Abu Bakr ibn Furak

Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn al-Hasan ibn Furak (al-Isbahani al-Shafi'i) was one of the principal figures who carried the theological school of al-Ash'ari into the eastern Iranian region of Khurasan. He was born in Isfahan, traditionally placed around 941 CE (about 330 AH), though the exact year is not securely recorded. He pursued his studies in the Iraqi centers of learning, Basra and Baghdad, where he trained in kalam — speculative or rational theology — under Abu al-Hasan al-Bahili, reportedly alongside two scholars who became equally famous, al-Baqillani and Abu Ishaq al-Isfarayini. He also studied hadith, the reports of the Prophet Muhammad's words and deeds.

From Iraq he moved to Rayy and then to Nishapur, then a great hub of Shafi'i law and Ash'ari theology, where, according to the sources, a madrasa (teaching college) was built for him. There he taught, wrote, and disputed — notably against the Karramiyya, a rival theological movement. Reports hold that the Karramiyya sought to have him condemned before Sultan Mahmud of Ghazna, but that Mahmud summoned him, questioned him, and cleared him. Tradition relates that on his journey back from Ghazna he was poisoned and died in 406 AH (1015 CE); the accounts of exactly how differ. He was buried in the al-Hira quarter of Nishapur. He is remembered above all for distilling and transmitting al-Ash'ari's teaching to later generations.