Ibn Ammar al-Maliki
- Died
- 844 AH
- Born in
- Cairo
Ibn Ammar al-Maliki (768–844 AH / 1367–1441 CE) was a Cairene Maliki jurist, hadith scholar, and grammarian, known for works such as his three-volume hadith commentary Ghayat al-Ilham fi Sharh Umdat al-Ahkam.
Name and Early Life
His full name was Shams al-Din Abu Yasir Muhammad ibn Ammar ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Qahiri al-Misri al-Maliki, and he was also styled Nasir al-Din Abu Abd Allah by some of his teachers. He was born at Qanatir al-Siba' in Cairo around the time of the afternoon prayer on Saturday, 20 Jumada al-Thani 768 AH / 1367 CE, according to his own written record. An affidavit cited by Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani placed his birth around 758 AH (or c. 760 AH), and al-Maqrizi reported that he died at over eighty years of age. Raised by his father, he memorized the Quran along with classical instructional texts in law, hadith, and Arabic grammar, including Umdat al-Ahkam, al-Shatibiyya, and al-Risala of Ibn Abi Zayd al-Qayrawani.
Education and Career
He attended the circles of prominent scholars in Cairo and Alexandria, hearing hadith alongside Ibn Hajar. His teachers included Siraj al-Din al-Bulqini and his son Badr al-Din, Ibn al-Mulaqqin, Abu Abd Allah ibn Marzuq al-Kabir, Taqi al-Din Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Baghdadi, Sadr al-Din al-Manawi, and the Sufi master Abd Allah al-Jabarti.
He resided in Fustat adjacent to the Mosque of Amr ibn al-Aas, where local students studied under him, and lived for a period at al-Jabarti's zawiya in the Qarafa cemetery. In 803 AH, he obtained the professorship at the Muslamiyya madrasa following the death of Shams al-Din Ibn Makin. When his appointment was challenged on the grounds that the endowment deed stipulated an instructor around forty years of age, he submitted an affidavit proving his age at forty-five.
Scholarly Standing and Contributions
Ibn Ammar was recognized for his wide learning in jurisprudence, legal theory, hadith terminology, grammar, and morphology, as well as his skill in compiling and abridging extensive treatises. Ibn Hajar characterized him as an erudite scholar of pleasant discourse, fond of the pious and of sound creed. In hadith terminology, he authored Miftah al-Sa'idiyya fi Sharh al-Alfiyya al-Hadithiyya, a commentary and abridgment of Zayn al-Din al-Iraqi's didactic poem. In grammar, he produced an eight-volume commentary on Ibn Malik's grammatical treatise, titled Jallab al-Mawa'id fi Sharh Tashil al-Fawa'id.
Illness and Death
Later in life, Ibn Ammar contracted leprosy, which progressively intensified. He died in Cairo on the night of Saturday, 14 Dhu al-Hijja 844 AH (May 1441 CE).
Answer updated
List of Works
Miftah al-Saidiya fi Sharh al-Alfiya al-Hadithiya is a commentary and abridgment of Alfiyyat al-Hadith, Zayn al-Din al-Iraqi's didactic poem on hadith terminology. The work summarizes the contents of al-Iraqi's own commentary while incorporating supplementary observations, grammatical parsing of select verses, explanations of omitted terms, and clarifications of the vocalization and orthography of proper names.