Jaʿfar b. Abī Yaḥyā - Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE
[Article]
Thiele, Jan
Leiden
Brill
(1,548 words)
Shams al-Dīn Abū l-Faḍl Jaʿfar b. Abī Yaḥyā Aḥmad b. ʿAbd al-Salām al-Buhlūlī (d. 573/1177-8) was a Yemeni Zaydī Shīʿī theologian and judge, hence his common name al-Qāḍī Jaʿfar. His life and intellectual career reflect the country's complex sectarian landscape and are linked to developments that occurred first during the sixth/twelfth century. He occupies a central role in the Zaydī narrative of an important endeavour of cultural exchange between the members of the community based in the northern highlands of Yemen