Shihab al-Din al-Ramli
- Died
- 957 AH
- Born in
- -
Shihab al-Din al-Ramli (d. 957 AH / 1550 CE) was an Egyptian jurist of the Shafi'i school and one of the leading legal authorities of his era, widely known for his legal commentary on Ibn Raslan's Safwat al-zubad and his collected legal responsa (Fatawa al-Ramli).
Name and Origin
His full name was Ahmad ibn Ahmad ibn Hamzah al-Ansari al-Manufi al-Misri, with the agnomen Abu al-Abbas and the honorific Shihab al-Din. He is often referred to as al-Ramli al-Kabir ("the Elder") to distinguish him from his son Shams al-Din al-Ramli. His nisba derives from al-Ramlah, a small village on the riverbank near Munyat al-Attar in the al-Manufiyya province of Egypt.
Education and Teachers
Al-Ramli studied Shafi'i jurisprudence and related Islamic disciplines under the foremost scholars of his time, chief among them the chief judge Zakariyya al-Ansari. He attained an exceptional standing with Zakariyya al-Ansari, who granted him exclusive authorization to emend and revise his writings during his lifetime and after his death, an unprecedented privilege among his disciples. Al-Ramli utilized this permission to revise several passages in his teacher's commentaries on al-Bahjah and Rawd al-talib. He also studied under other contemporaries of Zakariyya al-Ansari, including scholars such as al-Shirbini and al-Ghazzi.
Teaching and Students
Al-Ramli held teaching circles in Egypt and trained a generation of prominent jurists, to the extent that nearly all Shafi'i scholars in Egypt became either his direct students or the students of his students. Among his most notable pupils were his son Shams al-Din al-Ramli, al-Khatib al-Shirbini, Nur al-Din al-Tunbudha'i, Shihab al-Din al-Ghazzi, and Nur al-Din al-Ziyadi.
Scholarly Standing and Reception
In his later years, leadership (riyasah) in the Shafi'i school and the religious sciences in Egypt culminated in al-Ramli. Legal queries were addressed to him from various Islamic lands, and jurists across Egypt, the Hijaz, and the Levant deferred to his legal verifications and fatwas. His extensive legal responsa were collected by his son Shams al-Din al-Ramli, as well as by his student al-Khatib al-Shirbini. His major legal commentary Fath al-Rahman bi-Sharh Zubad Ibn Raslan served as a standard reference for legal rulings and textual preferences in the Shafi'i school, alongside his marginal gloss (hashiyah) on Zakariyya al-Ansari's Asna al-matalib.
Biographers also noted his asceticism, piety, and humility; he attended to his own domestic needs and refused to send others to the market on his behalf until advanced age and infirmity prevented him. He maintained favorable relations with Sufi figures and scholars of diverse backgrounds in Cairo, who widely venerated him.
Death
Al-Ramli died in Cairo on Friday, 1 Jumada al-Akhirah 957 AH (1550 CE). His funeral prayer was performed at the al-Azhar Mosque.
Answer updated
List of Works
Fatawa al-Ramli is a compendium of legal responsa in Shafi'i jurisprudence. The collection brings together dispersed rulings on acts of worship, financial transactions, marriage and family law, and penalties and injuries, alongside questions concerning Qur'anic interpretation, hadith, scholarly sayings, legal theory, theology, and Arabic grammar.
Fath al-Rahman bi Sharh Zubad Ibn Raslan is a classical Arabic commentary on Shafi'i jurisprudence. Completed in 932 AH, the work provides a comprehensive legal explanation of Ahmad ibn Raslan's didactic versification of Shafi'i legal rulings, Safwat al-Zubad.