Shams al-Din al-Ramli
- Died
- 1004 AH
- Born in
- Cairo
Shams al-Din al-Ramli (919–1004 AH / 1513–1596 CE) was an Egyptian Shafi'i jurist who served as the leading legal authority and mufti of the Shafi'is in Egypt, best known for his extensive legal commentary Nihayat al-Muhtaj ila Sharh al-Minhaj .
Background and education
He was Muhammad ibn Abi al-Abbas Ahmad ibn Hamza ibn Shihab al-Din al-Ramli al-Manufi al-Misri al-Ansari, bearing the honorific Shams al-Din . His nisba derives from al-Ramla, a village in the al-Manufiyya province of Egypt . He was born in Cairo in 919 AH (1513 CE), though another report places his birth in 917 AH .
He received his early and advanced training under his father, the jurist Shihab al-Din al-Ramli, as well as under Zakariyya al-Ansari . Following his father's path, he maintained a profound devotion to the Sufis, as recorded by Abd al-Wahhab al-Sha'rani .
Scholarly career and students
Al-Ramli held the official post of Shafi'i mufti in Egypt and became the central reference for issuing legal verdicts in the region . Beyond jurisprudence, he instructed students in Quranic exegesis (tafsir), hadith, legal theory (usul), Arabic grammar, and rhetoric . Among his notable students were Nur al-Din al-Ziyadi and Salim al-Shabshiri .
In legal literature, he consolidated his father's legal opinions into a single collection titled Fatawa al-Ramli . He also authored Ghayat al-Bayan fi Sharh Zubad Ibn Raslan, an analytical commentary on Ibn Raslan's versified Shafi'i manual, alongside his principal legal reference work, Nihayat al-Muhtaj ila Sharh al-Minhaj .
Standing and death
Owing to his mastery and decisive role in late Shafi'i jurisprudence, he was widely dubbed al-Shafi'i al-Saghir ("the Lesser al-Shafi'i"), and some scholars regarded him as the renewer (mujaddid) of the tenth Islamic century . Later biographical sources noted broad agreement on his preeminence, describing him as a foremost pillar of scholars and a mainstay of jurists across the regions .
He died in Cairo in Jumada al-Ula 1004 AH (1596 CE) .
Answer updated
List of Works
Ghayat al-Bayan Sharh Zubad Ibn Raslan (The Ultimate Clarification: A Commentary on Ibn Raslan's Zubad) is a legal commentary on Shafi'i jurisprudence. The work serves as an exposition of Safwat al-Zubad, Ibn Raslan's versified summary of Shafi'i law, aiming to unpack the poem's expressions, clarify its fine points, verify legal rulings, substantiate textual proofs, and provide additional legal benefits for scholars and learners.
Nihayat al-Muhtaj ila Sharh al-Minhaj (The End of the Needy for the Explanation of the Minhaj) is an extensive legal commentary on al-Nawawi's foundational legal manual, Minhaj al-Talibin. Composed between 963 AH and 973 AH, the work offers a comprehensive exposition of Shafi'i jurisprudence by systematically unpacking the text, terminology, and legal rulings of the original manual.