European International Journal of Philological Sciences
30
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TYPE
Original Research
PAGE NO.
30-34
DOI
OPEN ACCESS
SUBMITED
14 April 2025
ACCEPTED
10 May 2025
PUBLISHED
12 June 2025
VOLUME
Vol.05 Issue 06 2025
COPYRIGHT
© 2025 Original content from this work may be used under the terms
of the creative commons attributes 4.0 License.
The Work of Ubaydullah
ibn
Ma’sud "Al
-Vishah"
And His Contribution to
The Science of
Balagʻa
Almardanov Dilmurod Eshmurodovich
Teacher, Department of Oriental Languages, Oriental University,
Uzbekistan
Abstract
: This paper explores the life and contributions
of the eminent scholar Allama Ubaydullah ibn Masud al-
Bukhari, also known as Sadrush Sharia al-Asghar,
focusing on his work Al-Wishah. A prominent figure in
the Hanafi school of Islamic jurisprudence, Ubaydullah
ibn Masud's legacy extends beyond law into the realms
of linguistics and eloquence. The study highlights his
educational lineage, influential works, and profound
impact on Islamic scholarship during a tumultuous
period marked by Mongol invasions. Special attention is
given to Al-Wishah, a significant treatise on eloquence
and semantics, which demonstrates the scholar’s
interdisciplinary expertise. By synthesizing key elements
of Miftahul-Ulum by Sakkaki and Nihayatul-Ijaz by
Fakhruddin Razi, the work embodies a concise yet rich
style that continues to influence the teaching of rhetoric
and grammar in Islamic education. This analysis
underscores the encyclopedic nature of Ubaydullah ibn
Masud's scholarship, offering a fresh perspective on his
intellectual versatility.
Keywords:
Ubaydullah ibn Masud, Sadrush Sharia al-
Asghar, Hanafi jurisprudence, Al-Wishah, Islamic
scholarship, semantics, eloquence, Bukhara scholars,
Mukhtasar al-Wiqaya, Miftahul-Ulum, Nihayatul-Ijaz,
linguistics, interdisciplinary scholarship.
Introduction:
The scholar Sadrush-sharia Ubaydullah
ibn Masud from Bukhara is a great representative of the
Mahbubiyid dynasty. The full name of the scholar is
Ubaydullah ibn Masud Sadrush sharia asghar ibn Masud
ibn Tajush-sharia Mahmud ibn Jamaluddin Ubaydullah
Mahbubiy Bukhari. The holder of such titles as the Great
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Sadrush sharia, Tajush sharia and Lesser Sadrush
sharia, Ubaydullah ibn Masud (d. 747/1346) and his
grandfathers were among the scholars who became
famous in the Islamic world. The scientific legacy they
left behind in the madrasah is still taught to students
as a textbook on jurisprudence.
"Sodrush Sharia al-Asghar" means "the younger
Sodrush Sharia". From the genealogy it is clear that the
nickname of his great-grandfather was also Sodrush
Sharia. Therefore, the great-grandfather was called
"Sodrush Sharia al-Akbar" - "The Great Sodrush
Sharia", and his grandson - "Sodrush Sharia al-Asghar"
- "The younger Sodrush Sharia". Some sources also
distinguish them as "Sodrush Sharia the First" and
"Sodrush Sharia the Second".
However, the nickname Sadrush Sharia was mainly
used for Ubaydullah ibn Masud al-Bukhari (may Allah
be pleased with him). Imam Sadrush Sharia Ubaydullah
ibn Masud al-Bukhari (may Allah be pleased with him)
was born in the city of Bukhara, in a family that was a
source of knowledge and enlightenment, and raised
outstanding legal scholars.
His grandfather, Imam Tajush Sharia Mahmud ibn
Sadrush Sharia, became a famous scholar as a result of
his upbringing. The dangerous situation prevailing in
Bukhara at that time forced the Sadrush Sharia family
to move to Khorasan, namely to the city of Kirman.
Ubaydullah ibn Masud continued his education and
training there under the guidance of his grandfather.
According to sources, his grandfather died in the city of
Kirman. Later, he left Kirman and came to the city of
Herat, which was one of the major centers of Khorasan
at that time, and continued his scholarly activities
there. His heart always yearned to return to his native
Bukhara. The lineage of Ubaydullah ibn Masud (may
Allah have mercy on him) goes back to the great
companion Ubada ibn Samit (may Allah be pleased
with him). That is why he was also given the title of
"Ubadi". The lineage of "Mahbubiy" also goes back to
one of his grandfathers.
