al-Mulla Ali al-Qari
- Died
- 1014 AH
- Born in
- Herat
Mulla Ali al-Qari (d. 1014 AH / 1606 CE) was a Hanafi jurist, hadith scholar, and Quran reciter from Herat who settled in Mecca, best known for his comprehensive hadith commentary Mirqat al-Mafatih .
Name and Early Life
His full name was Nur al-Din Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Sultan Muhammad al-Qari al-Harawi al-Makki, commonly known as Mulla Ali al-Qari . His father's name, Sultan Muhammad, was a compound proper name customary among non-Arabs, though some later biographers recorded his lineage as Ali ibn Sultan ibn Muhammad . The title Mulla is derived from the Arabic mawla, used as an honorific for prominent scholars . He adopted the epithet al-Qari (or al-Muqri) due to his mastery of Quranic recitation (qira'at) .
Al-Qari was born and raised in Herat in Khurasan, where he memorized the Quran in his youth, although the exact year of his birth is unrecorded by his biographers .
Education and Career in Mecca
In Herat, al-Qari studied the rules of recitation under Mu'in al-Din ibn al-Hafiz Zayn al-Din al-Harawi . He subsequently migrated to Mecca, where he resided as a scholar (mujāwir) for more than forty years until his death . In Mecca, he continued his advanced studies under leading authorities, most notably Ibn Hajar al-Haytami (d. 973 AH) and the hadith scholar Ali al-Muttaqi al-Hindi (d. 975 AH) .
Al-Qari taught numerous students in Mecca, including Abd al-Rahman al-Murshidi and Abd al-Qadir ibn Muhammad . His scholarship spanned hadith, Hanafi jurisprudence, Quranic recitation, theology, legal theory, and Arabic linguistic disciplines . Among his notable contributions to legal and hadith literature, he authored Fath Bab al-Inaya, an extensive commentary on the Hanafi legal manual al-Nuqaya, and his monumental hadith work Mirqat al-Mafatih, which synthesizes earlier commentaries and legal analyses from a Hanafi perspective . He also compiled Tabaqat al-Qari, a biographical dictionary documenting Hanafi jurists from the 2nd to the 8th centuries AH.
Scholarly Standing
Biographers regarded al-Qari as one of the preeminent scholars of his era . Muhammad Amin al-Muhibbi described him as a leading figure of knowledge, unique in his time, noted for his analytical rigor and precise expression, adding that his widespread fame made lavish praise unnecessary . Abd al-Malik al-Isami characterized him as a master of both the rational and transmitted sciences who possessed an expansive grasp of the prophetic Sunnah .
Death
Al-Qari died in Mecca in the month of Shawwal 1014 AH (1606 CE) and was buried in the cemetery of Jannat al-Mu'alla (al-Ma'lah) . When news of his passing reached Egypt, the scholars of al-Azhar Mosque performed the funeral prayer in absentia (salat al-gha'ib) for him in a gathering of more than four thousand people .
Answer updated
List of Works
al-Ahadith al-Qudsiyya al-Arbainiyya (The Forty Sacred Hadiths) is a collection belonging to the forty-hadith genre, compiling forty sacred traditions (hadith qudsi) and intimate utterances related by the Prophet from God.
Adillat Mu'taqad Abi Hanifa fi Abaway al-Rasul (The Evidences for Abu Hanifa's Creed Regarding the Parents of the Messenger) is a theological treatise written to establish textual proofs for the statement attributed to Imam Abu Hanifa that the parents of the Prophet Muhammad died upon disbelief.
al-Radd 'ala al-Qa'ilin bi-Wahdat al-Wujud (Refutation of Those Who Assert the Unity of Being) is a theological treatise written to critique and refute the monistic doctrine of Wahdat al-Wujud (the unity of being) and its adherents.
Tasliyat al-Ama an Baliyat al-Ama (Consolation of the Blind Regarding the Affliction of Blindness) is a short treatise devoted to prophetic traditions regarding divine trials and the spiritual reward promised to those afflicted with blindness.
al-Hibat al-Sunniya al-Aliya ala Abyat al-Shatibiya al-Raiya (The Sublime Gifts upon the Verses of the Shatibian Ra'iyya) is a specialized commentary on Quranic orthography (rasm al-mushaf), providing an explanation of Abu Muhammad al-Qasim ibn Firruh al-Shatibi's 298-verse poem Aqilat Atrab al-Qasa'id fi Asna al-Maqasid (commonly known as al-Ra'iyya).
al-Asrar al-Marfua fi al-Akhbar al-Mawdua, also known as al-Mawdu'at al-Kubra, is a biographical and critical compendium of fabricated hadiths. Arranged alphabetically by the opening letters of narrations to serve as a practical reference dictionary, it aims to distinguish authentic reports from baseless and forged sayings circulating in popular discourse.
