Shafi b. Ali
- Died
- 730 AH
- Born in
- Cairo
Shafi b. Ali (649–730 AH / 1252–1330 CE) was an Egyptian chancery official, historian, and man of letters, best known for his court chronicles of early Mamluk sultans, including al-Fadl al-Mathur min Sirat al-Sultan al-Malik al-Mansur (The Transmitted Merit from the Biography of Sultan al-Malik al-Mansur) .
Lineage and early life
He was Nasir al-Din Shafi b. Ali b. Abbas b. Ismail b. Asakir al-Kinani al-Asqalani al-Misri, whose lineage ultimately traced to the early commander Rawh b. Zinba' al-Judhami . He was born in Cairo on the night of Friday, 25 Dhu al-Hijja 649 AH (1252 CE) . His father was the judge Nur al-Din Ali, and his paternal grandfather was Imad al-Din Abu al-Fadl, the preacher of the Citadel of the Mountain (Qal'at al-Jabal) and deputy of the Ayyubid Palace of Justice (Dar al-Adl) . Through his mother, he was the grandson of the chief chancery secretary Muhyi al-Din ibn Abd al-Zahir, through whom he gained access to court historical records . In his youth, he transmitted learning from the grammarian Ibn Malik .
Career and blindness
He initially taught Arabic for a period before entering royal administrative service in the Egyptian chancery (Diwan al-Insha) . In 680 AH (1281 CE), during the Second Battle of Homs between the Mamluk army and the Ilkhanid Mongols, he was struck in the temple by an arrow, an injury that cost him his eyesight and forced him into retirement at home . Despite his blindness, he maintained an extensive private library containing eighteen book cabinets; he was able to identify any volume merely by touch and retained precise knowledge of where every book was placed .
Scholarly standing
Celebrated as a distinguished prose stylist, poet, and historian, he was characterized by contemporaries as a leading figure among literati of his era . His historical output drew heavily upon first-hand chancery documents and court records, most notably seen in his biography of Sultan Qalawun and his critical abridgment of his grandfather's biography of Sultan Baybars, entitled Hasan al-Manaqib al-Sirriyya min al-Sira al-Zahiriyya (The Choice Hidden Virtues from the Zahirite Biography) . Prominent scholars narrated from him and sought his transmissions, including the grammarian Abu Hayyan al-Gharnati, the historian al-Birzali, and Ibn Yunus al-Ghanimi .
Death
He died in Sha'ban 730 AH (May–June 1330 CE) .
Answer updated
List of Works
al-Fadl al-Mathur min Sirat al-Sultan al-Malik al-Mansur (The Transmitted Merit from the Biography of Sultan al-Malik al-Mansur) is a historical chronicle dedicated to the biography and reign of the Mamluk Sultan al-Mansur Qalawun. It serves as a source for the history of the Mamluk Sultanate and its relations with the Crusaders, Mongols, and Armenians, spanning roughly sixty-five years from Qalawun's early service under Sultan al-Salih Ayyub through his twelve-year reign and extending to the recapture of Crusader coastal cities in 690 AH (1291 CE).