Zayn al-Din Ibn Nujaym
- Died
- 970 AH
- Born in
- Egypt
Zayn al-Din Ibn Nujaym (926–970 AH / 1520–1563 CE) was an Egyptian Hanafi jurist and legal theorist, renowned for his commentary al-Bahr al-Raiq and his treatise on legal maxims al-Ashbah wa al-Nazair.
Lineage and Early Life
He was Zayn al-Din—also called Zayn al-Abidin or simply Zayn—ibn Ibrahim ibn Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr, commonly known as Ibn Nujaym al-Misri. He was born in Egypt in 926 AH (1520 CE).
Education and Career
Ibn Nujaym pursued his legal education under prominent scholars in Egypt, including Sharaf al-Din al-Bulqini, Shihab al-Din ibn al-Shalabi, Amin al-Din ibn Abd al-Al, and Abu al-Fayd al-Sulami. His masters licensed him to teach and deliver legal opinions (ifta), and he began issuing rulings and conducting lessons during their lifetimes. In spiritual training, he affiliated himself with Sulayman al-Khudayri.
A substantial circle of students studied under him, including his younger brother Umar ibn Ibrahim ibn Nujaym and Muhammad al-Alami (the grandson of Ibn Abi Sharif al-Maqdisi), who kept his company in Egypt.
Scholarly Standing
The mystic Abd al-Wahhab al-Sharani accompanied Ibn Nujaym for ten years and performed the pilgrimage with him in 953 AH, praising his moral character and conduct toward his companions and servants throughout the journey.
Ibn Nujaym became a central legal reference within the Hanafi school. In his work al-Ashbah wa al-Nazair, he followed the structural approach of Taj al-Din al-Subki's Shafi'i compilation, organizing legal maxims across seven disciplines, and the work became a primary authority for subsequent Hanafi jurists. His extensive commentary al-Bahr al-Raiq—which commented upon Hafiz al-Din al-Nasafi's Kanz al-Daqaiq up to the chapter on leasing before being later completed by Muhammad ibn Husayn al-Turi—was widely accepted as one of the school's principal reference compendia.
Death
Ibn Nujaym died in 970 AH (1563 CE), a date transmitted by his son Ahmad. His student Muhammad al-Alami reported that his death occurred slightly earlier, in 969 AH.
Answer updated
List of Works
al-Ashbah wa al-Nazair (Resemblances and Similitudes) is a work on legal maxims (al-qawa'id al-fiqhiyyah) and jurisprudence in the Hanafi school. Structured across seven distinct legal disciplines, it brings together universal maxims, topic-by-topic legal controls, distinctions between similar cases, jurisprudential riddles, legal stratagems, analogous rulings, and biographical anecdotes.
al-Bahr al-Raiq Sharh Kanz al-Daqaiq wa Minhat al-Khaliq wa Takmilat al-Turi is an extensive multi-author compendium of Hanafi jurisprudence comprising three integrated texts: the primary commentary al-Bahr al-Raiq on Hafiz al-Din al-Nasafi's legal manual Kanz al-Daqaiq, its later continuation by Muhammad ibn Husayn al-Turi, and the supercommentary Minhat al-Khaliq by Ibn Abidin.