Who is “Abū Yūsuf al-Qāḍī,” the author of the book Laṭāʾif al-Maʿārif?!

While reading and researching in the book of Ḥāfiẓ Mughlṭāy ibn Qulīj al-Ḥanafī (d. 762H), Ikmāl Tahdhīb al-Kamāl, I found him quoting in several places from a book which he called Laṭāʾif al-Maʿārif and attributed it to “Abū Yūsuf al-Qāḍī.” In some places in the printed editions, this was corrupted into “Abū Mūsā” or “Ibn Yūsuf”!

Mughlṭāy would use his kunyah without ever mentioning his full name. Sometimes he would say “Abū Yūsuf,” and sometimes: “al-Qāḍī Abū Yūsuf.”

In one place, according to the printed edition, it says: “Abū Yūsuf al-Madāʾinī”!

I set out to search for this book and its author, but I was not able to find anything. Mughlṭāy – may Allāh have mercy on him – was extremely well-read, with an enormous library and abundant sources, such that scholars after him often quoted from lost works through his transmission.

Indeed, no one before Mughlṭāy mentioned this book, and everyone who quotes it after him only does so through Mughlṭāy – and Allāh knows best.

The basic assumption when Mughlṭāy cites an author only with his kunyah, like “al-Qāḍī Abū Yūsuf” or “Abū Yūsuf,” is that he was someone well-known and famous among the scholars, as was his book – similar to when one says: “al-Shāfiʿī said,” or “Mālik said,” or “Aḥmad said,” or “Ibn al-Madīnī said,” and so on.

But I have not found anyone else who pointed to this book, and it appears that those who did quote from it only did so from Mughlṭāy. Was Mughlṭāy perhaps concealing the author’s true identity by using only his kunyah? – And Allāh knows best.

Among the scholars, when the name “Abū Yūsuf al-Qāḍī” is mentioned, it usually refers to the famous companion of Abū Ḥanīfah, Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm al-Kūfī (d. 182H). For this reason, the researcher Aḥmad Kāmil Jāmlīn in his master’s thesis Mawārid al-Ḥāfiẓ Mughlṭāy fī Kitābihi Ikmāl Tahdhīb al-Kamāl – from vol. 1 to vol. 6 (1434H / 2013, King Saud University, supervised by Dr. ʿAlī al-Ṣayyāḥ) attributed this book to Abū Yūsuf al-Qāḍī, the companion of Abū Ḥanīfah!

Also, among those who attributed this book to Abū Ḥanīfah’s companion was Dr. ʿĀʾishah ʿAbd al-Raḥmān (Bint al-Shāṭiʾ), in her edition of al-Balqīnī’s (d. 805H) Maḥāsin al-Iṣṭilāḥ (pp. 872, 897 in the indexes).

And many of those I asked among students of knowledge, as well as those who answered my online query about this book, also claimed that its author was al-Qāḍī Abū Yūsuf, the companion of Abū Ḥanīfah!

But this cannot be correct for several reasons:

First: In his time, such works of “laṭāʾif” (subtle benefits) were not known to be compiled.

Second: His concern was fiqh, not Laṭāʾif al-Maʿārif or issues of narrators and biographies.

Third: Despite the abundance of those who wrote his biography, no one ever mentioned that he had such a book.

Fourth: The genre of “al-Maʿārif” was initiated by Ibn Qutaybah (d. 276H), which was decades after Abū Yūsuf al-Qāḍī’s death. Later came writings titled Laṭāʾif al-Maʿārif, the most famous being that of al-Thaʿālibī (d. 430H).

Neither of these two mentioned any such book attributed to Abū Yūsuf al-Qāḍī, the companion of Abū Ḥanīfah.

Fifth: This Abū Yūsuf quotes from Abū al-ʿAbbās al-Mubarrad (d. 286H).

Mughlṭāy said in al-Ikmāl (5/184): “And Abū Yūsuf claimed in al-Laṭāʾif, quoting from al-Mubarrad, that he said…”

Thus it is impossible that this Abū Yūsuf is the companion of Abū Ḥanīfah – since how could he quote from al-Mubarrad, who was not even born at the time of his death? There is over a hundred years between their deaths!

Sixth: Mughlṭāy mentioned in al-Ikmāl (8/51), in the biography of Mūsā ibn ʿUbaydah al-Rabaḍī: “Ibn Qutaybah said: There were eighty years between Mūsā and his brother ʿAbdullāh (i.e., in age). Abū Yūsuf in Laṭāʾif al-Maʿārif added: ‘Such a thing is unheard of.’”

