Muhammad al-Mukhtar al-Shanqiti
- Died
- 1405 AH
- Born in
- -
Muhammad al-Mukhtar al-Shanqiti (1337–1405 AH / 1918–1985 CE) was a Mauritanian scholar, hadith specialist, and teacher at the Prophet's Mosque in Medina, best known for his extensive commentary on Sunan al-Nasa'i titled Shuruq Anwar al-Minan al-Kubra.
Lineage and Early Life
Muhammad al-Mukhtar ibn Muhammad al-Amin (also given as Muhammad al-Mukhtar ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad Mazyad) al-Jakani al-Shanqiti was born in al-Shaqiq, near the town of al-Rashid in Mauritania. His nisba, al-Jakani, connects him to the Jakan tribe of West Africa, which traces its lineage to Himyar. He was raised in the scholarly family of Al Mazyad; his grandfather al-Mukhtar was a prominent local scholar, and his father was the leader of his tribe. Al-Shanqiti memorized the Quran first under his mother, completing it after her death under his father, and subsequently studied Quranic orthography and vocalization under local scholars before training in Arabic grammar and Maliki jurisprudence.
Travels and Education
At the age of nineteen, al-Shanqiti embarked on a journey in pursuit of Islamic knowledge, traveling more than five thousand kilometers on foot accompanied only by his books and essential provisions. He performed the pilgrimage in 1358 AH and settled in Medina, completing his studies there and in Mecca. Among his teachers were Umar al-Salik al-Shanqiti, Muhammad ibn Ibrahim Al al-Shaykh, Muhammad al-Arabi al-Qabbani, and Hasan al-Mashshat.
Teaching and Scholarship
Al-Shanqiti taught in Jeddah and Riyadh, then at the Islamic University of Madinah and the Prophet's Mosque. He was recognized for his breadth of learning in Quranic exegesis, hadith, narrator criticism, genealogy, history, and Arabic poetry. His scholarly output includes a legal treatise on sacrifice titled al-Jawab al-Wadih al-Mubin fi Hukm al-Tadhiyah 'an al-Ghayr min al-Ahya' wa-l-Mayyitin ("The Clear and Plain Answer Concerning Sacrificing on Behalf of Others Among the Living and the Deceased") and his multi-volume commentary on al-Nasa'i's hadith collection, Shuruq Anwar al-Minan al-Kubra al-Ilahiyya bi-Kashf Asrar al-Sunan al-Sughra al-Nasaiyya ("The Rising of the Lights of Great Divine Graces in Revealing the Secrets of al-Sunan al-Sughra of al-Nasa'i").
Death
Al-Shanqiti died in Medina in 1405 AH / 1985 CE (with one source recording his death on November 28, 1982 CE). He died before completing the final volume and preparing the clean copy of his commentary on Sunan al-Nasa'i.
Answer updated
List of Works
Sharh Sunan al-Nasai al-Musamma Shuruq Anwar al-Minan al-Kubra al-Ilahiyya bi-Kashf Asrar al-Sunan al-Sughra al-Nasaiyya is an extensive commentary on al-Nasai's hadith collection al-Sunan al-Sughra (also known as al-Mujtaba). Designed as a comprehensive reference work covering narrator biographies, cross-referencing, linguistic and grammatical analysis, and legal rulings, it follows the sequential order of al-Nasai's collection to explain its texts and related legal derivations in detail.