Tuesday 6 March 2012

Imam Jalal ad-Din Suyuti- The Great Scholars Series

This is the first, of a series of posts where I plan to provide biographies of the great Muslim scholars who significantly shaped and influence the development of the Muslim world. It shows how sincere these great Muslim scholars were and that they refused to be influenced by power, and they stood up for the truth, even in the threat of death. The other reason for this series is being because many Muslims don't know of their Islamic history, and  it is known that“Mercy descends when the Righteous are mentioned and remembered.”  (Abdullah ibn Mubarak)
However I don't plan to copy the full biography, but to link to the whole biography, whilst quoting parts.
Imam Suyuti was the famous author of Tafsir Jalalayn in 40 days (it was written by another scholar partially before). Imam Suyuti was also called `Abd al-Rahman ibn Kamal al-Din Abi Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn Sabiq al-Din, Jalal al-Din al-Misri al-Suyuti al-Shafi`i al-Ash`ari, also known as Ibn al-Asyuti (849-911), the mujtahid imam and renewer of the tenth Islamic century, foremost hadith master, jurist, Sufi, philologist, and historian, he authored works in virtually every Islamic science. 
Born to a Turkish mother and non-Arab father and raised as an orphan in Cairo, he memorized the Qur'an at eight, then several complete works of Sacred Law, fundamentals of jurisprudence, and Arabic grammar; after which he devoted himself to studying the Sacred Sciences under about a hundred and fifty shaykhs. He wrote over 723 works.
When al-Suyuti reached forty years of age, he abandoned the company of men for the solitude of the Garden of al-Miqyas by the side of the Nile, avoiding his former colleagues as though he had never known them, and it was here that he authored most of his nearly six hundred books and treatises. Wealthy Muslims and princes would visit him with offers of money and gifts, but he put all of them off, and when the sultan requested his presence a number of times, he refused. 
He once said to the sultan's envoy: "Do not ever come back to us with a gift, for in truth Allah has put an end to all such needs for us."
Al-Suyuti's student and biographer Shams al-Din al-Dawudi al-Maliki - the author of Tabaqat al-Mufassirin al-Kubra - said: "I saw the shaykh with my own eyes writing and finishing three works in one day which he himself authored and proofread. At the same time he was dictating hadith and replying beautifully to whatever was brought to his attention."
He also said of himself: "When I went on hajj I drank Zamzam water for several matters. Among them: (I asked) that I reach, in fiqh, the level of Shaykh Siraj al-Din al-Bulqini and in hadith, that of the hafiz Ibn Hajar."
And he confided to his friend, shaykh AbdulQadir al-Shadhili, that he saw the Prophet (pbuh) in the waking state, saying to him, “Oh Shaykh of the Hadith!” So he said, “Oh Messenger of Allah, am I of the people of Paradise?”, so he, peace be upon him, said “yes”. “Without prior punishment?” So he said “yes.”
So AbdulQadir al-Shadhili asked him, “How many times have you seen the Prophet (pbuh) while awake?” And he replied, “Seventy-some times.”
A giant among contemporaries, he remained alone, producing a sustained output of scholarly writings until his death at the age of sixty-two. He was buried in Hawsh Qawsun in Cairo. In the introduction to his book entitled al-Riyad al-Aniqa on the names of the Prophet -- Allah bless and greet him -- he said: "It is my hope that Allah accept this book and that through this book I shall gain the Prophet's -- Allah bless and greet him -- intercession. Perhaps it shall be that Allah make it the seal of all my works, and grant me what I have asked Him with longing regarding the Honorable One."
For the full bio see:
http://www.sunnah.org/history/Scholars/Al-Suyuti.htm

And:
http://riyada.hadithuna.com/shaykh-of-the-hadith/

The teachers he studied under are given here:
http://www.sunnah.org/history/Scholars/suyutis_teachers.htm

No comments:

Post a Comment