Al-Ba'uni
Al-Bā'ūnī is an Arabic family name (or nisba) most famously denoting the prominent dynasty of scholars and jurists descending from Nāṣir b. Khalīfa b. Faradj al-Nāṣirī al-Bā'unī al-Shāfi'ī, who began life as a weaver in the village of Bā'ūn (or Bā'ūna) in Hauran. Leaving around 750/1349 for Nazareth, Nāṣir had the following prominent descendants before the dynasty disappears from the historical record:[1]
- Nāṣir
- Ismā'īl (who became a sufi and deputy qadi in Nazareth)
- Aḥmad (b. Nazareth c. 751/1350, d. Damascus 816/1413). He 'was at various times the Friday preacher at the al-Aqṣá Mosque in Jerusalem, the Friday preacher at the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, the Shafi‘i judge of Damascus and, for two months, of Egypt, as well'.[2] Aḥmad became shaykh al-shuyūkh under Sultan Barqūq (r. 784–801/1382–99), 'but he fell from royal grace for refusing to lend the sultan funds from religious endowments. Aḥmad wrote a commentary on the Quran and a poem on proper religious belief, and was considered an excellent preacher'.[2]
- Ibrāhīm (b. Safed 777/1375, d. Damascus 870/1464×65; inter alia, deputy qadi of Damascus; khatib of the Umayyad Mosque and the Al-Aqsa Mosque; nāẓir al-ḥaramayn (supervisor of the Muslim holy places of Jerusalem and Hebron); and teacher of Al-Sakhawi). 'His fine literary abilities won him the title "Master of Literature in the Land of Syria".'[3]
- Muḥammad (b. Damascus 780/1378, d. Damascus 871/1466; khatib of the Umayyad Mosque)
- Yūsuf (b. Jerusalem 805/1402, d. Damascus 880/1475; qadi in Safed, Tripoli, Aleppo, and Damascus, 'fondly remembered as one of the best Shafi‘i judges of Damascus')[4] Yusuf had at least five sons.[3] His most prominent children were:
The family is noted for its interest in Islamic mysticism and Sufism; 'many members of the Bū'ūnī family ... were buried in a family plot adjacent to the zāwiyah of the Sufi master Abū Bakr ibn Dūwūd (d. 806/1403). This strongly suggests their attachment to this Sufi and his descendants, who were affiliated with the Urmawī branch of the Qādirīyah order'.[6] Several of the family's female members, including 'A'isha al-Ba'uniyya, married members of another prominent Damascus family, Ibn Naqīb al-Ashrāf, who were noted for being descendants of Muhammad.[7]