Burhan al-Din al-Abnasi
- Died
- 802 AH
- Born in
- -
Burhan al-Din al-Abnasi (725–802 AH / 1325–1399 CE) was an Egyptian Shafi'i jurist, hadith scholar, and grammarian, known for his hadith terminology work al-Shadha al-fayyah min ulum Ibn al-Salah ("The Fragrant Scent from the Disciplines of Ibn al-Salah") .
Background and education
Ibrahim ibn Musa ibn Ayyub—also recorded in some biographical accounts with an inserted ancestor as Ibrahim ibn Hasan or Husayn ibn Musa—held the honorific Burhan al-Din and the kunyas Abu Muhammad and Abu Ishaq . He was born in the village of Abnas in Lower Egypt in 725 AH (1325 CE), as noted in his own hand, though another report places his birth shortly before that year .
Al-Abnasi moved to Cairo in his twenties, where he memorized the Quran and studied Islamic jurisprudence, legal theory, and Arabic grammar under scholars including Jamal al-Din al-Isnavi and Wali al-Din al-Manfaluti . In hadith, he trained under Ala al-Din Mughultay and heard transmissions from al-Wadi Ashi, Abu al-Fath al-Maydumi, and Abu Nu'aym al-Is'ardi . He also traveled to Damascus, where he studied with Ibn Umayla, and to the Hijaz, where he heard from Khalil al-Makki and al-Yafi'i . The Hanafi scholar Nasir al-Din al-Qunawi, known as Ibn al-Rabwah, granted him an authorization (ijazah) to issue legal verdicts (fatwas) .
Teaching and career
Al-Abnasi taught and issued fatwas over many decades and delivered Friday sermons at the mosque of al-Maqs . He taught at al-Azhar Mosque and at the Madrasa of Sultan Hasan on behalf of his teacher's son, and served for a time as head of the Sufi lodge Khanqah Sa'id al-Su'ada before stepping down .
Outside Cairo at al-Maqs, he established a Sufi lodge (zawiya) where he gathered students of jurisprudence, actively providing for their sustenance and daily expenses, which led a large segment of Cairo's student population to study under him . Among his notable students were Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, Ibn al-Jazari, Wali al-Din al-Iraqi—who compiled a catalog of al-Abnasi's teachers (mashyakha)—and Jamal al-Din Ibn Zuhayra . In addition to his commentary on Ibn al-Salah's work on hadith, his writings included a grammatical commentary on the Alfiyya of Ibn Malik and a biographical work titled Manaqib al-Shaykh Abi al-Abbas al-Basir .
Avoidance of public office
In early 784 AH, when the commander Barquq sought to replace the chief Shafi'i judge Burhan al-Din Ibn Jama'a, al-Abnasi was recommended for the post and summoned . Al-Abnasi initially agreed to meet the court official, but upon returning to his residence he sought omens by opening the Quran at random and encountered the verse: قَالَ رَبِّ السِّجْنُ أَحَبُّ إِلَيَّ مِمَّا يَدْعُونَنِي إِلَيْهِ ("He said, 'My Lord, prison is more to my liking than that to which they invite me'") . He immediately went into hiding until the authorities abandoned the search and appointed another judge .
Standing and death
Al-Abnasi was described by contemporary scholars as gentle, modest, generous toward students, and dedicated to asceticism and devotion . Ibn Hajar noted that most accomplished scholars of his generation had studied under him .
After performing the pilgrimage to Mecca, al-Abnasi fell ill and died on the return journey in Muharram 802 AH (September/October 1399 CE) at the age of seventy-seven . Sources give his date of death as the 8th or 10th of Muharram at the station of al-Muwaylih (or Kafafa), after which he was washed at al-Muwayliha and buried at Uyun al-Qasab along the pilgrimage route . The hadith master Zayn al-Din al-Iraqi composed a poetic elegy in his memory .
Answer updated
List of Works
al-Shadha al-Fayyah min Ulum Ibn al-Salah is a treatise on hadith terminology structured as a commentary and expansion on Ibn al-Salah's Ma'rifat Anwa' 'Ilm al-Hadith. It systematically addresses all sixty-five categories of hadith disciplines defined in the foundational text, presenting verbatim citations alongside explanatory annotations, hadith-related benefits, and jurisprudential rulings.