Ibn al-Haim

Ibn al-Haim (753 or 756–815 AH / 1352 or 1355–1412 CE) was an Egyptian-born Shafi'i jurist, mathematician, and Quranic scholar who settled in Jerusalem and became widely recognized for his expertise in inheritance law, arithmetic, and Quranic vocabulary Inba al-Ghumr bi-Abna al-…+1.

Life and Career

Shihab al-Din Abu al-Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Imad al-Din ibn Ali al-Misri al-Maqdisi was born in al-Qarafa in Cairo, with sources placing his birth in 753 AH or 756 AH Sharh al-Fusul al-Muhimma…+1. He was known as Ibn al-Haim after an epithet borne by his father Sharh al-Fusul al-Muhimma…. He pursued his education in Cairo, studying Shafi'i jurisprudence, Arabic grammar, mathematics, and the laws of inheritance, and in his later years heard transmissions from scholars including Taqi al-Din ibn Hatim and Jamal al-Din al-Umyuti Sharh al-Fusul al-Muhimma…+1.

He relocated to Jerusalem after the scholar al-Qimni secured the professorship of the Salahiyya Madrasa (al-Madrasa al-Salahiyya) and brought him to serve as his teaching deputy Inba al-Ghumr bi-Abna al-…+1. Ibn al-Haim eventually assumed the full teaching post and became an established figure among Jerusalem's scholars, occupying himself with teaching and issuing legal opinions Sharh al-Fusul al-Muhimma…+1. A dispute over the Salahiyya post arose when the Hanafi scholar Shams al-Din al-Harawi arrived from Herat and sought the lucrative appointment, taking it from him al-Uns al-Jalil bi-Tarikh…. Following local advocacy by the residents of Jerusalem on his behalf, the governor of Damascus, Amir Nawruz, divided the professorship between both men in 814 AH; a decree later sent by al-Qimni from the caliph ordering al-Harawi's removal in favor of Ibn al-Haim was left unenforced by Nawruz Inba al-Ghumr bi-Abna al-…+1.

His promising son, Muhibb al-Din Muhammad, who was an active scholar in jurisprudence and hadith, died during his father's lifetime in Ramadan 800 AH, an event Ibn al-Haim bore with patient endurance al-Alam lil-Zirikli+1.

Scholarship and Standing

Ibn al-Haim was celebrated as the foremost authority of his era in inheritance law (fara'id) and calculation (hisab), drawing students from across the region Inba al-Ghumr bi-Abna al-…+1. Biographical sources highlight his personal piety, moral authority, commitment to enjoining good and forbidding wrong, and the moving impact of his speech al-Uns al-Jalil bi-Tarikh…+1.

Among his prominent students were Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, who met him in Jerusalem and took benefit from his instruction, as well as Ismail ibn Sharaf al-Maqdisi, Husayn al-Zamzami al-Baydawi, Taqi al-Din al-Qalqashandi, Shams al-Din al-Khalili, Ibn Raslan, and the Quran reciter Ahmad al-Ujaymi Sharh al-Fusul al-Muhimma…+1.

In the Quranic sciences, he composed al-Tibyan fi Tafsir Gharib al-Quran, a treatise explaining unusual vocabulary organized according to the order of the Quran's surahs Mujam al-Muallifin+1. In mathematics, he authored didactic works such as al-Muqni' fi al-Jabr wa-l-Muqabala, a versified poem on algebra that he later accompanied with his own commentary Mujam al-Muallifin.

Death

Ibn al-Haim died in Jerusalem in 815 AH (1412 CE), with reports dating his passing to Jumada al-Akhirah or Rajab Inba al-Ghumr bi-Abna al-…+1. He was buried in the Mamilla Cemetery in Jerusalem, where his grave was well known al-Uns al-Jalil bi-Tarikh….