Fıkıh Tarihi Yazıcılığının İlk Kaynakları Olarak Erken Dönem Tabakât Eserleri
İslam edebî kültüründe ilim, fen ve yönetim gibi sahalarda önemli yere sahip olan kişileri belli bir sıra ve dizgi gözeterek bir araya getiren ve haklarında bilgi sunan eserler tabakât diye anılır. İlmî gelişmelere bağlı olarak hicri II. yüzyılda ilk örnekleri ortaya çıkan tabakât metinleri, yazarlarının zihnî arka planı, bakış açıları ve disiplindeki yetkinliklerine göre farklılıklar taşır. Tabakâtlar, gerek metinlerin iç organizasyonu ve sunduğu tarihî akışa gerekse dâhil edilen yahut dışarıda bırakılan isimlere göre değişkenlik arz eder. Fıkıh sahasında kaleme alınan ilk tabakâtlar ehl-i hadis zümresine mensup âlimlerin eseri olduğu için fakihlerin tespiti, nesiller boyu takibi ve sıralamasına hadis ve tarih âlimlerinin formasyon ve zihniyetleri yön vermiştir. Bu metinlerde fakih kimliğinin belirgin kılınması ile bir bilgi ve uzmanlık alanı olarak fıkhın ulaştırılması hedeflenen yer ehl-i hadis beklentilerine göre şekillenmiş olup ehl-i re’y fakihleri ya görmezden gelinmiş ya da sahip oldukları mevki ve tesir sahası hafifletilerek kendilerine yer verilmiştir. Bu makalede öncelikle fakihlerle ilgili bilgi sunan ilk kaynaklardan bahsedilecek, ardından bu metinlerde yer verilen fakihlerin neye göre seçildiği ve hangi fikirler ışığında tabakalara ayrıldığı hususlarının üzerinde durulacak, İslam topraklarının genişleyişine bağlı olarak yaşanan ilmî gelişmeler ve hususen fıkhi ilerleyişin bu metinlere nasıl yansıdığı tahlil edilecek, fıkhın doğuşuna eşlik eden esaslı tartışma alanlarının ilk tabakât metinlerine nasıl yansıdığının izleri sürülecektir. Makale, fıkıh ilmi ve mezheplerin teşekkül sürecine tanıklık eden bu ilk metinlerdeki anlatıyı tarih yazımı açısından irdelemeyi hedeflemektedir.
Early Tabaqāt Books as the First Sources of Islamic Law Historiography
In Islamic literary culture, tabaqāt refers to works that systematically compile, in a specific order and sequence, notable individuals who have made significant contributions to a particular science, discipline and governance. The earliest examples of tabaqāt emerged during the second century after the Hegira, reflecting the period’s scientific advancements. These texts vary significantly based on the intellectual background, perspective, and disciplinary expertise of their authors, leading to differences in internal organization, historical narrative, and the inclusion or exclusion of specific figures. The tabaqāt composed in the field of Islamic law (fiqh) were initially authored by scholars associated with the Ahl al-Hadīth movement. Consequently, the identification, tracing, and categorization of jurists across generations in these texts were deeply influenced by the methodologies and perspectives of hadīth and historical scholars. In this context, the portrayal of jurists and the presentation of Islamic law as a domain of knowledge and expertise were shaped by the priorities of the Ahl al-Hadīth. As a result, jurists from the Ahl al-Ra’y school were either excluded or included in ways that downplayed their influence and intellectual contributions. This article will first examine the earliest sources providing information about jurists, focusing on the criteria used to select individuals and categorize them into distinct layers (tabaqāt). It will then explore how scientific developments, particularly those associated with the expansion of Islamic territories and the evolution of Islamic law, were reflected in these texts. Finally, it will analyze how the foundational debates surrounding the emergence of Islamic law were incorporated into the earliest tabaqāt texts. This article aims to examine the narrative in these early texts, which bear witness to the formation of Islamic law and schools, from a historiographical perspective.
