Ala al-Din Mughaltay
- Died
- 762 AH
- Born in
- Cairo
Ala al-Din Mughaltay (689–762 AH / 1290–1361 CE) was a Cairo-based Hanafi hadith master, genealogist, and biographer . He was widely recognized for his critical biographical dictionary Ikmal Tahdhib al-Kamal (The Completion of Refining Perfection) .
Lineage and Early Life
He was Abu Abd Allah Ala al-Din Mughaltay ibn Qilij ibn Abd Allah al-Bakjari al-Hikri al-Hanafi . His father's name, Qilij, was of Turkic origin and meant "sword" . Though of Turkic lineage, he was born and raised in Egypt . He was born at the Mosque of Qal'at al-Jabal in Cairo . According to his own report to his student al-Iraqi, his birth was in 689 AH, whereas Taqiyy al-Din ibn Rafi' recorded it as 690 AH, and al-Safadi stated that he was born after 690 AH . In his youth, his father urged him to practice archery, but he instead attended scholarly circles, developing a strong early devotion to genealogy and hadith transmissions .
Education and Career
Mughaltay pursued hadith studies extensively in Cairo and traveled to Damascus to hear from the scholars of his era . He studied under notable masters including Taj al-Din Ahmad ibn Daqiq al-Id, Yusuf ibn Umar al-Khatani, Yunus ibn Ibrahim al-Dabusi, and Ahmad ibn Abi Talib al-Hajjar, and he graduated principally under the hadith scholar Fath al-Din Ibn Sayyid al-Nas . He also closely accompanied Chief Judge Jalal al-Din al-Qazwini .
Following the death of Ibn Sayyid al-Nas in 734 AH, al-Qazwini interceded with the Mamluk sultan to appoint Mughaltay to the prestigious professorship of hadith at al-Madrasah al-Zahiriyyah between the Two Palaces in Cairo . His appointment provoked resentment among local scholars and students, who composed satires and public poetry against him . He also held hadith teaching posts at other institutions, including al-Madrasah al-Sargatmishiyyah . A prominent generation of scholars studied under him, including Zayn al-Din al-Iraqi, Siraj al-Din al-Bulqini, Ibn al-Mulaqqin, Badr al-Din al-Zarkashi, and his own son Abd Allah .
Scholarly Contributions and Controversy
Mughaltay was characterized by extensive reading, continuous writing, and a critical method oriented toward supplementing, annotating, and correcting the works of earlier authorities . His major contribution was Ikmal Tahdhib al-Kamal, in which he expanded and critically amended al-Mizzi's biographical compendium on the transmitters of the Six Books . He also composed Sharh Sunan Ibn Majah, an extensive commentary dedicated to evaluating hadith transmissions and narrator credibility .
In 745 AH, he became embroiled in a major controversy when Salah al-Din al-Ala'i encountered his treatise on romantic love, al-Wadih al-Mubin fi man Ustushhida min al-Muhibbin (The Evident Clarity Regarding Those Who Died Martyrs for Love), which contained discussions touching upon Aisha . Al-Ala'i denounced the work and brought the matter before the Hanbali judge Muwaffaq al-Din, who censured Mughaltay, imprisoned him for several days, and banned booksellers from trading the text . He was released after Amir Badr al-Din Jankali ibn al-Baba intervened on his behalf .
Scholarly Standing
Mughaltay was widely commended for his mastery of narrator criticism, genealogy, and Arabic lexicography . Al-Safadi praised him as an exemplary hadith master who commanded vast knowledge of transmitters and distinguished sound reports from defective ones . Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani noted that leadership in hadith during his era culminated in him, with most contemporary teachers studying under his guidance . Alongside this praise, some hadith critics, notably his student al-Iraqi, expressed reservations regarding his claims of early transmission from certain senior authorities, such as Ali ibn Abi al-Husayn al-Sawwaf .
Death
Mughaltay died on Tuesday, 24 Sha'ban 762 AH (August 1361 CE) . His death occurred in al-Mahdiyyah, outside Bab Zuwayla in Harat Halab on the outskirts of Cairo . Judge Izz al-Din ibn Jama'ah led the funeral prayer, and he was buried in al-Zaydaniyyah . News of his death reached Damascus at the end of Ramadan of the same year .
