زكريا الأنصاري
Zakariyya al-Ansari (RH)
Shaykh al-Islam Zakariyya al-Ansari
823–926 AH · 1420–1520 CE
Fiqh Shafi'i Sufism
Shafi'i chief judge of Mamluk Cairo, who lived to about one hundred; teacher of the next generation of the school.
Zakariyya al-Ansari came to Cairo as a poor student and rose to become chief judge and Shaykh al-Islam of Mamluk Egypt. He was also a Sufi, and his writings combine law with spiritual guidance.
His many teaching works, such as Fath al-Wahhab and Asna al-Matalib, became standard in the Shafi'i school. Among his students were Ibn Hajar al-Haytami and Shihab al-Din al-Ramli, the father of Shams al-Din al-Ramli, whose works became the school's main references.
Life journey
- 1420 CE Cairo (al-Qahira) القاهرةDied 1520 CE · 926 AHBorn in the village of Sunaykah in the eastern Delta; studied at al-Azhar and spent his life in Cairo.
Teachers
- Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalani (RH) 1372–1449 CEZakariyya al-Ansari studied hadith with Ibn Hajar in Cairo.
Students
- Ibn Hajar al-Haytami (RH) 1503–1567 CEIbn Hajar al-Haytami studied with Zakariyya al-Ansari at al-Azhar as a young man.
Key works
- Fath al-Wahhab فتح الوهابVictory of the BestowerA standard Shafi'i teaching commentary.
Places in their life
Photo: CumaliOnal, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Sources
- al-Sakhawi, al-Daw' al-Lami'
- Ibn al-'Imad, Shadharat al-Dhahab
Draft, awaiting scholarly review.