The chain of his teachers is as follows:
1. Sheikhul Imam Mufti Imamzade
2. Imamuddin Zaranjari
3. Bakr ibn Muhammad Zaranjari
4. Imam Sarahsi
5. Imam Khalwani
6. Abu Ali Nasafi
7. Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Fazl
8. Abdullah ibn Abu Hafs Saghir
9. Abu Hafs Kabir
10. Imam Muhammad
11. Imam Abu Hanifa (may Allah be pleased with him).
The unique teaching style of the scholar was such that
he explained the subject with great precision, to such an
extent that no one had noticed it before, so that the
students could understand the essence of the matter.
His sensitivity to science is also clearly visible in the
treatises and commentaries that he classified. The
scholar’s “Sharhul Viqayya” and his abridged book
“Nuqayya”, “Tankihul Usul” and his commentary called
“Tawzih” attracted much attention and acquired
scholarly significance.
Ubaidullah ibn Masud lived and worked at the time
when the Mongols were conquering, plundering and
destroying Transoxania. In 1219, Genghis Khan captured
Bukhara and reduced it to ruins. Ibn Battuta writes of
this event: “Bukhara is the birthplace of the Imam of
Hadith, Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Ismail Bukhari.
This city was the capital of the lands beyond the Jeyhun
(Amu Darya), which Genghis Khan destroyed. Most of
the mosques, madrassas and markets there were
destroyed. The population was left in a helpless state
...”
.
Among the scholars of Bukhara, one can note the
Sadrush Sharia series, which wrote works of high status
in the science of jurisprudence. A famous lawyer of his
time was Sadrush Sharia - Ahmad ibn Jamaluddin
Ubaidullah Mahbubiy Bukhari, who lived and worked in
the 13th century and is known as the author of
important legal works, including one of the
commentaries on "Hida". His son, Mahmud ibn Sardush
Sharia, famous for the title of Tajush Sharia, like his
father, left unforgettable scientific works in the Hanafi
school of Islamic law. Tajush Sharia raised his grandson
(Sadrush Sharia the second, i.e. the second or younger
Sadrush Sharia) to be knowledgeable in the science of
Islamic jurisprudence. In order to instill the knowledge
of jurisprudence in his heart, he summarizes the most
important points of Burhanuddin Marghinani's
masterpiece Hidaya in short sentences (another source
says "creatively summarized") and calls it "Vikoyatur
rivaya fi masoilil Hidaya" ("Preservation of the
Narratives on the Issues of Hidaya").
The work has attracted attention as the best and most
convenient abridgement of Hidayah, it has been read
and commented on for centuries, and many footnotes
have been written to explain it. Ubaydullah ibn Masud,
known as the younger or the second Sadrush Sharia, is
the pride of this family and the unfading star of Hanafi
jurisprudence. He matured under the education of his
grandfather Tajush Sharia, mastered the oriental
wisdom (philosophy), theology and natural sciences,
became known as a great scholar in the science of
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jurisprudence and became one of the outstanding and
prolific scholars of the Hanafi school. He collected the
scientific works left by his ancestors, collected
exquisite monuments and wrote the book Sharhul
Wiqaya, commenting on and reinterpreting the
Wiqayatur Riwaya written by his grandfather in Arabic.
This work is considered the most complete and reliable
commentary on the author's other book, Mukhtasarul
Vikoya, which is still taught as a textbook in medresah.
Ubaidullah ibn Masud's thought was profound and his
words were sharp, so no scholar dared to engage in a
scholarly debate or discussion with him. He was able to
accurately present Sharia proofs and refutations on
each issue in the appropriate places. It is reported from
Tashkuprilizade: "Allama Qutbiddin Razi, wanting to
conduct a scholarly debate with Sadrush Sharia, sent
one of his students, Mawlana Mubarakshah, to him.
Sadrush Sharia was in Herat at that time. Mubarakshah
met the scholar when he was teaching students Ibn
Sina's book "Isharot". Mubarakshah saw that Sadrush
Sharia was refuting with strong and brilliant arguments
during the lesson, instead of following Ibn Sina and his
commentator Muhammad Tusi, and he was furious
and sent the following letter to his teacher Qutbiddin
Razi: “This man is ‘light and fire’, i.e. ‘blazing fire’. Your
argument with him may bring you reproach. The
scholar acts according to his own opinion and ijtihad…”
. Thus, the learned Razi accepted the confession of his
student and returned from his goal. Abdulhay
Lucknowi acknowledged in his work "Favoid": "All the
books classified by Sadrush Sharia are acceptable in the
eyes of the scholars and worthy of attention in the eyes
of the jurists." .
