Najm al-Dīn Abū l-ʿAbbās Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Rifʿa (), commonly known as Ibn al-Rif'ah was regarded as the leading

Shafi'i The Shafi'i school or Shafi'i Madhhab () or Shafi'i is one of the four major schools of fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), belonging to the Ahl al-Hadith tradition within Sunni Islam. It was founded by the Muslim scholar, jurist, and traditionis ...

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyzes and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal education in law (a law degree) and often a Lawyer, legal prac ...

Mamluk Egypt The Mamluk Sultanate (), also known as Mamluk Egypt or the Mamluk Empire, was a state that ruled Egypt, the Levant and the Hejaz from the mid-13th to early 16th centuries, with Cairo as its capital. It was ruled by a military caste of mamluks ...

. He was praised by a number of people for his unparalleled expertise in

Fiqh ''Fiqh'' (; ) is the term for Islamic jurisprudence.Fiqh
Encyclopædia Britannica ''Fiqh'' is of ...

and

Hadith Hadith is the Arabic word for a 'report' or an 'account f an event and refers to the Islamic oral tradition of anecdotes containing the purported words, actions, and the silent approvals of the Islamic prophet Muhammad or his immediate circle ...

. He is known mainly for his commentaries on earlier works of law.

Ibn Taymiyyah Ibn Taymiyya (; 22 January 1263 – 26 September 1328)Ibn Taymiyya, Taqi al-Din Ahmad, The Oxford Dictionary of Islam. http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195125580.001.0001/acref-9780195125580-e-959 was a Sunni Muslim ulama, ...

said: “I saw an old man with Shafi’i jurisprudence dripping from his beard” indicting his sea of knowledge and deep-mastery in the Shafi'i school of thought. Ibn al-Rif'ah's most famous teacher was

Ibn Daqiq al-'Id Taḳī al-Dīn Abū ’l-Fatḥ Muḥammad b. ʿAlī b. Wahb b. Muṭīʿ b. Abi ’l-Ṭāʿa, commonly known as Ibn Daqiq al-'Id (; 1228–1302), was a Sunni Egyptians, Egyptian scholar. He is widely accounted as one of Islam's great scholars ...

and his most famous student was

Taqi al-Din al-Subki Abu Al-Hasan Taqī al-Dīn Ali ibn Abd al-Kafi ibn Ali al-Khazraji al-Ansari al-Subkī (), commonly known as Taqī l-Dīn al-Subkī () was a Sunni Egyptian polymath and foremost leading Shafi'i jurisconsult, traditionist, Quranic exegete, l ...

Name and lineage

He is Ahmed Ibn Mohammed Ibn Ali Ibn Murtafaa Ibn Hazem Ibn Ibrahim Ibn Abbas al-Ansari al-Bukhari al-Miṣri al-Shafi'i. He was well known for Ibn al-Rif'ah which was attributed to his second grandfather Murtafaa (Ibn Qazi) and went by the nickname Abu Abbas.

Life

Ibn al-Rif'ah was born in the ancient city of Egypt called

Fustat Fustat (), also Fostat, was the first capital of Egypt under Muslim rule, though it has been integrated into Cairo. It was built adjacent to what is now known as Old Cairo by the Rashidun Muslim general 'Amr ibn al-'As immediately after the Mus ...

in (645 AH / 1247 AD). Being under siege and impoverished, Ibn al-Rif'ah began a craft that was unfit for him. He was held accountable by Taqi al-Din al-Sayegh, who also expressed regret for the pressing need. He was suggested to the judge by Al-Sayegh. He did not complete his studies in a single institution; rather, he attended several different ones. Occasionally, he was required to leave Cairo to attend classes in the science of hadith; one such trip was to

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

in order to be near his teacher, Al-Galilee Ibn Sawaf. He taught in a few schools during his career, including Al-Maaziya School in Egypt, Al-Tiberias School, and others. He then resigned from his position as a teacher to work as a volunteer for Sheikh Najm Al-Din al-Balsi as a blessing. In addition, he held a number of positions in the state's judiciary before being given control of Egypt's government and leading the country's religious body for more than eight years until his passing. He was assigned to work, worked on the classification and categorised some classifications, profited from Islam and Muslims, was enthusiastic about science and education, and had stiff joints that made it painful for him to simply put on clothes. Despite this, he was always working and reading.

