al-Nasafi (Abu al-Barakat)

Hafiz al-Din Abu al-Barakat Abd Allah ibn Ahmad al-Nasafi (died 710 AH / 1310 CE; a minority of biographers, including al-Qurashi and Ibn Taghribirdi, give 701 AH / 1301 CE) was a scholar of the Hanafi school of Islamic law (madhhab) and the Maturidi school of theology (kalam). His nisba (the name marking origin) ties him to Nasaf in Transoxiana — the region beyond the Oxus river, in present-day Uzbekistan. His own birth date and exact birthplace are not securely recorded: biographers say he was born either in Nasaf or in Izaj (Idhaj), and the nisba guarantees only a Nasaf/Transoxiana family origin.

He is best remembered for Madarik al-Tanzil wa-Haqa'iq al-Ta'wil, a tafsir (Qur'an commentary) prized for being compact yet rich. Scholars describe it as drawing heavily on the linguistic brilliance of al-Zamakhshari's al-Kashshaf while setting aside that work's Mu'tazili theological positions, making it acceptable to mainstream Sunni teachers. It became, alongside the commentaries of al-Baydawi and al-Jalalayn, one of the most-taught tafsirs in traditional curricula. He also wrote influential Hanafi legal works, including the primer Kanz al-Daqa'iq and the legal-theory text Manar al-Anwar, both of which attracted many later commentaries.

Later biographical tradition reports that he taught at a madrasa associated with the name al-Qutbiyya al-Sultaniyya and that he travelled to Baghdad late in life. The transmitted accounts of his death differ: the reading reported in the biographical literature is that he died at Baghdad (on a Friday in Rabi' al-Awwal 710 AH) and was buried at Izaj (Idhaj) in Khuzistan, between Khuzistan and Isfahan; an alternative rendering holds that he died at Idhaj itself while returning from Baghdad. The sources agree that Izaj/Idhaj is his burial place.