Authentic works attributed to the pen of Ubaydullah
ibn Mas'ud:
1. “Tanqih al
-
Usul”. It is related to the jurisprudence of
the Hanafi Usul, and is known among scholars as
“Tanqih”.
2. “Tawzih alat Tanqih”. It is a commentary on the text
of “Tanqih”, in which the author has covered specific
issues that are not found in other books of Usul.
3. “Muqaddamat al
-
Arba’”. This also includes the issue
of “Tawzih” and explains issues that are considered
difficult in Usul.
4. “Sharh al
-
Wiqa’”. One of the detailed sources of the
jurisprudence of the Hanafi school of thought.
5. “Mukhtasar al
-
Wiqa’”. Another name is “Nika’a”.
6. “Shurut wal
-
Mahzir”.
7. “Ta’dil al
-
Ulum”.
8. “Sharh al
-Fusul al-
Khamsiyn”.
9. “Wihash fil ma’ani wal
-
Bayan”.
10. “Arba’un hadis”.
The works written by him are fundamentally different
from other major sources written in the Hanafi school.
That is, the Musannif has a unique direction in writing.
The critical ideas expressed in his works are presented
reasonably and convincingly, so that they quickly reach
the understanding of the reader. That is why the works
of Sadrush Sharia were diligently taught as the main
textbook in the madrassas of Bukhara. Even now, the
educational program of the madrassas of our country is
based on the work of the scholar "Mukhtasarul Vikoya"
in the field of jurisprudence. It is worth noting that the
source fund of the Imam Bukhari International Research
Center contains manuscripts and lithographed copies of
many works written by scholars of Transoxiana. In
particular, there are several works by Ubaydullah ibn
Masud, and handwritten copies of Sharhul Viqayya in
Arabic and Persian are stored in the collection under the
numbers MR 2 (Arabic-Persian), MR 53 (Arabic), MR 225
(Arabic), MR 110 (Arabic), MR 9 (Arabic).
The work "Al-Wishah" and its style
The work "Al-Wishah" is devoted to the semantic and
descriptive parts of the science of eloquence and is an
important source in this regard. The author did not
consider the science of bade' to be one of the sciences
related to the science of eloquence. In his opinion,
eloquence consists of two sciences: the science of
semantics and the science of eloquence. The author
says the following about this:
لاحلا ىضتقم قباطيو دارملا مامت ىلإ يّدؤي ثيح نم ملاكلا هعوضومو
ةغلابلا وه نيينعملا نيذه يعاري هجو ىلع ملاكلا ُغوصو ًةللاد
"The subject of the science of eloquence is speech, and
not just any speech, but speech that fully expresses the
intended purpose and corresponds to the situation in
which it is uttered. Also, its transmission in a certain way
while preserving these two aspects is also considered
the subject of the science of eloquence. These two
sciences (meaning and presentation) are the sciences of
eloquence." The author considered the science of
eloquence to be a continuation of the science of
presentation:
رعم وه : عيدبلا ملع
نايبلا ملع ةّمتت ملعلا اذهو هنييزتو ملاكلا نييبت قرط ةف
"Ilmi bade" is the science of decorating words in various
ways. And this science is the end of the science of
narration." Currently, science knows of two manuscripts
of this work in the collections:
1. The copy stored under inventory number 3186 in the
Biruni Institute of Oriental Manuscripts. It was rewritten
in naskh by the calligrapher Mahmud Nizami in 737 AH.
It consists of 48 sheets, rewritten in 13 lines. This copy
is the oldest and was rewritten during the author's time.
2. The copy stored under inventory number 4479 in Nur
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Usmaniyya Maktaba. This copy also consists of 48
sheets, 10 lines. It was rewritten in naskh. It is
unknown when and by whom it was rewritten.
The style of the work is very short and laconic, like
"Mukhtasari Vikoya". The style of words and the style
of narration are used to explain the rules. That is, first
the rule is given, and then an example is given for each
rule in order. The work "Al-Vishah" is considered a
summary of the works "Miftahul-Ulum" by Imam
Sakkaki and "Nihayatul-Ijaz" by Fakhriddin ar-Razi. The
author himself says about this:
هترابع نسح ةحشوأب يناعملا ُدي ِّج َحِّّش ُو باتك "مولعلا حاتفم" باتك ّنإو
ُتْقِّّف ُو اّملف هتاراعتسا فطل تاحشرب نايبلا ضاير تارهز َحِّّش ُرو
فشكب
ةياهن" ثحابم عم هثاحبأ ةدبز تعمج هقئاقدو هرارسأ ىلع تفقوو هقئاقح
زاجعلإا
"
The book "Miftahul-Ulum" is a book that has adorned
the neck of the science of meaning with its beautiful
expressions and plucked the flowers of the garden of
explanations with its subtle metaphors. When its
precise secrets and truths were revealed to me, I
collected the cream of the debates in it. At the same
time, I also included scientific debates in the book
"Nihayatul-Ijaz". The author also used logical rules to
clarify the rules in the work:
هبو هيلإ دنسي ّيّلكلاو هب دنسي لاو هيلإ دنسي ّيصخشلا موهفملا : طباض
“Rule: In a personal sentence, a concept can be either
musnad ilayhi or musnad. In a general sentence, a
concept can be either musnad ilayhi or musnad”.
