Abd al-Ghani al-Maqdisi

‘Abd al-Ghanī ibn ‘Abd al-Wāḥid al-Jammā’īlī al-Maqdisi (عبدالغني المقدسي) (1146-1203 CE) was a classical Sunni Islamic scholar and a prominent Hadith master. His full name was al-Imam al-Hafidh Abu Muhammad Abdul-Ghani ibn Abdul-Wahid bin Alī bin Surūr Ibn Rāfi' bin Hussain bin Ja'far al-Maqdisi al-Jammāʻīlī al-Hanbali. He was born in 1146 CE (541 AH) in the village of Jummail in Palestine. He studied with scholars in Damascus; many of whom were from his own extended family. He studied with the Imam of Tasawwuf, Shaykh Abdul Qadir al-Jilani. He was the first person to establish a school on Mount Qasioun near Damascus. He died in 1203 CE (600 AH). He was a relative of Diya al-Din al-Maqdisi, as his mother and Diya al-Din al-Maqdisi's grandmother were sisters. He had three sons named Muhammad, Abdullah and Abdur-Rahman, all of whom became prominent scholars. The scholar, Ibn Qudamah al-Maqdisi was the maternal cousin of Abdul-Ghani, and Ibn Qudāmah described his association with Abdul-Ghani as: "My friend in childhood and in seeking knowledge, and never did we race to goodness except that he would precede me to it, with the exception of [a] small [number of occasions]" He was the author of Al-Kamal fi Asma' al-Rijal, a collection of biographies of hadith narrators within the Islamic discipline of biographical evaluation. His works include: Kitāb ut-Tawḥīd Akhbār Ad-Dajjāl Al-Itiqād - A short text that outlines the foundational creed. Al-Jāmi' as-Saghīr Li Ahkām al-Bashīr an-Nadhīr Itiqād ul-Imām Ash-Shafi`ī -The author shows the complete agreement between all the Imams on foundational theology and particularly the Imam’s dislike for speculative theology. Al-Ahkām Al-Arba'īn Min Kalām Rabbil-Aalamīn Amr bi-l-Maʿrūf wa-n-Nahy ʿani-l-Munkar At-Targhīb fid-Du'ā al-Hathth Alayhi At-Tawakkul was Su'āl Allāh Azza wa Jall Al-Aathār al-Mardiyyah Fī Fadā'il Khayr il-Bariyyah Al-Iqtiṣād fil-I'tiqād-This is a book on advanced theology that itemises creed into a series of themes.