Al-Qassab

Qassab lived in Karaj in Central Iran. He died in the year 360 according to the Islamic calendar, corresponding to 970 on the Gregorian calendar.^[3] Having been a soldier under the Abbasid Caliphate, he received the nicknamed Qassab or "the butcher" due to his skill on the battlefield and the large number of opponents he slayed.^[4]

Qassab was considered among mainstream dogmatics, and was staunchly opposed to both the Mu'tazila and the Jahmites.^[5][6][7] In his exegesis of the Qur'an, he would often refer to linguistic arguments in order to prove his point.^[1] Qassab was noted among Muslim theologians as holding the view that the testimony of a convicted criminal could later be accepted in unrelated cases if they performed a public repentance for their own crime.^[8] Like Ibn Hazm who would come after him, Qassab did not accept the Hadith regarding rejection of the convict's testimony as authentically linked to the Islamic prophet Muhammad.^[9] The issue is a much debated one in Islamic law.

Qassab authored an exegesis of the Qur'an centered on its applications in Islamic law.^[10]