'Abd al-Rahman b. 'Amr al-Awza'i

Abd al-Rahman b. Amr al-Awzai (c.707774) was Umayyad Syrias most influential jurist, part of a generation of scholars who began establishing the first formal structures for the preservation and dissemination of religious knowledge. Following the Abbasid revolution, they provided a point of stability in otherwise unstable times. Despite his close ties to the old regime, al-Awzai continued to participate in legal and theological matters in the Abbasid era. Although his immediate impact would prove short-lived, his influence on aspects of Islamic law, particularly the laws of war, endures to this day.