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Imam Jalaluddin, popularly known as Imam al-Suyuti, was an Egyptian Sunni ascetic polymath, Mujtahid and Mujaddid of the Islamic 10th century. A premier muhaddith, mufassir, faqīh, Arabic specialist, historian and philologist, who massively contributed to every Islamic science.
He was described as one of the most prolific writers of the Middle Ages. His biographical dictionary Bughyat al-Wuʻāh fī Ṭabaqāt al-Lughawīyīn wa-al-Nuḥāh contains valuable accounts of prominent figures in the early development of Arabic philology. He was also an important authority of the Shafi'i school of thought (madhhab). He has extensive contribution in documentation of history and development of historiography.
Personal Details
Name: Abd al-Rahman
Laqb: Jalaluddin
Kunniya: Abul Fadl
Nasb: Ibn Abi Bakr bin Muhammad
Nisba: al-Suyuti, al-Khudairi, al-Shafi’i
Father: Abu Bakr bin Muhammad
Mother: Unknown but, she was a Circassian
Nationality/Region: Cairo, Egypt under Mamluk Sultanate (1261-1517)
Birth: 3 Oct. 1445 CE (1 Rajab 849 AH),
Place: Cairo (under Mamluk Sultanate)
Death:18 Oct. 1505 CE (19 Jumada al-Ula 911 AH),
Place: Same as birth
Early Life
Al-Suyuti was born on 3 October 1445 AD (1 Rajab 849 AH) in Cairo, Egypt. He hailed from a Persian family on his paternal side. His mother was Circassian. According to al-Suyuti his ancestors came from al-Khudayriyya in Baghdad. His family moved to Asyut in Mamluk Egypt, hence the nisba ‘Al-Suyuti’. His father taught Shafi'i law at the Mosque and Khanqah of Shaykhu in Cairo, but died when al-Suyuti was 5 or 6 years old.
Education and Expertise
Discipline
Al-Suyuti grew up in an orphanage in Cairo. He became a Ḥāfiẓ of the Quran at the age of eight years, followed by studying the Shafi'i and Hanafi jurisprudence (fiqh), traditions (hadith), exegesis (tafsir), theology, history, rhetoric, philosophy, philology, arithmetic, timekeeping (miqat) and medicine.
Teachers
He then dedicated his entire life to master the Sacred Sciences under approximately 150 sheikhs. Among them was Jalal al-Din Al-Mahalli, a leading mufassir and a leading specialist in the principles of the law of his time who authored along with Al-Suyuti, one of the most famous tafsirs entitled Tafsir al-Jalalayn.
Travels
In his thirst for knowledge, Al-Suyuti traveled to Syria, Hejaz (Mecca & Medina), Yemen, Iraq, India, Tunisia. and Morocco, as well as to educational hubs in Egypt such as Mahalla, Dumyat, and Fayyum.
Profession and Teaching
He started teaching Shafi'i jurisprudence at the age of 18, at the same mosque as his father did. Al-Suyuti became the headmaster of Hadith at the Shaykhuniyya school in Cairo, at the suggestion of Imam Kamal al-Din ibn al-Humam. In 1486, Sultan Qaitbay appointed him shaykh at the Khanqah of Baybars II, a Sufi lodge, but was sacked due to protests from other scholars whom he had replaced. After this incident, he gave up teaching and was fed up with others being jealous of him.
Avoiding Public Life
Ibn Iyas, in his book called Tarikh Misr, said that when al-Suyuti became forty years of age, he left the company of men for the solitude of the garden of al-Miqyas, close to the River Nile, where he abandoned his friends and former co-workers as if he had never met them before. It was at this stage of his life where he authored most of his 600 books and treatises.
Death
Considered the greatest scholar of his century, he continued publishing books of his scholarly writings until he passed away on 18 October 1505 at the age of sixty two.
Imam al-Suyuti and Historiography
As said, he was a man of versatility in a range of disciplines. The Egyptian Sunni ascetic polymath, Mujtahid and Mujaddid of the Islamic 10th century. A premier muhaddith, mufassir, faqīh, Arabic specialist, historian and philologist, who massively contributed to every Islamic science.
Dalil Makhtutat al-Suyuti
(“Directory of al-Suyuti's Manuscripts”) states that:
al-Suyuti wrote works on over 700 subjects, while a 1995 survey put the figure between 500 and 981.
However, these include short pamphlets, and legal opinions.
Historical Works
Bughyat al-Wuʻāh fī Ṭabaqāt al-Lughawīyīn wa-al-Nuḥāh
It’s a biographical dictionary. It contains valuable accounts of prominent figures in the early development of Arabic philology
Tarikh al-Khulafa (History of the Caliphs)
It was published in English in 1881 in Calcutta and republished in English at Oriental Press in 1970. The book covers several periods: Rashidun Caliphate, Umayyad Caliphate, Abbasid Caliphate, Fatimid Caliphate.
Al-Khasais-ul-Kubra
Full name - Kifayat al-Talib al-Labib fi Khasa'is al-Habib
The book deals with the miracles attributed to Islamic prophet Muhammad (pbuh). The book is divided into two parts. The first part basically describes the various miraculous and extraordinary events related and attributed to Muhammad. These include events before his birth up to the Tabuk expedition.
Nuzhat al-julasāʼ fī ashʻār al-nisāʼ
6+ volumes
containing ancient' women’s poetry, assembled by one Ibn al-Tarrah in a historical order
Other Works
Beside these, his works on Quranic Interpretation (Tafsir al-Jalalayn, etc.), Prophetic Traditions (like Tabaqat al-Huffaz), Arabic Linguistics (like al-Muzhir), Jurisprudence (Al-Ashbaahu Wan-Nadhaair), Creeds and all disciplines have also a giant share in the development of historiography. For all these historical contributions, his life has become a big part of history!
“It is my hope that Allah accepts this book and that through this book I shall gain the intercession of the Prophet ﷺ. Perhaps it shall be that Allah makes it the seal of all my works, and grants me what I have asked Him with longing, regarding the Honorable One.”
— Imam Jalaluddin al-Suyuti
In the introduction to his book entitled al-Riyad al-Aniqa on the names of the Prophet ﷺ
“I saw the shaykh with my own eyes writing and finishing three works in one day which he himself authored and proofread. At the same time, he was dictating hadith and replying beautifully to whatever was brought to his attention.”
— Shams al-Din al-Dawudi
Al-Suyuti's student and biographer - the author of Tabaqat al-Mufassirin al-Kubra
The hand that wrote a
page, built a city
—Herbert Marshall Mcluhan
Canadian Philosopher
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