born 699, Kfah, Iraq died 767, Baghdad Muslim jurist and theologian. The son of a merchant in Kfah, he gained wealth in the silk trade and studied law under the noted jurist ammd. After ammd's death (738), Ab anfah became his successor. He was the first to develop systematic legal doctrines from the accumulated Islamic legal tradition. Primarily a scholar, he neither accepted a judgeship nor took direct part in court politics; he supported the successors of Al over the ruling Umayyad and Abbsid dynasties. His doctrinal system became one of four canonical schools of Islamic law (Sharia) and is still widely followed in India, Pakistan, Turkey, Central Asia, and Arab countries