Al-Zarnuji

Burhan al-Din or Burhan al-Islam al-Zarnuji also spelled az-Zarnuji (d. 602 AH/1223) was a Muslim scholar and the author of the celebrated pedagogical work Ta'līm al-Muta'allim-Ṭarīq at-Ta'-allum (Instruction of the Student: The Method of Learning).

A manuscript of al-Zarnuji's Ta'līm al-Muta'allim-Ṭarīq at-Ta'-allum

Life

Al-Zarnuj was born and lived in Zarnuj, a well-known town beyond the river Oxus in the present Turkistan. Burhan al-Din(proof of Din) or Burhan al-Islam(proof of Islam) al-Zarnuji were his agnomen, or moniker. Collections of biographies believed that his given name was al-Nu'man ibn Ibrahim.

He studied with many shaykhs including: Shaykh Burhān al-Dīn ‘Alī ibn Abī Bakr al-Marghīnānī (1152–1197) author of Al-Hidāyah, Shaykh Abu al-Muhamid Qawaduddin Hammad ibn Ibrahim al-Saffar; the great Shaykh Hasan ibn Mansur Qadiykhani; and others.

The exact date of his death is unknown, though it is speculated that he died in 602 AH/1223 or 640 AH/1242-1243 in Bukhara.

Works

Al-Zarnuji's treatise, Ta'līm al-Muta'allim-Ṭarīq at-Ta'-allum, is a short introduction to the secrets of attaining knowledge. Acknowledged by many^{[citation needed]} as a book in which even the most advanced and experienced teachers find advice they have yet to apply in their teaching, this book serves to create the proper^{[citation needed]} framework for the Sharia program and its students and teachers alike.

References

• Vida, G. Levi Della (Jul. - Sep., 1948). "Review: Az-Zarnūjī, Ta'līm al-Muta'allim-Ṭarīq at-Ta'-allum. Instruction of the Student: The Method of Learning by G. E. von Grunebaum; Theodora M. Abel". Journal of the American Oriental Society (American Oriental Society) 68 (3): 155–157. doi:10.2307/595783. ISSN 0003-0279. JSTOR 595783. 
• al-Zarnuji, Imam; von Grunebaum, G.E.; Yusuf, Hamza (Foreword) (January 1, 2001). Instruction of the Student: The Method of Learning (2nd ed.). Starlatch, Llc. ISBN 1929694040IS. BN-13: 978-1929694044. 
• Az-Zarnuji Pemandu Santri