علي بن سلطان محمد القاري

Mulla 'Ali al-Qari (RH)

'Ali ibn Sultan Muhammad al-Qari

Also known as: Mulla Ali Qari, Ali al-Qari, al-Harawi

c. 930–1014 AH · c. 1524–1606 CE

Hadith Hanafi Fiqh

Hanafi scholar of Herat and Makkah, author of Mirqat al-Mafatih, the great commentary on Mishkat al-Masabih.

'Ali al-Qari was born in Herat, where he learnt the Quran and its readings, from which he took the name al-Qari, 'the reciter'. Some years after the Safavid conquest of the city he left for Makkah. There he studied with Ibn Hajar al-Haytami, 'Ali al-Muttaqi al-Hindi and other scholars of the Haram, and he stayed for the rest of his life. He is said to have lived by copying a Quran each year in his fine hand and selling it.

He wrote well over a hundred works on hadith, Hanafi fiqh, creed, Quran readings and Sufism. The best known is Mirqat al-Mafatih, a large commentary on Mishkat al-Masabih that is still widely used, especially in South Asia. He also wrote commentaries on Qadi 'Iyad's al-Shifa' and on al-Fiqh al-Akbar, and al-Asrar al-Marfu'a, a guide to sayings wrongly attributed to the Prophet. He held his views firmly and wrote against some of the teachings of Ibn 'Arabi. He died in Makkah in 1606.

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