is void; "The Selection on Brotherhood and Companionship"; "The Clear Proofs on Reciting the Basmala Aloud and its being part of the Fatiha"; "Establishing the Proof for the Number of the Tarawih in Ramadan"; "Uncovering the Distress on the Ruling about what is seized from what is owed"; "The Colour of Ownership in it Suspended According to the Imams"; "Removing Hardship in the Rulings on Singing"; "The Strings of Pearls in the Books of Deeds"; and "Lifting the Veil on the Rulings of the Spear". He died in Zabid on the night of Sunday, 11 Rajab 975 AH. ³