The concept of personal is a concept that prohibits
partnership, such as Zayd. This type of concept is a
proper name. Because a noun can have only one
person. That is why its concept is called personal. A
universal concept is a concept whose meaning does
not prohibit evil. For example, the word man. Mankind
includes many units: Zayd, Bakr, Amr, and so on.
Therefore, proper names whose meaning is limited to
one unit can be possessive in a sentence, but cannot
be participial. Universal words can be both possessive
and participial. Examples:
ملاع ديز
Zaid is a scientist.
ملع وذ ناسنلإا
Man is a scientist.
اذه
ناسنإ
This is human.
Because according to the rule, the musnad must be
more general and comprehensive than the musnad
ilayhi or equal to it. For example:
ناويح ناسنلإا
If we say that the word musnad, which is
used as a synonym for animal, is broader than the word
musnad ilayhi (human). If we reverse the same
sentence, the musnad will be narrower in scope than
the word musnad ilayhi:
ناسنإ ناويحلا
The word "human" that is used as a musnad
in this sentence is neither more comprehensive nor
equal to the word "animal" in musnad ilayhi, meaning it
is not as comprehensive or equal to the word "animal".
Referring to this, the author says the following:
ايواسم وأ ّمعأ اّمإ ديز وهو دنسملا نوكي نا ّدب لاف ديز قلطنملا : ليق اذإف
هيف قلاطنلاا رصحنيف
“If it is said,
"It is Zayd who is leaving," then in this
sentence, the word Zayd is a musnad, even though its
meaning is personal. This is on the condition that both
are equal or Zayd is general. Therefore, the verb "to
leave" is limited to Zayd only.”.
That is, in this case, the musnad has become narrower
than the musnad ilayhi. Zayd is exactly one person, and
the gatukhiya is true for any person. In fact, such a
sentence is considered a mistake. To correct this, we
equate the musnad and the musnad ilayhi, that is, the
gatukhiya is considered unique to Zayd. In the work, the
scholar explains not only the issues related to the
science of syllogism, but also the exact grammatical
rules and syllogisms that follow from it. For example:
رعتل انه ةفاضلإا قلطنم ديز وبأ : طباض
دوصقملا وه بلأاو بلأا في
هيلع موكحملا وه ديزو صيصختلل ةفاضلإا قلطنم هوبأ ديزو مكحلاب
برشي هوبأ ديزو بلأل ةّمذملا رمخلا برشي ديز وبأ : ليق اذإف هيبأ قلاطناب
ديز وبأ باط و ًابأ ديز باط : نيب قرفلا اذكو ديزل ةّمذملا رمخلا
“
Rule:
قلطنم ديز وبأ
If we say that Zayd's father is leaving,
then the word "father" is being defined here, and the
main ruling is Zayd's father. If
قلطنم هوبأ ديزو
When we say
that Zayd is his father, it is for the sake of exaggeration,
not for the sake of clarity. Also, in this sentence, the
main sentence is Zayd. If we say, “Zayd’s father is
drinking intoxicating liquor,” only the father is criticized.
If we say, “Zayd is his father drinking intoxicating liquor,”
Zayd is included in the main sentence and he is also
criticized. Also, if we
say, “Zayd’s father has improved,”
we are only praising the father, and Zayd is not included
in the scope of praise. If we say, “Zayd is his father has
improved,” we are praising Zayd”.
CONCLUSION
This work of the scholar is one of the few works that
have been studied very little. This book reintroduces
Ubaydullah ibn Mas'ud, who is known more for his
jurisprudence than for his knowledge, as a linguist and
writer. In fact, this work proves that the scholar, who
was considered one of the strongest scholars in
jurisprudence among the Bukhara scholars, was not only
a jurist but also a writer. If carefully analyzed, we can
see a very strong literary level in the scholar's most
famous work, "Mukhtasari Wiqaya". From this, we can
learn that the ancient Bukhara scholars who came from
our country were comprehensive, encyclopedic
scholars.
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