When the Jurists Began Collecting Their Own Fatwās: From Imam Aḥmad to as-Suyūṭī

Answer

Among the works of the renowned imam of language and letters Aḥmad ibn Fāris ﵀ (d. 395 AH) is a book entitled Fatāwā Faqīh al-ʿArab; whose epithet "the Jurist of the Arabs" actually was could not be established. In that era and afterward, the writing of fatwās advanced considerably, and the fatwās of the imams of fiqh and ḥadīth were collected by their students and adherents.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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