This shows that Abū Yūsuf’s book came after Ibn Qutaybah’s, since Mughlṭāy is stating that Abū Yūsuf “added” to what Ibn Qutaybah said.

Therefore, it is impossible that the author of Laṭāʾif al-Maʿārif was the famous Abū Yūsuf al-Qāḍī, the companion of Abū Ḥanīfah.

In the printed edition of al-Ikmāl (1/245, 2/20) it appears as: “In the Laṭāʾif of Abū Mūsā…”.

And also (2/328): “In the book al-Laṭāʾif of Abū Yūsuf al-Madāʾinī…”!

So I thought perhaps the real author of the book was “Abū Mūsā al-Madīnī,” the well-known ḥāfiẓ who died in 581H – and that “Mūsā” had been mistakenly copied as “Yūsuf,” since their script looks the same. He was also sometimes referred to as “al-Madāʾinī.”

I excluded that for the following reasons:

First: The majority of the texts with Mughlṭāy, and from those who transmitted from this book, explicitly stated that it is “Abū Yūsuf,” not “Abū Mūsá.”

Second: The book of Abū Mūsá in al-Laṭāʾif is specific to certain fine points of the science of ḥadīth, and its name is al-Laṭāʾif min Daqāʾiq al-Maʿārif, while the book we are searching for regarding its author is broader than that.

Third: When Mughlṭāy mentions Abū Mūsá, he ascribes him. For indeed, he mentioned him in al-Ikmāl (1/230) and said: “And in the book Aḥādīth al-Tābiʿīn by al-Ḥāfiẓ Abū Mūsá al-Madīnī al-Aṣbahānī…”

Fourth: In what we have seen of the biographies of al-Ḥāfiẓ Abū Mūsā al-Madīnī, it is not mentioned that he was ever a judge (qāḍī).

Thus, it is impossible that this is Abū Mūsá al-Madīnī, and what occurred in the previously cited passages of al-Ikmāl must be scribal errors, as the printed edition is poor and filled with many mistakes.

So, “wa-fī Laṭāʾif Abī Mūsá” is a corruption, and the correct wording is: “wa-fī Laṭāʾif Abī Yūsuf.”

And “li-Abī Yūsuf al-Madāʾinī” is perhaps a corruption from “li-Abī Yūsuf al-Qāḍī,” and Allah knows best.

And here I stand unable to identify the author of this book: “Abū Yūsuf al-Qāḍī”!!

Citations transmitted from Laṭāʾif al-Maʿārif

And these are the texts that Mughlataī and others transmitted from his book:

Mughlataī said in al-Ikmāl (1/245), in the biography of “Ibrāhīm ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf”:
“And in the Laṭāʾif of Abū Yūsuf: He was short, stocky (daḥdāḥ), and he married Sukaynah bint al-Ḥusayn, but she did not approve of him and sought khulʿ from him.”

In the printed edition: “And in the Laṭāʾif of Abū Mūsá…” — and this is a scribal error.
Mughlataī said in al-Ikmāl (2/20), in the biography of “al-Aḥnaf ibn Qays”:
“And in the Laṭāʾif of Abū Yūsuf: He was bald, with crowded teeth, and a slanted chin.”

In the printed edition: “Abī Mūsá” — which is a scribal error.

Mughlataī also transmitted it in al-Inābah ilá Maʿrifat al-Mukhtalaf fīhim min al-Ṣaḥābah (1/53), saying:
“Abū Yūsuf said in his book Laṭāʾif al-Maʿārif: He was bald, with crowded teeth, and a slanted chin.”

Ibn al-Mulaqqin (d. 804H) also transmitted it in al-Tawḍīḥ li-Sharḥ al-Jāmiʿ al-Ṣaḥīḥ (10/256):
“And Abū Yūsuf said in Laṭāʾif al-Maʿārif: He was bald, with crowded teeth, and a slanted chin.”

And al-ʿAynī (d. 855H) said in ʿUmdat al-Qārī (8/264):
“And in Laṭāʾif al-Maʿārif by Abū Yūsuf: He was bald, with crowded teeth, and a slanted chin.”
Mughlataī said in al-Ikmāl (2/328), in the biography of “Ayyūb al-Sakhtiyānī”:
“And in the book al-Laṭāʾif of Abū Yūsuf al-Madāʾinī [the judge]: Ayyūb died in the plague after which Baṣrah was never struck by plague again. On the day Ayyūb died, between seven and eight thousand people perished. Its beginning was in Shaʿbān, it continued through Ramaḍān, and reached into Shawwāl.”

