ABDULLAH IBN UMAR’S CONTRIBUTION TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF ISLAMIC LAW

Abstract

This article analyzes the jurisprudential school of 
ʿAbdullah ibn ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with him), one of the 
most renowned jurists among the Companions of the Prophet, his 
method of ijtihad, his approach to hadith and Sunnah, and his 
influence on subsequent Islamic legal schools. Ibn ʿUmar was 
recognized among the Companions as a preeminent scholar of the 
Sunnah, noted for his exceptional caution in issuing fatwas and 
as a distinguished representative of practical jurisprudence. His 
fatwas subsequently influenced the Madinan school of jurisprudence 
formed under Malik ibn Anas as well as the other principal schools 
of Islamic law. The article examines his biographical background, 
military participation, political neutrality during the period of fitna, 
his role as a hadith transmitter (over 2,630 hadiths), the foundations 
of his jurisprudential school, the “golden chain” of transmission 
through Nafiʿ, his positions on worship, commercial transactions, 
family law, and his ascetic spiritual life, and his enduring influence 
on Imam Malik, al-Shafiʿi, and Ahmad ibn Hanbal.