A little known fact about the illustrious Hanafī Imām, Abu l-Husayn Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Qudūrī (362 – 428 H), author of the widely-accepted Hanafī manual of fiqh, Mukhtasar al-Qudūrī, is his being counted amongst the many teachers of al-Khatīb al-Baghdādī (392 – 463 H), the famous hadīth-scholar and historian. The latter even included a notice of al-Qudūrī in his Tārīkh Baghdād.
Al-Khatīb al-Baghdādi said about him:
Al-Khatīb al-Baghdādī also narrates a hadīth from al-Qudūrī which he includes under the biographical notice.
Al-Qudūrī was not only a leading Hanafī jurist, but a learned scholar of hadīth. His works, al-Tajrīd on comparative fiqh and Sharh Mukhtasar al-Karkhī on the detailed rulings and evidences of Hanafī fiqh, bear testimony to this fact. May Allāh have mercy on him, and reward him abundantly on behalf of all who benefited from him and his invaluable contributions. Āmīn.