I say: “al-Madāʾinī” here is perhaps a corruption from “al-Qāḍī,” because Mughlataī mentioned “al-Qāḍī” in more than one place. And Allah knows best.
Mughlataī said in al-Ikmāl (4/60), in the biography of “Ḥassān ibn Thābit (the Companion)”:
“And in the Laṭāʾif of Abū Yūsuf: The most deeply rooted people in poetry were Saʿīd ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Ḥassān ibn Thābit ibn al-Mundhir ibn Ḥarām — these six were all poets. And the family of Abū Ḥafṣah… among them were ten, if poetry was revealed it would…”

I say: al-Mubarrad said: “The most deeply rooted people in poetry were the family of Ḥassān. For they were six in succession, each one a poet: Saʿīd ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Ḥassān ibn Thābit ibn al-Mundhir ibn Ḥarām.”

Meaning: Saʿīd was a poet, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān was a poet, Ḥassān was a poet, Thābit was a poet, al-Mundhir was a poet, and Ḥarām was a poet.

And al-Thaʿālibī said: “The most deeply rooted people in poetry were the family of Ḥafṣah. They inherited poetry, one generation after another, ten in succession. The first was Abū Ḥafṣah, the mawla of ʿUthmān, then Yaḥyá ibn Abī Ḥafṣah, then Sulaymān ibn Yaḥyá, then Marwān ibn Sulaymān, then Abū al-Janūb ibn Marwān, then Marwān ibn Abī al-Janūb, then Yaḥyá ibn Marwān, then Maḥmūd ibn Marwān, then Mutawwij ibn Maḥmūd, then al-Muʾammal ibn Jamīl.”

So, it seems what Abū Yūsuf al-Qāḍī said was taken from al-Mubarrad and al-Thaʿālibī. This indicates that he came after al-Thaʿālibī, as was previously clarified. And Allah knows best.
Mughlataī said in al-Ikmāl (4/222), in the biography of “al-Khalīl ibn Aḥmad al-Farāhīdī”:
“And in Laṭāʾif al-Maʿārif of Abū Yūsuf: al-Khalīl was the most knowledgeable.”
Mughlataī said in al-Ikmāl (5/184), in the biography of “Sālim ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb”:

“And al-Jawharī claimed in his book al-Ṣaḥīḥ that the skin between the eye and the nose is called ‘Sālim,’ citing as evidence the verse of ʿAbd Allāh:

They divert me away from Sālim while I turn them away, // and the skin between the eye and the nose is ‘Sālim’.

But this is a strange statement that none followed him in. They gave another meaning more suitable, which is abundance of compassion, because between these two organs lies the noblest organ of the face. And it resembles what Zāhir al-Bakrī said in his verse:

I fear that Yazīd ibn Zāhir may perish, // and the skin between the eyebrows is Yazīd.

And Abū Yūsuf claimed in his book al-Laṭāʾif, citing al-Mubarrad, that the one referred to in this verse was Sālim, the mawla of Hishām, not Sālim ibn ʿAbd Allāh.

And Abū ʿUbayd ascribed it in al-Ansāb to ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muʿāwiyah, in his son al-Asīm, whose name was Sālim.”

Ibn al-Abbār al-Balansī (d. 658 AH) said in Iʿtāb al-Kuttāb (p. 62):

“Sālim, the client of Hishām ibn ʿAbd al-Malik: he used to manage for him the Bureau of Correspondence, and he was one of those who became notable in writing. Abū Bakr aṣ-Ṣūlī related that Abū Salamah al-Khallāl, vizier of Abū al-ʿAbbās as-Saffāḥ, disapproved of something he heard about Abū al-ʿAbbās at a certain time. Abū al-ʿAbbās as-Saffāḥ denied it and appeased Abū Salamah, and said to him:

Hishām ibn ʿAbd al-Malik brought pressure against his client and scribe Sālim, and he was slandered before him, so he said:

They turn me away from Sālim, and I turn them away, // and the skin between the eye and the nose is Sālim.

