Muhammad bin Ahmad bin Abi Sahl Abu Bakr as-Sarakhsi (Persian: محمد بن احمد بن ابي سهل ابو بكر السرخسي), was a Persian Islamic scholar of the Hanafi school of Fiqh. He was traditionally known as Shams al-A'imma شمس الأئمة (The sun of the leaders).
He is an influential jurist in the Hanafi school where the tradition is reported to have been that: "when in doubt, follow Sarakhsi". Both al-Kasani and Burhan al-Din al-Marghinani, in their fiqh books Bada'i' al-Sana'i' and al-Hidaya, have extensively drawn upon the discussions and legal reasonings presented in as-Sarakhsi's al-Mabsut and Usul as-Sarakhsi.
as-Sarakhsi was born in Sarakhs, a city in Greater Khorasan, which is presently located at the border between Iran and Turkmenistan. He died in 483/1090 or in 490/1096, according to different sources. He studied under the great Hanafi Shaykh, 'Abd al-'Aziz al-Halwani who was also a teacher of al-Bazdawi.
Not much is known about his early life, though some clues are found in his works. It is said that as-Sarakhsi was imprisoned due to his opinion on a juristic matter concerning a ruler; he criticized the king by questioning the validity of his marriage to a slave woman. He spent around fifteen years in prison. While he was imprisoned he wrote the Mabsut and some of his other most important works. He is known for his remarkable memory, (he was able to recall many texts when he was held in prison) as well as his intelligence.
al-Sarakhsi's opinions on law have been widely cited and he has been thought of as a distinctive writer. His main works are the Usul al-Fiqh, the Kitab al-Mabsut, and the Sharh al-Siyar al-Kabir.
His book Usool as-Sarakhsi is currently being printed in 3 huge volumes on yellow paper, each volume containing over 400 pages.
