al-Maraghi, Abu Bakr

Abu Bakr al-Maraghi (727–816 AH / 1327–1414 CE) was an Egyptian-born Shafi'i jurist, hadith scholar, and historian who settled in Medina, best known for his historical work on the city, Tahqiq al-nusrah bi-talkhis ma'alim Dar al-Hijrah ("Achieving Aid in Summarizing the Landmarks of the Abode of Emigration") Bahjat al-Nazirin ila Tar…+1.

Name, Origins, and Upbringing

His full lineage was Abu Bakr ibn al-Husayn ibn Abi Hafs Umar ibn Abi Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Yunus ibn Abi al-Fakhr Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Najm ibn Tulun al-Qurashi al-Abshami al-Umawi al-Uthmani al-Maraghi al-Misri al-Tuhfa al-Latifa fi Tar…+1. His honorific was Zayn al-Din, and he was also given the kunya Abu Muhammad al-Tuhfa al-Latifa fi Tar…+1. The predominant view is that his given name was his kunya, Abu Bakr, though it was also recorded in the handwriting of al-Kamal al-Shumunni that his given name was Abd Allah al-Tuhfa al-Latifa fi Tar…+1. He was commonly known as Ibn al-Husayn al-Maraghi or al-Uthmani al-Tuhfa al-Latifa fi Tar…+1.

He was born in Cairo in 727 AH, though other accounts place his birth in 728 AH or 729 AH al-Tuhfa al-Latifa fi Tar…+1. He grew up in Cairo, where he began his initial religious studies al-Tuhfa al-Latifa fi Tar…+1.

Education and Teachers

In Cairo, al-Maraghi studied legal theory and jurisprudence under Taqi al-Din al-Subki and closely accompanied Jamal al-Din al-Isnawi, who eventually licensed him to issue legal verdicts (ifta') al-Tuhfa al-Latifa fi Tar…+1. He read al-Isnawi's Zawa'id al-Minhaj with him and began composing al-Wafi bi-takmilat al-Kafi, a work that completed al-Isnawi's commentary on al-Nawawi's legal manual Minhaj al-talibin Hadiyat al-Arifin Asma al…+1. He also attended the lessons of Shams al-Din Ibn al-Labban and studied Shihab al-Din al-Qarafi's al-Tanqih under Fakhr al-Din Ibn Miskin, who transmitted it directly from its author al-Daw al-Lami li-Ahl al-…+1.

In hadith, he began formal hearing around 732 AH al-Majma al-Muassis lil-M…. He studied under Ala' al-Din Mughaltay, from whom he heard his abridged work on the Prophet's biography (al-Sirah al-Nabawiyyah), and heard transmissions from Muhammad ibn Ismail al-Maydumi, Abu al-Faraj Ibn Abd al-Hadi, Nasir al-Din al-Tunisi al-Maliki, Salih ibn Mukhtar, and Abd al-Qadir ibn al-Muluk al-Daw al-Lami li-Ahl al-…+1. Early in his infancy in 729 AH, general transmission licenses (ijazat) were secured for him from eminent senior authorities across Syria, including Abu al-Abbas Ibn al-Shahnah (al-Hajjar), al-Mizzi, al-Birzali, and Ahmad ibn Muzayz, making him later the sole surviving transmitter from several of them Bahjat al-Nazirin ila Tar…+1.

Career in Medina and Students

Al-Maraghi relocated from Egypt to the Hijaz and settled in Medina, where he lived for approximately fifty years Bahjat al-Nazirin ila Tar…+1. He devoted himself to teaching and hadith narration in the Prophet's Mosque (al-Rawdah al-Sharifah), eventually becoming the preeminent resident hadith authority of Medina Bahjat al-Nazirin ila Tar…. In 809 AH, after passing the age of eighty, he was appointed to the judgeship (qada') and public preaching (khitabah) of Medina; he held the office briefly before being dismissed in favor of his son-in-law Abu Hamid ibn al-Matari, a dismissal that caused him personal grief Bahjat al-Nazirin ila Tar…+1.

Scholars sought him out for his elevated transmission chains. Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani studied under him in Mina, Mecca, and Medina, and compiled for him a forty-hadith collection from his teachers (al-Arbaun min Awali al-Mujizin) Inba al-Ghumr bi-Abna al-…. Jamal al-Din Abu al-Barakat al-Marrakushi similarly compiled a register of his authorities and narrations (Mashyakhat Abi Bakr al-Maraghi) Inba al-Ghumr bi-Abna al-…+1. His students also included local scholars and members of his own family, such as his sons and grandchildren al-Tuhfa al-Latifa fi Tar…+1.

Standing and Defense

In his later years, certain partisan detractors accused him of mental deterioration and senility due to extreme old age Inba al-Ghumr bi-Abna al-…. Ibn Hajar directly refuted this claim, reporting that he heard hadith from him in Mecca in 815 AH and found his faculties entirely intact, and that reliable witnesses confirmed he remained lucid and sound until his death Inba al-Ghumr bi-Abna al-….

Death

Al-Maraghi died in Medina in Dhu al-Hijjah 816 AH Bahjat al-Nazirin ila Tar…+1. Ibn Hajar specified his death date as 16 Dhu al-Hijjah, while al-Sakhawi recorded it at the beginning of the month Inba al-Ghumr bi-Abna al-…. He was eighty-eight years old Inba al-Ghumr bi-Abna al-….