Muhammad al-Zuhri al-Ghamrawi
- Died
- 1337 AH
- Born in
- -
Muhammad al-Zuhri al-Ghamrawi (d. after 1337 AH / 1918 CE) was an Egyptian Shafi'i jurist and textual scholar, best known for his legal commentary al-Siraj al-Wahhaj ala Matn al-Minhaj.
Scholarly Career and Textual Editing
In jurisprudence, al-Ghamrawi composed al-Siraj al-Wahhaj ala Matn al-Minhaj ("The Blazing Lamp upon the Text of al-Minhaj"), an accessible commentary on al-Nawawi's standard Shafi'i manual Minhaj al-Talibin. He undertook the work at the request of the prominent Cairo bookseller Mustafa al-Babi al-Halabi, designing it as a direct companion to the base text that clarified obscure phraseology, extracted rulings from longer classical commentaries, and supplied necessary legal qualifications in straightforward language. He also authored Risalah fi Mabadi al-Ulum ("Treatise on the Fundamentals of the Sciences"), preserved in manuscript at the al-Azhar Library in Cairo.
Al-Ghamrawi was a major contributor to the verification, proofreading, and publication of classical Arabic and Islamic literature during the early printing era in Egypt. He single-handedly edited and supervised the printing of the ten-volume edition of al-Murtada al-Zabidi's Ithaf al-Sadah al-Muttaqin as well as the six-volume edition of the Musnad of Ahmad ibn Hanbal. In Sha'ban 1320 AH (1902 CE), his corrected edition of Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya's Ighathat al-Lahfan fi Masayid al-Shaytan was issued by al-Matba'ah al-Maymaniyyah in Cairo. He likewise edited Abd al-Hadi Naja al-Abyari's Nayl al-Amani, and in 1343 AH (1924–1925 CE) prepared an edition of Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali's Lata'if al-Ma'arif for Dar Ihya al-Kutub al-Arabiyyah, collating manuscript copies and noting textual variants in the margins.
Answer updated
List of Works
al-Siraj al-Wahhaj ala Matn al-Minhaj is a concise legal commentary on al-Nawawi's foundational Shafi'i text Minhaj al-Talibin. Designed as a manageable and accessible companion to be read alongside the original manual, it distills explanations, necessary qualifications, and legal parameters from classical commentaries to clarify obscure expressions and subtle textual allusions for students.