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al-Jalal al-Suyuti

Died
911 AH
Born in
Cairo

Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti (849–911 AH / 1445–1505 CE) was an Egyptian Shafiʿi scholar, hadith master, and encyclopedic polymath who authored prominent works including al-Itqan fi Ulum al-Quran and Tadrib al-Rawi .

Lineage and Early Life

His full name was Abu al-Fadl Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn Sabiq al-Din al-Khudayri al-Suyuti . He traced his ancestral origins to the town of Asyut in Upper Egypt, while his ancestral nisba al-Khudayri was linked to the al-Khudayriyya quarter in Baghdad, from where his distant ancestors were said to originate . He was born in Cairo on the eve of Sunday at the beginning of Rajab 849 AH (October 1445 CE) . He acquired the popular epithet Ibn al-Kutub ("Son of the Books") because his mother went into labor among his father's books while retrieving a volume for him .

His father died when he was five years and seven months old (or six years old), leaving him orphaned . The Hanafi jurist Kamal al-Din ibn al-Humam was among those appointed as his legal guardians . He memorized the Quran before reaching the age of eight, followed by core foundational texts in law, jurisprudence, and grammar .

Education, Travels, and Career

He began his formal pursuit of Islamic disciplines in 864 AH . He studied under prominent scholars of his era, notably Alam al-Din al-Bulqini, Sharaf al-Din al-Munawi, Muhyi al-Din al-Kafiyaji (whom he accompanied for fourteen years), Taqi al-Din al-Shibli, and Sayf al-Din al-Hanafi . He received authorization to teach Arabic at the age of seventeen in 866 AH and later received license for issuing legal opinions and teaching jurisprudence . His travels in pursuit of knowledge took him to the Hejaz, Sham, Yemen, India, the Maghreb, and Takrur .

In Cairo, he was appointed to teaching posts at the Shaykhuniyya madrasa and later served as the head of the Baybarsiyya Sufi lodge (Khanqah al-Baybarsiyya) in 891 AH . In 873 AH, he revived the public tradition of hadith dictation assemblies (imla') at the Mosque of Ibn Tulun, which had ceased in Egypt following the death of Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani . Among his notable students were the biographers and historians Shams al-Din al-Dawudi and Ibn Iyas .

Scholarly Standing and Controversies

He maintained an extraordinarily prolific scholarly output across Quranic exegesis, hadith, jurisprudence, Arabic philology, rhetoric, and history, authoring hundreds of works including his massive exegetical compilation al-Durr al-Manthur . He asserted his mastery across seven primary disciplines—Quranic exegesis, hadith, jurisprudence, grammar, and the three branches of Arabic rhetoric—and claimed to have reached the level of independent legal reasoning (ijtihad), as well as being the religious renewer (mujaddid) of the ninth Islamic century .

These claims, coupled with sharp debates over scholarly precedence and theological topics, brought him into fierce public disputes with contemporary scholars, most notably the historian and hadith scholar Shams al-Din al-Sakhawi and Ibrahim ibn al-Karki .

Seclusion and Death

Upon reaching forty years of age, he withdrew from teaching and issuing fatwas, entering into self-imposed seclusion at his residence on Rawdat al-Miqyas along the Nile to dedicate himself solely to worship and writing . He steadfastly refused gifts and visits from dignitaries and turned away summonses and offerings sent by the Mamluk sultan Qansuh al-Ghawri .

He died in his home at Rawdat al-Miqyas at dawn on Friday, 19 Jumada al-Ula 911 AH (October 1505 CE)—with another report mentioning Thursday, 9 Jumada al-Ula—after a seven-day illness caused by severe swelling in his left arm, at the age of sixty-one years, ten months, and eighteen days . He was buried in his father's plot in Hawsh Qawsun, outside Bab al-Qarafa in Cairo .

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List of Works

  • Itmam al-Diraya li-Qurra al-Niqaya

    Itmam al-Diraya li-Qurra al-Niqaya is an encyclopedic commentary elucidating the author's own foundational primer, al-Nuqaya, across fourteen Islamic and ancillary disciplines. Completed on 3 Rabi' al-Awwal 873 AH (1468 CE), the work expounds the concise definitions, classifications, and fundamental rulings of subjects spanning theology, Quranic exegesis, hadith, jurisprudence, grammar, medicine, and spiritual ethics.

  • Dhamm al-Maks

    Dhamm al-Maks is a hadith treatise gathering prophetic traditions and early reports that condemn extralegal tolls and non-canonical tax collectors. Originating from the ninety-first session of the author's dictation assemblies delivered on 17 Jumada 874 AH (November 1469 CE), the work addresses the severe religious censure associated with collecting unlawful levies and acting as an unjust tithe collector.

  • Uqud al-Zabarjad ala Musnad al-Imam Ahmad - Majallat al-Jamia al-Islamiyya

    Uqud al-Zabarjad ala Musnad al-Imam Ahmad is a specialized work on the grammatical analysis of prophetic traditions. Centered primarily on Musnad Ahmad, it is organized alphabetically by the transmitting Companions, isolating difficult words, problematic case endings, and syntactic constructions within the hadith texts to explain their grammatical functions and nuances.

  • Taqrir al-Istinad fi Tafsir al-Ijtihad

    Taqrir al-Istinad fi Tafsir al-Ijtihad is a treatise on legal theory dedicated to expounding the status, conditions, and continuous necessity of independent legal reasoning in Islamic law. It establishes that independent legal reasoning is a communal obligation, refutes the claim that it has ceased, and details fifteen requisite scholarly qualifications for those who exercise it.

  • al-Shamareekh fi Ilm al-Tarikh

    al-Shamareekh fi Ilm al-Tarikh is a concise treatise on the origins, principles, and conventions of historiography and calendar dating. Structured in three chapters, it examines early chronological epochs alongside the founding of the Islamic Hijri calendar, outlines the practical and scholarly utilities of recording dates, and explains the linguistic and legal rules governing timekeeping.