And you are the skin of my whole face.”
Maghlaṭāy said in al-Ikmāl (6/159) in the biography of Sawwār ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Qāḍī:
“And in al-Laṭāʾif of Abū Yūsuf: he was among the most knowledgeable of people in judiciary. His father judged for al-Mahdī, and his grandfather judged for al-Manṣūr.”
Maghlaṭāy said in al-Ikmāl (6/256) in the biography of Shuʿbah ibn al-Ḥajjāj:
“Abū Yūsuf said in his book Laṭāʾif al-Maʿārif which he authored: Shuʿbah remained in his mother’s womb for two years.”
Maghlaṭāy said in al-Ikmāl (7/29) in the biography of aḍ-Ḍaḥḥāk ibn Muzāḥim al-Hilālī:
“And Abū Yūsuf mentioned in his book Laṭāʾif al-Maʿārif that he remained in his mother’s womb for sixteen months.”
Maghlaṭāy said in al-Ikmāl (7/70) in the biography of Ṭalḥah ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Khalaf, known as Ṭalḥat al-Ṭalḥāt:
“And Abū Yūsuf said in al-Laṭāʾif: he lost an eye, and al-Muhallab (lost his) at Samarqand.”
Maghlaṭāy said in al-Ikmāl (7/70) in the biography of Ṭalḥah ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān ibn Abī Bakr aṣ-Ṣiddīq:
“Abū Yūsuf said in his book Laṭāʾif al-Maʿārif: this Ṭalḥah was known as Ṭalḥat ad-Dirāhim.”
Maghlaṭāy said in al-Ikmāl (8/51) in the biography of Mūsā ibn ʿUbaydah ar-Rabadhī:
“And Ibn Qutaybah said: between Mūsā and his brother ʿAbd Allāh – meaning in age – was eighty years. Abū Yūsuf added in his book Laṭāʾif al-Maʿārif: such a case is unprecedented.”

(In the printed edition: “Ibn Yūsuf added” – this is a corruption. The correct is: “Abū Yūsuf.”)
Maghlaṭāy said in al-Ikmāl (8/64) in the biography of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Quḥāfah Abī Bakr aṣ-Ṣiddīq:
“And in al-Laṭāʾif of Abū Yūsuf: his father was called ‘Shārib adh-Dhahab’ (‘the Gold-Drinker’) due to the purity of his complexion, as if he drank gold.”
Maghlaṭāy said in al-Ikmāl (8/370) in the biography of ʿAbd al-Wārith ibn ʿAbd aṣ-Ṣamad:
“And al-Qāḍī Abū Yūsuf said in his book Laṭāʾif al-Maʿārif that he was …”

[ellipsis in the original]
Maghlaṭāy said in al-Ikmāl (9/245) in the biography of ʿAṭāʾ ibn as-Sāʾib:
“And in the book Laṭāʾif al-Maʿārif of al-Qāḍī Abū Yūsuf: ʿAṭāʾ said: ‘I lost my eyesight forty years ago, and no one has known of it until this day.’”
Maghlaṭāy said in al-Ikmāl (11/154) in the biography of Masrūq ibn al-Ajdaʿ:
“And in Laṭāʾif al-Maʿārif of Abū Yūsuf: Masrūq was paralyzed, hunchbacked, and crippled.”
Ibn al-Mulaqqin said in at-Tawḍīḥ li-Sharḥ al-Jāmiʿ aṣ-Ṣaḥīḥ (19/322) and mentioned al-Aqraʿ ibn Ḥābis:
“And Abū Yūsuf said in his book Laṭāʾif al-Maʿārif: he was deaf along with being bald and one-eyed.”

And al-ʿAynī said in ʿUmdat al-Qārī (15/229):
“And in at-Tawḍīḥ, in the book Laṭāʾif al-Maʿārif of Abū Yūsuf: al-Aqraʿ was deaf along with his baldness and one-eyedness.”

