Al-Munawi
TitleZain al-Din
Al-Ḥāfiẓ
Personal
Born(952 AH/1545 AD)
Cairo, Ottoman Empire
Died(1031 AH/1621 AD) (aged 76)
Cairo, Ottoman Empire
ReligionIslam
EraEarly modern period
RegionEgypt
DenominationSunni
JurisprudenceShafi'i
CreedAsh'ari[1]
Main interest(s)Fiqh, Hadith, History, Tasawwuf
Notable work(s)Fayd al-Qadir
Alma materAl-Azhar University
OccupationMuhaddith, Scholar, Muslim Jurist, Historian
Muslim leader
Influenced by

Muhammad 'Abd al-Ra'uf al-Munāwi (also Al-Manāwi) (Arabic: محمد عبد الرؤوف المناوي), was a renowned Egyptian Islamic scholar of the Ottoman period. He was a prominent Shafi'i jurist, hadith specialist, historian, and mystic.[2][3][4] He is considered one of the most greatest and prolific scholars of his time.[5][6] He authored a celebrated and classical work titled Fayd al-Qadir.[7] He was the paternal great grandson of Shaykh al-Islam Sharaf al-Din al-Munawi and was a famous disciple of Al-Sha'rani.[8][9]

Name and Origin

The title "Al-Munawi" originated from the village of Munayt or Munāw, an area of Egypt where his ancestors settled around the 7th or 12th century after their departure from Tunisia.”[10]

Biography

Al-Munawī was born in the city of Cairo in the year of 952/1545 and was a member of was a member of prestigious family well-known for their knowledge and piety.[10] His family members were all scholars, and he was raised in a home full of information. He first started learning under his father Tajul 'Arifin. Before entering puberty, he memorised the Qur'an as well as other valuable texts in Shafi'i Fiqh, Hadith, Arabic syntax, and Seerah. He was made a very young hafiz and Al-Sha'rani inducted him into Tasawwuf. Following his passing, he made contact with several groups, including the brotherhood of Halwatiyya. After a few religious services, he withdrew from society to compose. Then he went back to the outside world to teach at the University of Aliyya, where his extremely high calibre of instruction attracted the most illustrious academics of the day and caused some to make him so envious that he was certainly poisoned. He managed to get away, but he soon gave up teaching and began dictating his works to one of his sons, Taj al-Din Muhammad, who was now too frail to write them down. The year 1031/1621 saw his passing.[11]

Teachers

He studied some of the greatest scholars of his day:[11]

Students

Among his students were the following:[11]

Works

Al-Munawi was a prolific writer who wrote over 100 works including:

See also

References

  1. ^ "Ahl al-Sunna: The Ash'aris - The Testimony and Proofs of the Scholars". almostaneer.com (in Arabic). Archived from the original on 28 January 2021.
  2. ^ Knysh, Alexander D. (1999). Ibn ʻArabi in the Later Islamic Tradition The Making of a Polemical Image in Medieval Islam. State University of New York Press. p. 311. ISBN 9780791439685.
  3. ^ Carl F. Petry, M. W. Daly (10 December 1998). The Cambridge History of Egypt. Vol. 2. Cambridge University Press. p. 26.
  4. ^ IslamKotob. "الأعلام - ج 8 - نافع بن ظريب - يوهنس". p. 167.
  5. ^ Hanif, N. (2002). In Praise of Books A Cultural History of Cairo's Middle Class, Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Century. Sarup & Sons. p. 113. ISBN 9788176252676.
  6. ^ Jane Hathaway, Karl Barbir (22 July 2014). The Arab Lands Under Ottoman Rule 1516-1800. Taylor & Francis. p. 133. ISBN 9781317875635.
  7. ^ Ibrahim, Ahmed F. (27 April 2015). Pragmatism in Islamic Law - A Social and Intellectual History. Syracuse University Press. p. 250. ISBN 9780815653196.
  8. ^ Brown, Jonathan (2017). American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 34:3. International Institute of Islamic Thought. p. 13.
  9. ^ Hanna, Nelly (October 2003). Biographical Encyclopaedia of Sufis Africa and Europe. Syracuse University Press. p. 170. ISBN 9780815630364.
  10. ^ a b Johannes Hendrik Kramers & Joseph Schacht (1993). Bosworth, C. E.; van Donzel, E.; Heinrichs, W. P. & Pellat, Ch. (eds.). The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Volume VII: Mif–Naz. Leiden: E. J. Brill. p. 565. ISBN 978-90-04-09419-2.
  11. ^ a b c "A biography of 'Allamah Munawi (rahimahullah)". islamqa.org. 27 November 2019.
  12. ^ Neale, Harry S. (24 March 2022). Sufi Warrior Saints - Stories of Sufi Jihad from Muslim Hagiography. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 126. ISBN 9780755643387.
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