';Abd al-Rahman b. ';Amr al-Awza';i (c.707774) was Umayyad Syria's 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-Awza';i 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.