Sharh Musnad Abi Hanifa is a hadith commentary on the narrations transmitted from Abu Hanifa, based on the recension abridged by Musa ibn Zakariyya al-Haskafi. It explains each narration's text, clarifies lexical ambiguities, examines chains of transmission, and demonstrates the legal derivation of rulings within the Hanafi school.
Maw‘izat al-Habib wa Tuhfat al-Khatib is a collection of transmitted sermons attributed to the Prophet Muhammad and the four Rightly Guided Caliphs. It was assembled to provide preachers with an authentic selection of speeches from the early generations for use in Friday sermons.
al-Hirz al-Thamin lil-Hisn al-Hasin is a running commentary on Ibn al-Jazari's prayer manual al-Hisn al-Hasin. It offers a moderate exposition that establishes the exact vocalization and textual variants of the supplications, explains their linguistic, legal, and theological meanings, and deciphers the source abbreviations used in the base text.
Manaqib al-Imam al-Azam Abi Hanifa is a biographical and hagiographical work examining the life, virtues, teachers, and companions of Abu Hanifa. It highlights his scholarly stature and status as a Follower, evaluates early praise and traditions critically, and provides biographical notices on his key students and successors.
Sharh al-Shifa is a commentary on al-Qadi 'Iyad's Al-Shifa bi-Ta'rif Huquq al-Mustafa, a work concerning the biography, rights, and veneration of the Prophet Muhammad. Also recorded as Raf' al-Khafa' 'an Dhat al-Shifa, this medium-length commentary elucidates the grammatical constructions, difficult wording, and linguistic and textual points of the base text, which covers the traits, perfections, miracles, and rights of the Prophet as well as related legal rulings.
Fayd al-Muin, also known as al-Mubin al-Muin li-Fahm al-Arba'in or Fayd al-Muin bi-Sharh al-Arba'in, is a commentary on al-Nawawi's collection of forty hadiths (al-Arba'un al-Nawawiyyah). Belonging to the tradition of hadith literature, the work provides a detailed explanation and legal and theological elucidation of these core prophetic traditions, while also addressing specialized topics within the hadith sciences.
Tabaqat al-Qari: al-Athmar al-Janiyya fi Asma al-Hanafiyya, commonly known as Tabaqat al-Qari or Tabaqat al-Hanafiyya, is a biographical dictionary of Hanafi scholars. It serves primarily as a selective abridgment and critical expansion of Abd al-Qadir al-Qurashi's al-Jawahir al-Mudiyya fi Tabaqat al-Hanafiyya, containing over 800 alphabetically arranged entries spanning from the 2nd century AH up to the close of the 8th century AH across the eastern and western Islamic world.
Fath Bab al-Inaya bi Sharh al-Nuqaya is a legal commentary on Hanafi jurisprudence completed in Mecca in 1003 AH / 1595 CE. It serves as an extensive explanation of Ubayd Allah ibn Mas'ud al-Mahbubi's concise legal primer al-Nuqaya, clarifying its phraseology while substantiating substantive legal rulings with textual and rational evidences drawn from the Quran, the Sunnah, scholarly consensus, and cross-madhhab differences.
Sharh Nukhbat al-Fikar lil-Qari (also titled Mustafa Ahl al-Athar 'ala Sharh Nukhbat al-Fikar and Sharh Sharh Nukhbat al-Fikar) is an analytical supercommentary on hadith terminology. It expounds upon Nuzhat al-Nazar, Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani's own commentary on his primer Nukhbat al-Fikar, by clarifying technical nomenclature, phraseology, manuscript variants, grammatical points, and categories of hadith criticism such as mutawatir and ahad.
al-Masnu fi Marifat al-Hadith al-Mawdu is a concise reference work dedicated to fabricated and baseless hadith reports. Condensing larger registers of narrations circulating among the public, it restricts its focus entirely to spurious or unfounded sayings, organizing them in alphabetical order according to their opening wording.
Mirqat al-Mafatih Sharh Mishkat al-Masabih is an extensive Arabic running commentary on al-Khatib al-Tabrizi's hadith collection Mishkat al-Masabih. It provides a comprehensive synthesis of earlier hadith commentaries and juristic expositions, explicating the base text word by word while addressing vocabulary, grammar, textual variants, and legal differences from a Hanafi perspective.
Shamm al-Awarid fi Dhamm al-Rawafid is a theological and legal treatise concerning the legal ruling on cursing the Companions of the Prophet and the critique of the Rafida. Framed primarily through Hanafi jurisprudence, it examines the classification of reviling the Companions and differentiates between definitive and probabilistic proofs.
Jam al-Wasail fi Sharh al-Shamail is an interwoven commentary on al-Tirmidhi's hadith collection al-Shamail al-Muhammadiyyah, which details the physical attributes, moral character, daily habits, and way of life of the Prophet Muhammad. Completed in Mecca in 1008 AH (1599–1600 CE), it offers linguistic, legal, and theological analyses alongside hadith evaluations.