Abu Zakariya' al-Djanawuni

Abu Zakariya' Yahya b. al-Khayr al-Djanawuni was an Ibadi jurist of the Djabal Nafusa in Libya, a native of Idinawun, the village near Djado in the eastern part of the range. He is probably to be placed in the first half of the 6th/12th century.

The Encyclopaedia of Islam (2nd ed.), signed A. de Motylinski and T. Lewicki, says that al-Shammakhi lists him among the notables of the 6th/12th century. He was the grandson of another Ibadi of the Djabal Nafusa, Abu 'l-Khayr Tuzin al-Djanawuni, a contemporary of the shaykh Abu 'l-Khayr Tuzin al-Zawaghi, who lived under the Zirid al-Mu'izz b. Badis (406-454/1016-1062). He studied under the shaykh Abu 'l-Rabi' Sulayman b. Abi Harun in the mosque of Ibnayn in the Djabal Nafusa, and became famous in Ibadi literature for the breadth of his learning and his works, mainly on jurisprudence. ¹

Al-Barradi, writing in his catalogue of Ibadi books shortly after 775/1373-4, cites a work by him without giving its title. It had seven parts, on fasting, marriage and divorce, testaments, salaries, judgments, preemption and security. The Kitab al-Sawm on fasting was copied in Cairo in 1310; the Kitab al-Nikah on marriage and divorce was published in Egypt with a marginal gloss by Muhammad Abu Sitta al-Kasabi. The other parts are unpublished. He also wrote al-Lam' (or al-Wad), printed in Cairo with a gloss by al-Kasabi, which deals with dogmatics and ritual law: ablutions, purification, prayer, alms and pilgrimage. ¹