al-Baghawi
1041 CE–1122 CE · Marw al-Rudh
Abu Muhammad al-Husayn ibn Mas'ud al-Baghawi was a Sunni scholar of the Seljuq-era Persian east, remembered above all as a traditionist (a transmitter and student of hadith, the reported sayings and deeds of the Prophet Muhammad) and as a mufassir (Qur'an commentator). Later admirers gave him the honorific "Muhyi al-Sunna," meaning "Reviver of the Sunna"; the sources also report titles such as "Rukn al-Din" (Pillar of the Religion). In law he followed the Shafi'i madhhab, one of the four classical Sunni legal schools, and several biographers describe his creed as Ash'ari, a mainstream Sunni theological school.
He took his name (nisba) from Bagh, also called Baghshur, a town in Khurasan said to lie between Herat and Marw. His best-known teacher was the Shafi'i jurist al-Qadi al-Husayn (al-Marwarrudhi), beside whom he was later buried. He spent his working life in Marw al-Rudh, teaching and writing.
His influence rests on three works: Ma'alim al-Tanzil, a widely used Qur'an commentary (Tafsir al-Baghawi); Sharh al-Sunna, a hadith commentary; and Masabih al-Sunna, a hadith collection that a later scholar, al-Tabrizi, reworked into the much-circulated Mishkat al-Masabih.
His exact dates are traditional estimates: birth around 433 AH (c. 1041 CE), and death in Shawwal 516 AH (1122 CE), though some early authorities give 510 or 515 AH. He died and was buried at Marw al-Rudh.
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Marw al-Rudh
What they did here
Al-Baghawi is associated throughout his career with Marw al-Rudh, where he studied with the Shafi'i jurist al-Qadi al-Husayn (al-Marwarrudhi), taught, and produced his tafsir and hadith works. He died there in Shawwal 516 AH (1122 CE) — minority reports give 510 AH (Ibn Khallikan) and 515 AH (Ibn Taghribirdi) — and was buried, by report, beside his teacher in the Taliqan cemetery.
In Marw al-Rudh at the same time
Works
No works attributed in the corpus yet.