The works that compile the biographies of important figures who specialized in a science or art and contributed to the birth, development and continuity of this science/art, and detail their related contributions are known as tabaqāt. Although the systematics and structure of these works vary, they all follow a certain order and sequence. Some of them are organized chronologically, others alphabetically, and some based on city or regional distinctions. In Islamic history, the first examples of the writing of tabaqāt can be found in the second half of the second century after the Hegira, paralleling advancements in various fields of knowledge. The initial tabaqāt texts focused on the companions of the Prophet, transmitters, reciters of al-Qur’ān, hadīth scholars, and poets. These texts serve as foundational sources, documenting not only the distinguished scholars of the early generations but also the developments within their respective fields. The first tabaqāt on scholars of Islamic law (fuqahā) were produced later. Tabaqāt al-Fuqahā wa al-Muhaddithīn by al-Haytham b. ‘Adī (d. 207/822), Tārīkh al-Fuqahā by al-Wāqidī (d. 207 AH), Tabaqāt al-Fuqahā by Muhammad b. Khālid (d. 220/835), and al-Shāzekūnī’s (d. 234 AH) Tārīkh, which is said to be devoted to the faqīhs, are recorded as the first texts in this field. The earliest surviving tabaqāt on jurists is the Andalusian scholar Ibn Habīb al-Sulamī’s (d. 238/853) Tabaqāt al-Fuqahā. Ibn Zanjūya’s Tabaqāt al-Fuqahā wa al-Muhaddithīn and Ibn Sa‘d’s Kitāb al-Ṭabaqāt al-Kabīr are also deserves to be considered among the first sources. Although Ibn Sa‘d’s work aims to document all the prominent figures of the early period, its sections on scholars renowned for their fatwās serve as a source for the writings of the tabaqāt of faqīhs.
The tabaqāt texts vary significantly depending on their authors’ scholarly backgrounds, competence and perspectives. Notably, the earliest tabaqāt on faqīhs were authored by scholars proficient in hadīth and transmission sciences, reflecting the Ahl al-Hadīth mentality. This affiliation influenced the categorization of jurists, the selection of individuals included, and their ranking across generations. The prominence of the identity of the faqīh and the place where fiqh as a field of knowledge and expertise was attempted to be conveyed in the earliest tabaqāt texts were shaped according to the expectations of Ahl al-Hadīth. Since these authors belonged to a certain camp in the Ahl al-Ra’y - Ahl al-Hadīth distinction, which was one of the most decisive themes in the process of the formation of fiqh, they shaped the texts according to their own affiliation and either ignored the Ahl al-Ra’y jurists, whose contributions to the development of fiqh were much more prominent and decisive, or included them by downplaying their position and sphere of influence. The historiography of fiqh in the earliest tabaqāt texts sought to align the development of fiqh with that of hadīth, portraying it as a discipline centered on the transmission of inherited knowledge.
The earliest tabaqāt texts were concerned with the improvement and transmission of religious knowledge in parallel with the spread of Islam. In this respect, the texts that center on Madina expand by following other regions and cities where religious knowledge spread in the first generations. After Madina, some authors immediately mention Mecca, while others continue with Kūfa, where jurisprudential activity was more intense. With the inclusion of Basra, Damascus, Egypt, Khorasān, and, from a certain date onwards, Andalusia among the centers of knowledge, jurists were also classified with reference to these regions/cities. In other words, not only do the tabaqāts present us with the influential jurists of the first generations, but they also provide us with a comprehensive map of jurisprudence in the first generations by indicating in which cities these jurists practiced.
Another aspect to which the authors of tabaqāt texts attach particular importance is the teacherdisciple relationship between the jurists. The idea of ranking the faqīhs through generations/ degrees manifests itself precisely here, and the teacher-disciple lines presented through various cities make clear the lines of development of fiqh in the first two centuries AH. Ibn al-Madīnī’s ‘Ilal and al-Nasāī’s Tasmiya Fuqahā al-Amsār stand out for tracing scholarly/jurisprudential lineages from the companions to the era of the mujtahid eponyms. The narrative in these works gained widespread acceptance and later authors presented the scholarly progress of the first generations by referring to these lineages. However, since the early writers were not yet very warm to the idea of affiliation to a certain school of law and were especially distant from the Kūfa-centered fiqh of ra’y, they often neglected the central importance of jurists like Abū Hanīfa and Mālik b. Anas.
This article examines the role of early tabaqāt works as sources for the historiography of Islamic law from various perspectives. For this purpose, it begins by exploring the first sources that provide information about the faqīhs, analyzes the criteria used to select the included figures, and discusses the authors’ intellectual frameworks. Additionally, it considers how the scholarly developments and especially the jurisprudential progression due to the expansion of Islamic lands were reflected in these texts, and trace how the major areas of debate that accompanied the emergence of Islamic law were reflected in the first tabaqāt texts.
