al-Mahalli, Husayn ibn Muhammad
- Died
- 1170 AH
- Born in
- -
Husayn ibn Muhammad al-Mahalli (d. 1170 AH / 1757 CE) was an Egyptian Shafi'i jurist, legal inheritance specialist, and mathematician based in Cairo. He is known for his writings on mathematical calculation and estate division, as well as his comparative legal work Mazid al-Ni'ma li-Jam' Aqwal al-A'imma ("The Abundant Blessing in Compiling the Statements of the Imams").
Life and career
Al-Mahalli operated a shop adjacent to the gate of al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo, where he made his living by selling astronomical timekeeping quadrants (manakib), trading in books, and bookbinding. He personally copied his own writings in his own hand and sold them to buyers. Uniquely among his contemporaries, he charged students a fee to teach them; when a prospective student requested to read a book under his instruction, al-Mahalli would initially refuse and negotiate terms, remarking, "I do not give away knowledge cheaply."
A number of prominent scholars of the generation studied under him, including Muhammad al-Shafi'i al-Janaji al-Maliki. Al-Mahalli died in 1170 AH (1756–1757 CE).
Scholarly standing
Biographical chroniclers such as Abd al-Rahman al-Jabarti—with Ali Mubarak noting his name as Hasan al-Mahalli—described him as peerless in his time across jurisprudence, legal theory, and rational disciplines, commending his sharp recall of substantive legal branches (furu'). He was particularly recognized for his mastery of mathematical sciences, including mental and dust-board arithmetic (al-hisab al-hawa'i wa-l-ghubari), the calculation grid of Ibn al-Ha'im, algebra and equations (al-jabr wa-l-muqabala), and land surveying (misaha). In substantive law, he produced a two-volume work on Shafi'i legal branches that served as an authoritative and relied-upon reference for issuing fatwas.
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List of Works
Mazid al-Nima li-Jam Aqwal al-Aimma (The Abundant Blessing in Compiling the Statements of the Imams) is a compendium of comparative jurisprudence (fiqh muqaran) that covers acts of worship according to the four Sunni legal schools.