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Zakariya al-Ansari

Died
926 AH
Born in
-

Zakariya al-Ansari (823–926 AH / 1420–1520 CE) was an Egyptian Shafi'i jurist, hadith scholar, and chief judge, renowned for his foundational legal commentaries such as Asna al-Matalib and Fath al-Wahhab .

Lineage and Early Life

His full name was Zayn al-Din Abu Yahya Zakariya ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Zakariya al-Ansari al-Khazraji al-Sunayki al-Qahiri al-Azhari . His nisba al-Khazraji traces to the Ansar tribe of Khazraj, while al-Sunayki refers to his birthplace, the village of Sunayka in the Sharqiyya province of eastern Egypt . Historical accounts place his birth in 823 AH, with alternative reports citing 824 AH or 826 AH .

He grew up an orphan in destitution; after his father died, an official sought to compel the young Zakariya into falconry labor, but a local sheikh intervened and encouraged his mother to send him to pursue religious learning . He began his early education in his village, memorizing the Quran under local teachers along with Umdat al-Ahkam and portions of Mukhtasar al-Tabrizi . In 841 AH, he moved to Cairo and resided at the al-Azhar Mosque . During his initial years at al-Azhar, he endured extreme poverty—at times subsisting on discarded watermelon rinds washed at the ablution basin—until a pious benefactor provided him with sustenance and support for several years .

Education and Teachers

At al-Azhar, al-Ansari dedicated himself to study, committing to memory essential texts in jurisprudence, grammar, recitation, and hadith, including al-Nawawi's Minhaj al-Talibin, Ibn Malik's Alfiyya, the Shatibiyya, and sections of Alfiyyat al-Hadith .

He studied under prominent scholars of his era, most notably Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, who granted him formal authorization (ijaza) to teach and issue legal verdicts . His other teachers included Jalal al-Din al-Mahalli, Sharaf al-Din al-Munawi, Alam al-Din al-Bulqini, Shams al-Din al-Qayati, Kamal al-Din Ibn al-Humam, Muhyi al-Din al-Kafiyaji, and Taqi al-Din al-Hisni . During his travels to Mecca, he studied under Sharaf al-Din al-Maraghi and Taqi al-Din Ibn Fahd . In Sufism, he received spiritual transmission from Muhammad ibn Umar al-Wasiti .

Career and Offices

Al-Ansari began teaching during the lifetime of his own masters and quickly established a broad circle of students . He was appointed head of the Salahiyya Madrasa and various prominent instructional posts in Cairo .

On Tuesday, 3 Rajab 886 AH, he was appointed Chief Shafi'i Judge (Qadi al-Qudat) of Egypt, succeeding Wali al-Din al-Asyuti, an office he accepted only with great reluctance . In 892 AH, following a complaint by an individual named Taj al-Din ibn Sharaf regarding an allowance, the sultan ordered an audit of the endowment accounts under al-Ansari's supervision, temporarily placing his administrative staff under custody for over three years before they were exonerated and released .

Scholarly Standing and Students

Al-Ansari gained wide acclaim as one of the preeminent Shafi'i authorities of the late Mamluk period, earning the title Shaykh al-Islam . In jurisprudence, his commentary Asna al-Matalib on al-Muqri's Rawd al-Talib and his Fath al-Wahhab became standard reference texts across the Shafi'i school . In hadith terminology, he authored Fath al-Baqi, a widely circulated commentary on Zayn al-Din al-Iraqi's Alfiyya . In mystical thought, he maintained high regard for the sainthood of Ibn Arabi and Ibn al-Farid, defending them in his writings .

He lived to an advanced age, teaching successive generations of scholars . Among his prominent students were Ibn Hajar al-Haytami, Shihab al-Din al-Ramli—whom al-Ansari exclusively authorized to edit and emend his writings during his life and after his death—Muhammad ibn Salam al-Tablawi, Shihab al-Din al-Burullusi (known as Amira), and his son Jamal al-Din Yusuf .

Death

Al-Ansari lost his eyesight toward the end of his life . He died in Cairo on Friday, 4 Dhu al-Hijjah 926 AH (with some chronicles recording 925 AH, and another report giving 928 AH), at roughly one hundred years of age . He was buried in the al-Qarafa cemetery near the mausoleum of al-Shafi'i, and absentee funeral prayers were held for him at the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus .

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List of Works

  • Asna al-Matalib fi Sharh Rawd al-Talib

    Asna al-Matalib fi Sharh Rawd al-Talib is an extensive commentary on Shafi'i jurisprudence. It serves as an authoritative explanation of Rawd al-Talib, an abridgment compiled by the Yemeni jurist Isma'il ibn Abi Bakr al-Muqri.

  • Fath al-Baqi bi Sharh Alfiyyat al-Iraqi

    Fath al-Baqi bi Sharh Alfiyyat al-Iraqi is a concise commentary on hadith terminology. The book serves as an exposition of Zayn al-Din al-Iraqi's didactic thousand-line poem, Alfiyyat al-Hadith (also titled al-Tabsira wa-al-Tadhkira or Nazm al-Durar fi Ilm al-Athar), which summarizes Ibn al-Salah's Ulum al-Hadith.

  • al-Maqsad li-Talkhis ma fi al-Murshid

    al-Maqsad li-Talkhis ma fi al-Murshid is a treatise on the Quranic science of pausing and initiating recitation (waqf wa-ibtida'). It is an abridgment of al-Murshid fi al-Waqf wa-l-Ibtida', a comprehensive manual on pauses by Abu Muhammad al-Hasan ibn Ali ibn Sa'id al-Omani.

  • al-Munfarijatan

    al-Munfarijatan is a published edition of a commentary on the famous thirty-five-verse ascetic ode al-Munfarijah, an ode composed in the khabab meter and predominantly attributed to Ibn al-Nahwi (Abu al-Fadl Yusuf ibn Muhammad ibn Yusuf al-Tawzari).

  • Minhat al-Bari bi Sharh Sahih al-Bukhari

    Minhat al-Bari bi Sharh Sahih al-Bukhari, also known as Tuhfat al-Bari, is a commentary on Sahih al-Bukhari. It aims to resolve difficult passages, uncover obscure meanings, clarify grammatical analysis of sentence structures, and provide refined principles and newly formulated benefits.