Biography
The name al-Mawardi is derived from the profession of the scholar’s ancestors, who most probably worked in the production and trade of rosewater?4 Maward is an elision of ma’ al-ward, rosewater.
Needless to say, the suffix -i is used in this case, to form a name from a job title; maward becomes al-Mawardi, i. e., he who is employed in the production and/or trade of rosewater.Al-Mawardi was born in Basra in 972 into relatively comfortable living conditions. He studied Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) in both Basra and Baghdad, at a time when these cities were important centres of learning for Mudazilite (‘rationalistic’) thought.25 His contemporaries gave praise to him and demonstrated their appreciation for his numerous abilities as a well-respected jurist, a skilled diplomat, an excellent rhetorician, and a reliable hadith-narrator}6 Biographical writings describe him as friendly, a man of moderation and virtue?7
In terms of legal theory and affiliation, he was a follower of the Shafi‘i school of thought that has been, in theological terms, categorised as being of Ash‘ari orientation. Much of his learning however, was under scholars of strong Mu'tazilite tendencies, and as will be shown later, his arguments contain numer-
Union Europeenne des Arabisants et Islamisants, Halle 1998, ed. H. Kilpatrick, B. Martel-Thou- mian and H. Schonig (Leuven: Peeters, 2002).
20 Louise Marlow, Hierarchy and Egalitarianism in Islamic Thought (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997).
21 Mohammed Arkoun, ‘L’ethique musulmane d’apres Mawardi’, Revue des etudes islamiques 31 (1963).
22 Schneider, ‘Vernunft oder Tradition’.
23 Henry F. Amedroz, ‘The office of Kadi in the Ahkam Sultaniyya of Mawardi’, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1910; and idem., ‘The Hisba jurisdiction in the Ahkam Sultaniyya of Mawardi’, in Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1916), 77-130.
24 ‘Abd al-Karim b. Muhammad al-Sam‘ani, Kitab al-Ansab, ed. David S. Margoliouth (Leiden: Brill, 1912), 504.
25 Carl Brockelmann, ‘al-Mawardi’, in Encyclopaedia of Islam: Second Edition, ed. C. Bosworth et al. (Leiden: Brill, 1991).
26 Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, Tarikh madinat al-saldm, 17 vols., ed. Bashshar ‘ Awwad Ma‘ruf (Beirut: Dar al-gharb al-islami, 2001), 13/587.
27 Brockelmann, ‘al-Mawardi’.
ous strong rationalistic strands. Within the judiciary, he rose to the highest ranks when he was appointed supreme judge in Baghdad.[79] He advocated strong central rule, reasoning that this was the only way to guarantee the implementation of rights and justice. He supported a unified confessional authority that was represented, at the time, by the Abbasid caliphs al-Qadir (r. 991-1031) and al-Qa,im (r. 1031-1074). He opposed the increasing power of the Buyids who sought to secede nominally from the central government in Baghdad and establish an independent government. Thus, when the Buyid Jalal al-Dawla pressured the Abbasid caliph al-Qa,im to confer upon him the title of shahanshah (‘King of Kings’), al- Mawardi condemned this action and considered that ‘such a title was befitting only to God and could not be applied to a worldly ruler∕2[80] And yet, even as a general supporter of the interests of the central authority in Baghdad, he was valued by the rival Buyids as a trusted mediator.[81]
Just as other great scholars before him, al-Mawardi did not commit himself to any particular tradition in his political and theological thought, but cultivated his own methodologies and approaches. Many of his contemporaries were irritated by what they perceived as irregularities, leading some to designate him a Mu tazilite while others classified him as an Ash'arite?[82] [83] Others still, saw him as a Shafi'i in the field of practical-legal matters, and as a rationalist Mudazilite in theological-speculative concerns^ Clearly, he was not a dogmatic follower of any field. Rather, he was a creative academic who stood for his views, even though they were often contested. His rulings on inheritance rights are an illustrative example. Although it is one of the few themes, discussed at length in the Quran, al-Mawardi opposed the widely held opinion on the matter by not differentiating between close and distant relatives of the deceased. On one occasion he was reproached for this and told to adhere to tradition and avoid innovation. He responded that he held an independent opinion and was no mere imitator.[84] His religious integrity is emphasised and affirmed by numerous, albeit not verifiable, anecdotes. One such story concerns his piety; it is said that he hid his works in an undisclosed location and refused, during his entire life, to confide their whereabouts. He did this out of fear that he might have considered appeasing interests other than God’s while compiling these works. It was only on his deathbed that he revealed their location to a trusted friend. He gave him clear instructions: he asked him to hold his hand through death and stated that, if his hand remained closed after his last breath, this would be an indicator that his works were not to the satisfaction of God and that they were to be thrown into the Tigris. If, on the other hand, he opened his closed hand after death, this would mean that his work was satisfactory to God and that it might be made available to others.[85] [86] [87] [88] [89] [90] The authenticity of this kind of anecdote is of course hagiographic in nature^5 but regardless of its veracity it points to the perception of al-Mawardi as a reputable and faithful scholar. His epic work in the legal sciences is Kitab al-Hawι al-kabιr fι al-furu,. It largely falls within the Shafi‘i school of thought and has been published in various editions, covering varying scopes of material?6 In his Quranic exegesis, Kitab al-Nukat wa al-'uyun?7 he selectively, though not consistently, supports Mudazilite views. His most important ethical work, and the work at the centre of this author’s contribution about his writings, is Adab al-dunya wa al-dm (The Ethics of Religion and of this World). The work’s original title was, Al-Bughya al-,ulya fi adab al-din wa al-dunya (The Greatest Ambition in relation to the Ethics of the World and Religion). Over time and due to editorial encroachment the title was changed. The work was translated into German by Oskar Rescher at the beginning of the 20th century, and a new edition has since been made available.40 Rescher denies the book any claim to originality, and instead sees the main value of the work in the wealth of material it provides on Quranic exegesis, on hadith (although a large part of it is suspect, that is, apocryphal), its poetics, literary strength (adab), ethics, dictum, etc.41 This contribution will, to the extent possible, support Rescher’s findings concerning the wealth of valuable material found in this book. Additionally, however, this study seeks to provide proof of the originality of the work’s content, at least in relation to the theme of justice.