Death

The jurist Najm al-Din Ibn al-Rif'ah passed away in

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

, Egypt, on Friday night, the twelfth of Rajab of the year (710 AH / 1310 AD). He was roughly sixty-two years old and was buried in Al-Qarafah (Khatib).

Legacy

Ibn al-Rif'ah was raised in a household of common Muslims and poor people, but this did not stop him from pursuing a career in science. As a science student, he persisted, working until he achieved jurisprudence excellence and became well known for it.

Jamal al-Din al-Isnawi Jamāl al-Dīn Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Raḥīm ibn al-Ḥasan al-Umawī al-Qurashī al-Isnawī al-Shāfiʿī al-Miṣrī (), commonly known as Jamal al-Din al-Isnawi, was a Sunni Egyptian scholar who specialized in the Shafi'i school of jurisp ...

said: "It was in the custom of some jurists have been signed with the term of jurisprudence, even became a note if referred to him" with his participation in other sciences such as Arabic and its origins, if the jurist released to him is not involved in his time. He was a marvel at quoting

Sahaba The Companions of the Prophet () were the Muslim disciples and followers of the Islamic prophet Muhammad who saw or met him during his lifetime. The companions played a major role in Muslim battles, society, hadith narration, and governance ...

's sayings, particularly when they were not manifested. He was also a marvel at his understanding of Shafi'i texts and his ability to explain them. He was also a good religious philanthropist to the students and a brilliant, intelligent man who was skilled in the doctrine and its branches, had studied and given legal opinions for many years, and generally helped Shafi'i students. Ultimately, he oversaw the Jurisprudence of the day and continued to work tirelessly until God "Almighty" took him away.

Reception

Ibn Tulun said "Scientist Sheikh, Sheikh of Islam, and a bearer the flag of Shafi'is in his time."

Works

The ''Al-Matlab fi Sharh al-Wasit'', written in 60 volumes by Ibn al-Rif'ah, is the most significant commentary on ''al-Wasit'' by

al-Ghazali Al-Ghazali ( – 19 December 1111), archaically Latinized as Algazelus, was a Shafi'i Sunni Muslim scholar and polymath. He is known as one of the most prominent and influential jurisconsults, legal theoreticians, muftis, philosophers, the ...

. He also authored ''Jawahir al-Bahr al-Muhbit'' which was an abridgement on a commentary of al-Wasit called ''Bahr al-Muhit'' by Najm al-Din Ahmad al-Qamuli (d. 1327). He authored ''Kifayat al-Nabih Sharh al-Tanbih'' in 21 volumes which is a famous commentary on ''Al-Tanbih'' by

Abu Ishaq al-Shirazi Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm ibn ʿAlī al-Shīrāzī () was a prominent Persian jurisconsult, legal theoretician, theologian, debater and muhaqqiq (researcher). He was one of the leading scholars of Shafiʿi jurisprudence in the eleventh century ...

. Ibn al-Rif'ah wrote a fatwa entitled ''Risala fi l'kanais wa-l-biya'' in 1301, and then in 1307 wrote an abridgement entitled ''al-Nafa'is fi Hadm al-Kana'is'' (items of value concerning the demolition of churches), also known as ''Kitab al-Nafa'is fi Adillat Hadm al-Kana'is''.

References

Source

External links

Ibn al-Rif'ah's biography in several biographical dictionaries
{{Authority control Asharis Shafi'is Sunni Muslim scholars of Islam Shaykh al-Islāms Hadith scholars Critics of Ibn Taymiyya 1247 births 1310 deaths 13th-century jurists