Answer updated
List of Works
Ikmal Tahdhib al-Kamal – al-Tarajim al-Saqita min Harf al-Ha (The Omitted Biographies from the Letter Ha in Ikmal Tahdhib al-Kamal) is a specialized biographical text edited to restore a missing segment under the letter ha from the printed edition of the broader biographical dictionary Ikmal Tahdhib al-Kamal fi Asma' al-Rijal. The gathered entries open with al-Hasan al-Basri and conclude with al-Hakam ibn Sinan, recording critical remarks, supplementary transmissions, and narrator appraisals.
Sharh Sunan Ibn Majah, also titled al-I'lam bi-Sunnatihi 'alayhi al-Salam, is an extensive classical commentary on the Sunan of Ibn Majah, one of the six canonical Sunni hadith collections. The work focuses on the critical evaluation of hadith transmissions, narrator criticism (al-jarh wa-l-ta'dil), and textual verification. It analyzes chains of narration, clarifies narrator reliability, detects defects such as transmission breaks, and compares reports across other major hadith compilations.
Ikmal Tahdhib al-Kamal fi Asma' al-Rijal (The Completion of Refining Perfection in the Names of Men) is an expansive biographical dictionary begun in 744 AH as a critical supplement, continuation, and commentary on Jamal al-Din al-Mizzi's Tahdhib al-Kamal fi Asma' al-Rijal. Organized alphabetically, the work supplies omitted transmitters across the Six Books, supplements details on teachers, students, lineages, and kunyas, expands evaluations of narrator credibility and impairment, and preserves citations from early compendia.
al-Durr al-Manzum min Kalam al-Mustafa al-Masum (The Strung Pearls from the Speech of the Chosen Infallible Prophet) is a concise compendium of 361 legal hadiths arranged topically across the standard chapters of Islamic jurisprudence. It features a dual structure: an authentic core gathering rulings supported by hadiths agreed upon by the six major hadith authorities, followed at the close of each legal theme by appended narrations recognized as weak among authoritative hadith critics.
al-Inaba ila Ma'rifat al-Mukhtalaf Fihim min al-Sahaba (Turning Toward Knowing Those Among the Companions Whose Status Is Disputed) is an alphabetically arranged biographical dictionary dedicated to identifying early figures and transmitters whose status as Companions of the Prophet Muhammad is subject to scholarly debate. For each individual, the text compiles conflicting views, narrative evidence, and scholarly statements affirming or denying Companionship to help establish transmission continuity.
al-Ishara ila Sirat al-Mustafa wa Tarikh man badahu min al-Khulafa (The Indication of the Biography of the Chosen One and the History of the Caliphs After Him) is a concise compendium of prophetic biography (sirah) and early Islamic history. It provides an accessible abridgment covering the life of the Prophet Muhammad as well as historical accounts and biographies of the successors and caliphs who ruled after him, deliberately omitting full chains of transmission to maintain brevity and clarity.
Intikhab Kitab man Wafaqat Kunyatuhu Ism Abihi lil-Khatib (The Selection from al-Khatib's Book on Those Whose Kunya Matched Their Father's Name) is a specialized hadith onomastics treatise that abridges an earlier monograph by al-Khatib al-Baghdadi. Organized alphabetically by given names, the work identifies narrators whose agnomen (kunya) matches their father's name (ism) in order to prevent orthographic errors, misidentifications, and misattributions in chains of transmission.
Manar al-Islam bi-Tartib Kitab al-Wahm wal-Iham (The Minaret of Islam in the Rearrangement of the Book of Delusion and Illusion) is a fourteenth-century hadith work that reorganizes Ibn al-Qattan al-Fasi's critical treatise on legal hadiths into a standard topical legal arrangement. By ordering the contents according to jurisprudence chapters and consolidating scattered discussions of single narrations, the book provides a coherent and accessible structure for examining hidden defects and narrator criticism.