Post by StudentOfTheDeen on Sept 27, 2023 17:57:44 GMT
‘Allāmah Abū Ḥafṣ Tāj al-Dīn al-Fākihānī al-Mālikī
‘Allāmah Abū Ḥafṣ Tāj al-Dīn ‘Umar ibn ‘Alī ibn Sālim al-Lakhmī al-Fākihānī, known as “al-Fākihānī” or “Ibn al-Fākihānī”, was born in the year 654 H in Alexandria, Egypt. He was brought up in his hometown, and learnt Qur’ān under one of Alexandria’s most prominent Qur’ān teachers and Muqri’s, Makīn al-Dīn al-Asmar ‘Abdullāh ibn Manṣūr al-Iskandarī (d. 692 H). He learnt the various Qirā’āt from Abū ‘Abdillāh Muḥammad ibn ‘Abdillāh al-Māzūnī (606 – 693 H). He travelled to Cairo, and excelled in Mālikī Fiqh and the sciences of Arabic language. He learnt the Shifā’ and Tirmidhi from Abū ‘Abdillāh Muḥammad ibn Ṭarkhān, and learnt Sunan Ibn Mājah from Jamāl al-Dīn Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn ‘Abd al-‘Aẓīm ibn al-Saqaṭī (622 – 707 H).
He kept the company of the great Alexandrian imām, Nāṣir al-Dīn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Mālikī, known popularly as “Ibn al-Munayyir” (620 – 683 H), and attended his durūs. He was known to have kept the company of a group of the Awliyā’.
Amongst his teachers was the great erudite imām of Qus, Egypt, Shaykh al-Islām Abu l-Fatḥ Ibn Daqīq al-‘Īd (625 – 702 H). He also learnt ḥadīth from the ḥāfiẓ of his time, Ḥāfiẓ Sharaf al-Dīn al-Dimyāṭī (613 – 705 H). Amongst his teachers was also the famous Badr al-Dīn Ibn Jamā‘ah al-Shāfi‘ī (639 – 733 H). (Bughyat al-Wu‘āt, 2:221) He learnt from many other teachers.
He travelled to Quds and Damascus in 731 H. In Damascus, he taught some of his books, and amongst those who learnt from him was Hāfiẓ Ibn Kathīr. They both attended lessons of other mashāyikh together. (Al-Bidāyah wa l-Nihāyah, Dār Ibn Kathīr, 16:261) He also took from, and taught, al-Dhahabī while in Damascus. (al-Mu‘jam al-Mukhtaṣṣ, 227)
Ibn Farḥūn relates from the muḥaddith, Jamāl al-Dīn ‘Abdullāh ibn Muḥammad Ibn Ḥadīdah (d. 783), that he heard him narrating in the year 778: “We travelled with our shaykh, Tāj al-Dīn al-Fākihānī, to Damascus, and he wanted to visit the sandal of our master, the Messenger of Allāh (ṣallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam), which was in Dār al-Ḥadīth al-Ashrafiyyah in Damascus, while I was with him. When he saw the blessed sandal, he uncovered his head, and began to kiss it and rub his face on it, while tears were flowing, and he recited [the following lines of poetry]: ‘Had it been said to Majnūn: Is it Laylā and keeping ties with her that you desire, or the world and what is [hidden] in its folds? He would say: The dust from the soil of her sandals are more beloved to my soul and more protective of its trials.’” (al-Dībāj al-Mudhhab, 2:81)
He was the author of a number of accepted works. His al-Taḥrīr wa ‘l-Taḥbīr, a commentary on al-Risālah of Ibn Abī Zayd al-Qayrawānī, became an accepted reference work in the Mālikī madhhab, quoted frequently in later works like al-Ḥaṭṭāb’s Mawāhib al-Jalīl and al-Kharshī’s Sharḥ Mukhtaṣar Khalīl. He wrote a book on praise of the Prophet (ṣallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam) called al-Fajr al-Munīr and a book defending visitation of his grave called al-Tuḥfat al-Mukhtārah fi l-Radd ‘alā Munkir al-Ziyārah. One of his famous works is a commentary on a text devoted to the ḥadīths of legal rulings, called al-‘Umdah, which he titled Riyāḍ al-Afhām fī Sharḥ ‘Umdat al-Aḥkām. The book is in print and has been highly regarded by the scholars. He also authored a work on Naḥw, called al-Ishārah, on which he wrote a commentary. He has a commentary on Nawawī’s al-Arba‘ūn, called al-Manhaj al-Mubīn, which is also in print. From his list of written works, Ibn Ḥajar includes: al-Mawrid fi ‘l-Mawlid, his refutation of the Mawlid, the birthday celebration of the Prophet (ṣallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam) held in Rabī‘ al-Awwal. (al-Durar al-Kāminah, 3:178)
He is described as a polymath, ascetic, of beautiful character and piety. There are different views on when he died, whether in the year 731 or 734. He died in his hometown of Alexandria. At his deathbed, his son-in-law, al-Faqīh Maymūm, was reciting the shahādah to him to remind him to recite it; at which al-Fākihānī opened his eyes, and recited the following lines of poetry: “He proceeds to remind me of bonds [made] at the protectorate, but when have I forgotten that I need to remember?!” Then he recited the shahādah and passed away. (al-Dībāj al-Mudhhab, 2:82)
Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Abī Bakr al-Jazarī (d. 738 H), a Damascene contemporary of al-Fākihānī, described him as: “The shaykh, the imām, the ascetic…He was a shaykh, a Mālikī jurist, a scholar of Naḥw; he possessed virtues and piety.” (Tārīkh Ibn al-Jazarī, 3:704)
Another contemporary, the great Imām al-Dhahabī (673 – 748 H), described him as: “The imām, the scholar of Naḥw, the proficient…I saw him, and he had authored books; he heard from me and I took ḥadīths from him.” (al-Mu‘jam al-Mukhtaṣṣ, 227)
Ibn Kathīr (701 – 774 H), who is counted amongst his students, described him as, “the shaykh, the polymath.” (Al-Bidāyah wa l-Nihāyah, Dār Ibn Kathīr, 16:261)
Qāḍī Burhān al-Dīn Ibn Farḥūn al-Mālikī (730 – 799 H), a great Mālikī scholar of Madīnah, described him as follows: “He was a jurist, virtuous, a polymath in [the fields of] ḥadīth, Fiqh, Uṣūl, Arabic language and literature. He possessed a great share in the firm religion and [in] immense piety and following the righteous Salaf. [He was] of beautiful character. He kept the company of a group of the Awliyā’, adopting their traits and taking on their etiquettes, and he performed ḥajj more than once and narrated some of his books. He has a commentary on ‘Umdah, which is unprecedented, because of its many benefits.” (al-Dībāj al-Mudhhab, 2:80-1)
Al-Suyūṭī (849 – 911 H) describes him as follows: “He was a jurist, a polymath in the sciences, pious, immense (aẓīm). He kept the company of the Awliyā’ and adopted their etiquettes.” (Ḥusn al-Muḥāḍarah, 1:458)
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