Al-Ba'uni

Al-Bā'ūnī is an Arabic family name (or nisba) most famously denoting the prominent dynasty of scholars and jurists descending from Nāṣir b. Khalīfa b. Faradj al-Nāṣirī al-Bā'unī al-Shāfi'ī, who began life as a weaver in the village of Bā'ūn (or Bā'ūna) in Hauran. Leaving around 750/1349 for Nazareth, Nāṣir had the following prominent descenants before the dynasty disappears from the historical record:^[1]

• Nāṣir
  • Ismā'īl (who became a sufi and deputy qadi in Nazareth)
  • Aḥmad (b. Nazareth c. 751/1350, d. Damascus 816/1413). He 'was at various times the Friday preacher at the al-Aqṣá Mosque in Jerusalem, the Friday preacher at the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, the Shafi‘i judge of Damascus and, for two months, of Egypt, as well'.^[2] Aḥmad became shaykh al-shuyūkh under Sultan Barqūq (r. 784–801/1382–99), 'but he fell from royal grace for refusing to lend the sultan funds from religious endowments. Aḥmad wrote a commentary on the Quran and a poem on proper religious belief, and was considered an excellent preacher'.^[2]
    • Ibrāhīm (b. Safed 777/1375, d. Damascus 870/1464×65; inter alia, deputy qadi of Damascus; khatib of the Umayyad Mosque and the Al-Aqsa Mosque; nāẓir al-ḥaramayn (supervisor of the Muslim holy places of Jerusalem and Hebron); and teacher of Al-Sakhawi). 'His fine literary abilities won him the title "Master of Literature in the Land of Syria".'^[3]
    • Muḥammad (b. Damascus 780/1378, d. Damascus 871/1466; khatib of the Umayyad Mosque)
    • Yūsuf (b. Jerusalem 805/1402, d. Damascus 880/1475; qadi in Safed, Tripoli, Aleppo, and Damascus, 'fondly remembered as one of the best Shafi‘i judges of Damascus')^[4] Yusuf had at least five sons.^[3] His most prominent children were:
      • 'A'isha (b. Damascus, d. Damascus 922/1516; possibly the most prolific female writer of the Middle Ages)^[5]
      • Aḥmad (d. 910/1505; poet)
      • Muḥammad (d. 916/1510; poet)^[1]

The family is noted for its interest in Islamic mysticism and Sufism; 'many members of the Bū‘ūnī family ... were buried in a family plot adjacent to the zāwiyah of the Sufi master Abū Bakr ibn Dūwūd (d. 806/1403). This strongly suggests their attachment to this Sufi and his descendents, who were affiliated with the Urmawī branch of the Qādirīyah order'.^[6] Several of the family's female members, including 'A'isha al-Ba'uniyya, married members of another prominent Damascus family, Ibn Naqīb al-Ashrāf, who were noted for being descendants of Muhammad.^[7]

References

1. W. A. S. Khalidi, 'AL-BĀ'ŪNĪ', in The Encyclopaedia of Islam, new edn by H. A. R. Gibb and others (Leiden: Brill, 1960-2009), I 1109-10.
2. Th. Emil Homerin, 'Living Love: The Mystical Writings of ʿĀ’ishah al-Bāʿūniyyah (d. 922/1516)', Mamluk Studies Review, 7 (2003), 211-34 (p. 211); http://mamluk.uchicago.edu/MSR_VII-1_2003-Homerin_pp211-234.pdf.
3. Th. Emil Homerin, 'Living Love: The Mystical Writings of ʿĀ’ishah al-Bāʿūniyyah (d. 922/1516)', Mamluk Studies Review, 7 (2003), 211-34 (p. 212); http://mamluk.uchicago.edu/MSR_VII-1_2003-Homerin_pp211-234.pdf.
4. Th. Emil Homerin, 'Writing Sufi Biography: The Case of ‘Ā’ishah al-Bā‘ūn?yah (d. 922/1517)', The Muslim World, 96 (2006), 389-99 (p. 391); DOI: 10.1111/j.1478-1913.2006.00135.x.
5. Tahera Qutbuddin, 'Women Poets', in Medieval Islamic Civilisation: An Encyclopedia, ed. by Josef W. Meri, 2 vols (New York: Routledge, 2006), II 865-67 (p. 866), http://nelc.uchicago.edu/sites/nelc.uchicago.edu/files/2006%20Women%20Poets%20(Med.%20Islamic.%20Civ.%20Enc.).pdf.
6. Th. Emil Homerin, 'Living Love: The Mystical Writings of ʿĀ’ishah al-Bāʿūniyyah (d. 922/1516)', Mamluk Studies Review, 7 (2003), 211-34 (p. 213); http://mamluk.uchicago.edu/MSR_VII-1_2003-Homerin_pp211-234.pdf.
7. Th. Emil Homerin, 'Living Love: The Mystical Writings of ʿĀ’ishah al-Bāʿūniyyah (d. 922/1516)', Mamluk Studies Review, 7 (2003), 211-34 (pp. 214-15); http://mamluk.uchicago.edu/MSR_VII-1_2003-Homerin_pp211-234.pdf.