Ibn Imam al-Kamiliya

Ibn Imam al-Kamiliya (808–874 AH / 1406–1470 CE) was a Cairene Shafi'i jurist, legal theorist, and Quranic exegete best known for his legal treatise Taysir al-Wusul ila Minhaj al-Usul (Facilitating Access to the Methodology of Legal Theory) and his leadership of the Kamiliya Madrasa Mujam al-Mufassirin "min …+1.

Lineage and Early Life

He was Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Ali ibn Yusuf ibn Mansur, known by the honorific Kamal al-Din and the kunyas Abu Abd Allah and Abu Muhammad al-Daw al-Lami li-Ahl al-…+1. He was known as Ibn Imam al-Kamiliya because he, his father, his grandfather, and his great-grandfather successively served as imams of the Madrasa al-Kamiliya (also known as Dar al-Hadith al-Kamiliya) in the Bayn al-Qasrayn district of Cairo al-Daw al-Lami li-Ahl al-…+1. He was born at the madrasa on the morning of Thursday, 18 Shawwal 808 AH al-Daw al-Lami li-Ahl al-…+1.

Education and Teachers

Raised in Cairo, he memorized the Quran alongside foundational legal texts, including the Minhaj and the Umda al-Daw al-Lami li-Ahl al-…+1. He studied Shafi'i jurisprudence under Shams al-Din al-Busiri, Shams al-Din al-Barmawi—who granted him permission to teach—and Sharaf al-Din al-Subki, with whom he studied most extensively al-Daw al-Lami li-Ahl al-…+1. He attended the hadith sessions of Wali al-Din al-Iraqi, Ibn al-Jazari, and Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani al-Badr al-Tali bi-Mahasi…+1. In legal theory (usul al-fiqh) and theology (usul al-din), he studied under Shams al-Din al-Qayati, Shams al-Din al-Wana'i, and Shams al-Din al-Bisati, while taking Arabic grammar and arithmetic from Shams al-Din al-Hijazi al-Daw al-Lami li-Ahl al-…+1.

Among those who transmitted from him or attended his lessons were Abu al-Khayr Muhammad ibn Zahira and Jawhar al-Mu'ini al-Manhal al-Mahul bil-Bi…+1.

Career and Controversies

Ibn Imam al-Kamiliya held the imamate of the Madrasa al-Kamiliya and was later appointed to the professorship of the Salahiya Madrasa adjacent to the mausoleum of Imam al-Shafi'i, succeeding Zayn al-Abidin ibn al-Munawi without personal solicitation on his part al-Rawd al-Basim fi Hawad…+1. He was widely recognized for his scholarship in legal theory; his commentary on Nasir al-Din al-Baydawi's Minhaj al-Wusul circulated widely and received a written commendation (taqriz) from Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, who praised its skillful blending of commentary and base text al-Badr al-Tali bi-Mahasi…+1. He also authored a biographical monograph on Yahya ibn Sharaf al-Nawawi titled Bughyat al-Rawi fi Tarjamat al-Imam al-Nawawi (The Narrator's Desire Concerning the Biography of Imam al-Nawawi) Tuhfat al-Talibin fi Tarj…+1.

During the public controversy surrounding the Sufi poet Ibn al-Farid, Ibn Imam al-Kamiliya emerged as one of his fiercest critics, asserting that Ibn al-Farid's al-Ta'iyya poem contained unbelief (kufr) and that reciting it without repudiation constituted heresy (zandaqa) al-Rawd al-Basim fi Hawad….

Death

Ibn Imam al-Kamiliya died while traveling to the Hejaz on 15 Shawwal 874 AH at Ra's Thughrat Hamid, where he was buried Mujam al-Mufassirin "min …+1. An alternative report recorded his death year as 864 AH Mujam al-Mufassirin "min …+1.