I (Khalid al-Ḥāyik) said: al-ʿAynī transmits from the book of Ibn al-Mulaqqin, and despite his closeness in time to Maghlaṭāy, it seems he did not access the book of Abū Yūsuf. I do not rule out that Ibn al-Mulaqqin transmitted what relates to al-Aqraʿ and what comes after from the book of Maghlaṭāy, and likewise what will come from Ibn Ḥajar’s Kitāb aṣ-Ṣaḥābah. The style of transmission is like the style of Maghlaṭāy, and the printed edition of Maghlaṭāy’s book that is with us has great deficiencies, and Allāh knows best.
Ibn al-Mulaqqin said in at-Tawḍīḥ li-Sharḥ al-Jāmiʿ aṣ-Ṣaḥīḥ (20/39):
“And in Laṭāʾif al-Maʿārif of Abū Yūsuf: there is no Arab on earth except that he is from the descendants of Ismāʿīl, except the Awzāʿ, Ḥaḍramawt, and Thaqīf.”
Ibn al-Mulaqqin said in al-Muqniʿ fī ʿUlūm al-Ḥadīth (2/533):
“An example of the one hundred (i.e. those to whom one hundred children were born) is a group mentioned by al-Qāḍī Abū Yūsuf in his book Laṭāʾif al-Maʿārif, where he said: and among those to whom one hundred children were born in Islam: Khalīfah ibn as-Saʿdī, Jaʿfar ibn Sulaymān al-Hāshimī, and ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmayr al-Laythī.”

And al-Bulqīnī said in Maḥāsin al-Iṣṭilāḥ (p. 535):
“An example of the hundred is what al-Qāḍī Abū Yūsuf mentioned in his book Laṭāʾif al-Maʿārif: and among those to whom one hundred children were born in Islam: Jaʿfar ibn Sulaymān al-Hāshimī, ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmayr al-Laythī, and Khalīfah ibn as-Saʿdī.”
Ibn Ḥajar said in al-Iṣābah fī Tamyīz aṣ-Ṣaḥābah (2/226):
“And Abū Yūsuf mentioned in his book al-Laṭāʾif, from aḍ-Ḍaḥḥāk, that the Prophet ﷺ sent al-Miqdād and az-Zubayr to bring down Khubayb from his crucifixion post. They reached at-Tanʿīm and found around him forty men intoxicated, so they took him down. Az-Zubayr carried him on his horse, while his body was still fresh and unchanged. The polytheists pursued them, so when they caught up, az-Zubayr cast him down, and the earth swallowed him, and so he was named Baliʿ al-Arḍ (the Swallowed-by-the-Earth).”

And as-Suyūṭī said in al-Khaṣāʾiṣ al-Kubrā (1/367):
“And Abū Yūsuf narrated in his book al-Laṭāʾif from aḍ-Ḍaḥḥāk …”

So these are the citations I found from this book of Abū Yūsuf, and most of them are from the book of Maghlaṭāy. I think the last four are also from his book, because those who transmitted them did so in the same style as Maghlaṭāy, and the printed edition of his book that is with us has much missing, and Allāh knows best.
I also found in al-Majālis al-Waʿẓiyyah fī Sharḥ Aḥādīth Khayr al-Bariyyah (1/306) by Muḥammad ibn ʿUmar ibn Aḥmad as-Safīrī ash-Shāfiʿī (d. 956 AH) a “laṭīfah” transmitted from the book Laṭāʾif al-Maʿārif, but he did not mention the name of its author. It is possible that it is from the book of Abū Yūsuf, and Allāh knows best.

As-Safīrī said:

“A suitable anecdote: It is transmitted in the book Laṭāʾif al-Maʿārif from ʿAwn ibn ʿUqbah that he said: A king from among those before you built a city, beautifying its construction. Then he prepared food, invited the people to it, and placed men at its gates to ask everyone who exited: ‘Did you see any flaw in it?’ They would say: ‘No.’ Until at the end came some ascetics, who were asked: ‘Did you see any flaw in it?’ They said: ‘Two flaws.’ So they were admitted to the king, who said to them: ‘Did you see any flaw in it?’ They said: ‘We saw two flaws.’ He said: ‘What are they?’ They said: ‘It will fall into ruin, and its owner will die.’ Then they invited him and urged him, so he responded and abandoned his kingdom, and worshiped with them until he died. ʿAwn related this to ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, and it affected him greatly, and fear intensified upon him because of it, and he intended to abdicate. Then his cousin Maslamah came to him and said: ‘Fear Allāh, O Commander of the Faithful, regarding the Ummah of Muḥammad ﷺ. For by Allāh, if you do it, the people will kill one another with their swords.’ So he said: ‘Woe to you, O Maslamah! You have burdened me with what I cannot bear.’ And he kept repeating it, while Maslamah implored him until he calmed down.”

And the question remains: Who is this “Abū Yūsuf al-Qāḍī,” the author of Laṭāʾif al-Maʿārif?!

Written by: Khālid al-Ḥāyik — 23 Dhū al-Ḥijjah 1441 AH.