al-Fakhr al-Zaylai
- Died
- 743 AH
- Born in
- -
Fakhr al-Din al-Zaylai (d. 743 AH / 1343 CE) was a Hanafi jurist and legal scholar based in Cairo, best known for his legal commentary Tabyin al-Haqaiq.
Name and origins
His full lineage is recorded as Uthman ibn Ali ibn Mihjan ibn Musir, with the honorific Fakhr al-Din and the kunyas Abu Muhammad and Abu Umar. He also bore the nisbas al-Bari'i, al-Sufi, and al-Zaylai. His nisba al-Zaylai traces to Zeila (Zayla), a port city on the coast of the Ethiopian Sea (bahr al-Habasha). Biographical sources distinguish him from his contemporary fellow Hanafi scholar, Jamal al-Din al-Zaylai (d. 762 AH / 1360 CE), the author of the hadith verification work on al-Hidaya.
Life and career
Al-Zaylai arrived in Cairo in 705 AH (1305–1306 CE) in a state of extreme poverty, living an ascetic and chaste life detached from worldly pursuits. In Egypt, he engaged in teaching, issued legal rulings (fatwas), and propagated Hanafi jurisprudence, gaining a wide following among students. He was noted for his mastery of jurisprudence (fiqh), Arabic grammar (nahw), and inheritance law (fara'id).
His major scholarly contribution was Tabyin al-Haqaiq, an extensive multi-volume commentary on the legal primer Kanz al-Daqaiq by Abu al-Barakat al-Nasafi, in which al-Zaylai critiqued, refined, and verified relied-upon Hanafi rulings. He also composed a commentary on Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Shaybani's legal text al-Jami al-Kabir.
Demeanor and students
Biographers emphasize al-Zaylai's piety, scrupulousness, and humility toward his students. He routinely instructed his pupils not to restrict their studies to him alone, telling them that he considered himself merely one of them, and encouraging them to seek out anyone with superior knowledge to increase their learning. Among his notable students was Badr al-Din Mahmud ibn Isra'il, known as Qadi Samawna.
Death
Al-Zaylai died in Cairo in the month of Ramadan 743 AH (January–February 1343 CE).
Answer updated
List of Works
Tabyin al-Haqaiq Sharh Kanz al-Daqaiq wa Hashiyat al-Shalabi is a classical Hanafi legal work comprising the commentary Tabyin al-Haqaiq on the legal primer Kanz al-Daqaiq, accompanied by the marginal supercommentary (hashiya) of Shihab al-Din Ahmad al-Shalabi. Structured as an intermediate-length commentary, it unpacks the concise expressions of the base text, provides the legal rationale behind its rulings, and supplements it with relevant subsidiary legal branches (furu').