Abu Bakr al-Samarqandi

Abu Bakr Muhammad b. al-Yamān al-Samarqandi (Arabic: أﺑﻮ ﺑﻜﺮ ﻣﺤﻤﺪ ﺑﻦ اﻟﻴﻤﺎن السمرقندي) was a Sunni-Hanafi scholar from Samarqand, who combined jurisprudence and theology. He paved the way for his compatriot Abu Mansur al-Maturidi (d. 333/944). He opposed the emerging Karramiyya, an anthropomorphist sect.

Works

The sources mention the titles of four of his works:

• Kitab al-Anwar.
• Kitab al-I'tisam, was simply dedicated to hadith.
• Kitab al-Radd 'ala al-Karramiyya', a refutation of the Karramites (al-Karramiyya).
• Kitab Ma'alim al-Din ('The Lineaments of the Faith'), the title of the book would seem to present the possibility of directly accessing theological discussions. But a look at the manuscript shows that the theme of the text is completely different. It is confined strictly to argumentation on questions of law, without a single word on theology. There is a manuscript of this book in Mashhad.

Death

Abu Bakr died in the year 268/881–2 after presumably spending his entire life in his hometown of Samarqand.