ʿUmar ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Khiraqī

ʿUmar ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Khiraqī (299-334 AH / 911-945 CE)

Abū al-Qāsim ʿUmar ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad al-Baghdādī al-Khiraqī al-Ḥanbalī was a distinguished jurist of the Ḥanbalī school and author of the renowned al-Mukhtaṣar, one of the earliest and most influential compendia of Ḥanbalī jurisprudence.

Born in Baghdad, al-Khiraqī received his early education from his father, al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Khiraqī (d. 299 AH), himself a respected ḥadīth transmitter and companion of Abū Bakr al-Marwazī, a leading disciple of Imām Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal. Through his teachers and family, al-Khiraqī was closely connected to the direct students of Imām Aḥmad, studying under scholars who had themselves learned from Abū Bakr al-Marwazī, Ḥarb al-Kirmānī, and Ṣāliḥ and ʿAbd Allāh, the two sons of Imām Aḥmad.

Al-Khiraqī rose to prominence as a jurist and author in Baghdad. He was noted for his learning, eloquence, and asceticism. His legal writings reflected a clear and systematic approach to the doctrines of the Ḥanbalī school. Among his numerous works, only his celebrated al-Mukhtaṣar—an abridgment encompassing approximately 2,300 legal questions—survived and achieved wide circulation. Later authorities such as Ibn Qudāmah built upon this foundational text, making it a cornerstone of Ḥanbalī legal literature.

During the turbulent political and theological climate of ʿAbbāsid Baghdad, sectarian tensions intensified under the Būyid dynasty (mid-4th/10th century), when public revilement of the Prophet’s Companions became prevalent. In protest against this practice, al-Khiraqī emigrated from Baghdad, leaving behind his books and manuscripts. He entrusted his library to a house in Darb Sulaymān, but the building later caught fire, destroying nearly all of his works.

After leaving Baghdad, al-Khiraqī settled in Damascus, where he continued his scholarly activity until his death. His Mukhtaṣar contains an instructive historical note in the chapter on pilgrimage, where he writes: “If the Black Stone is still there,” a reference to the Qarmaṭian seizure of the Black Stone from the Kaʿbah in 317 AH (929 CE), which was not returned to Mecca until 337 AH (948 CE).

Al-Khiraqī’s students included several notable Ḥanbalī jurists such as Abū ʿAbd Allāh ibn Baṭṭah, Abū al-Ḥusayn al-Tamīmī, and Abū al-Ḥusayn ibn Shamʿūn, who transmitted his teachings and ensured the continuation of his legacy.

He died in Damascus in 334 AH / 945 CE, and was buried in the Bāb al-Ṣaghīr cemetery, near the graves of early martyrs—a site later visited by Ibn Baṭṭah, al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī, and other scholars.

Al-Khiraqī remains a pivotal figure in the Ḥanbalī tradition: his Mukhtaṣar became the first authoritative digest of Aḥmad’s school, serving as the basis for later commentaries such as Ibn Qudāmah’s al-Mughnī. Through this work, his intellectual legacy profoundly shaped the structure and development of Ḥanbalī jurisprudence for centuries to come.