Mahmud ibn Sulayman al-Kafawi
- Died
- 990 AH
- Born in
- -
Mahmud ibn Sulayman al-Kafawi (920–c. 990 AH / 1520–c. 1582 CE) was an Ottoman Hanafi jurist, judge, and biographer, best known for his biographical dictionary of Hanafi scholars, Kata'ib a'lam al-akhyar min fuqaha' madhhab al-Nu'man al-mukhtar (Phalanxes of Eminent Figures Among the Jurists of the Chosen School of al-Nu'man) .
Origin and education
Abu al-Fadl Mahmud ibn Sulayman ibn 'Abdi (also recorded as Ibn 'Abd Allah) al-Rumi al-Kafawi was of Circassian origin . He was born in 920 AH (1520 CE) in the town of Kaffa on the southeastern coast of the Crimean peninsula . He began his studies in Kaffa, becoming proficient in Arabic and Turkish literature and composition, and wrote poetry .
In 949 AH (1542 CE), at the age of twenty-three, he traveled to Istanbul during the reign of Sultan Suleiman the Lawgiver . There he studied under Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Qadir, reading portions of al-Hidaya and al-Talwih, and entered the rank of academic candidates (mulazimun) in 959 AH . His other instructors included 'Abd al-Rahman ibn 'Ali, Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab, Qadizade Ahmad Shams al-Din Efendi in Bursa, and 'Abd al-Rahman Efendi at the Sahn-i Seman madrasa in Istanbul, and he received Sufi instruction from Abu Bakr al-Kafawi al-Qadiri .
Career
In 961 AH, al-Kafawi was appointed as a teacher (mudarris) at the al-Mulla Gurani madrasa in Istanbul . He subsequently held the judgeship and the office of financial inspector in his native town of Kaffa several times . In 983 AH (1575 CE), he was appointed judge of Sinop, and later served as judge of Gallipoli . He was dismissed from his post in 987 AH (1579 CE) and returned to Istanbul .
At around the age of sixty, he compiled his biographical dictionary Kata'ib a'lam al-akhyar min fuqaha' madhhab al-Nu'man al-mukhtar, which arranged Hanafi jurists in unbroken chronological chains of master-disciple lineages leading back to Abu Hanifa .
Death
According to Kashf al-zunun, al-Kafawi died in Istanbul in early 990 AH (1582 CE) . Other accounts state that he died on the eve of Sunday, 3 Ramadan 989 AH (1581 CE), at the age of sixty-three in Sinop, where he was buried in the courtyard of the al-Kafawi Mosque . A later death date of 997 AH is also recorded in Osmanlı Müellifleri .
Answer updated
List of Works
Kataib Alam al-Akhyar min Fuqaha Madhhab al-Numan al-Mukhtar is an extensive biographical dictionary of Hanafi jurists compiled in Arabic. Completed in 987 AH (1579 CE), the work traces chronological master-disciple lineages back to Imam Abu Hanifa, distinguishing teachers from students and independent jurists from adherents of legal conformity.