Al-Jaṣṣās

• Religion — Islam • Occupation — Scholar, Jurist, Mufassir • Era — Islamic Golden Age • Honorific Prefix — Imam • Name — Al-Jaṣṣāṣ • Native Name — الجصاص • Native Name Lang — ar • Born — 917 • Birthplace — Rayy • Died — 981 917 • Place of death — Baghdad • Region — Iraq • Denomination — Mu'tazila • Jurisprudence — Hanafi • Main Interests — Fiqh, Tafsir • Notable Works — Aḥkām al-Qur'ān • Influences — Wasil ibn Ata Abu Hanifa Abū Bakr Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī al-Rāzī, widely known as al-Jaṣṣāṣ (370–305 AH/ 917–981 CE), was a leading Hanafi jurist and Qurʾān exegete in Baghdad of his time. Serving as the Mufti of Iraq, he is best known for authoring Aḥkām al-Qur'ān.

He was born at the year 305 AH (917 CE) in Rayy, a city near present-day Tehran, capital city of Iran.

Abū Bakr al-Jaṣṣāṣ grew up in Rayy. where he studied under the scholars of the city. Later, he travelled in search of higher learning. He left Rayy for Baghdad, where he studied under prominent scholars such as al-Ḥajjāj and al-Kharīkh, among others. When famine struck Baghdad, he moved to al-Ahwāz, but later returned to Baghdad after the situation improved. He then travelled to Nishapur, where he met the judge of Nishapur, Abū al-Ḥasan al-Kārikh, and consulted with him.

He studied under many prominent scholars of his era, including: • Abū Suhayl al-Sajjād al-Thānī • Abū al-Ḥasan al-Karkhī, a leading Hanafi jurist of his time. • Sahl ibn Aḥmad al-Ṭabarī • al-Khabbāz ibn Thaʿlab • Abū al-ʿAbbās al-Muṣʿab • al-Ḥākim al-Nīshābūrī • ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Bahāʾīnī • Abū al-Ḥasan Ibrāhīm ibn ʿAlī al-Shīrāzī

After completing his studies in Nishapur, he returned to Baghdad in 343 AH (954 CE) and assumed the position of a teacher and senior scholar (shaykh al-taʿlīm). Al-Khaṭīb notes that Abū Bakr al-Jaṣṣāṣ exemplified piety and integrity, as he twice declined the appointment to the high office of chief judge (qāḍī al-quḍāt), choosing instead to distance himself from worldly authority.

Abū Bakr al-Jaṣṣāṣ al-Rāzī died on a Sunday in the month of Shaʿbān, in the year 370 AH (980 CE). He was buried in Khwarazm.

Abū Bakr al-Jaṣṣāṣ is often described as having shown an inclination toward Muʿtazilī thought, particularly in certain theological interpretations found in his Aḥkām al-Qurʾān. For example, in his exegesis of Qurʾān 6:103, he asserted that God cannot be seen even in the Hereafter, interpreting texts that suggest otherwise figuratively. He likewise rejected the literal reality of sorcery, viewing it as illusion and deceit, and dismissed reports that the Prophet had been bewitched as fabricated. These positions reflect a rationalist tendency that aligns with Muʿtazilī reasoning, leading some to associate him with the school.