Imam Taqi al-Din Subki
Taqi al-Din al-Subki
أبو الحسن تقي الدين علي بن عبد الكافي السبكي
Sheikh ul-Islam, Qadi al-Qudat, a famous Shafi'i scholar, hadith
master, jurist, Qur'anic exegete and chief judge of Damascus
b. 683 H. (1284 CE) in Egypt - d. 756 (1355 CE) in
Egypt
From: Article by David W.
Myhram
One of the greatest scholars of his time, equally renowned as
traditionist, Shafi`i jurisconsult, interpreter of al-Qur’an,
theologian, philosopher, logician and grammarian. He was a student
of Ibn `Ata Allah al-Iskandari. Born in Subk in the south of Egypt
in 673, studied in Cairo, then taught at the various great schools
of learning in Cairo. In 739 H. he was called to Damascus to
take the office of head qadi, an office which he held for 16 years,
while teaching at the higher schools of Damascus. His books were
considered authoritative, regardless of what science he wrote in.
From: wiki
Taqi al-Din al-Subki was born in the village of Subk in Egypt. He
received his Islamic education in Cairo by such scholars as Ibn
Rif'a in Sacred Law, al-Iraqi in Qur'anic exegisis and al-Dimyati in
hadith. He also traveled to acquire knowledge of hadith from the
scholars of Syria, Alexandria and the Hijaz. Eventually he taught at
the Mansuriyya school located in the Ibn Tulun's mosque.
Having left Egypt in his youth, al-Subki settled down in Syria where
he rose through the ranks to the position of chief judge of Syria,
the preacher of the Umayyad mosque at Damascus and a professor in
several colleges. He presided as chief judge for seventeen years, at
the end of which he became ill, was replaced by his son Taj al-Din
al-Subki and returned to Cairo where he died in 756 H.
Imam Subki belonged to the Sunni Ash'ari school of theology and in
line with his school strongly opposed anthropomorphism. He also
vehemently defended the Ashari view that Paradise and Hell Fire are
eternal and to that end wrote a comprehensive treatise entitled
"Al-I'tibar".
From: “Tabaqat al-Huffadh”
Imam al-Suyuti said regarding him:
الإمام الفقيه المحدث الحافظ المفسر الأصولي المتكلم النحوي اللغوي
الأديب المجتهد تقي الدين أبو الحسن علي بن عبد الكافي بن علي بن تمام
بن يوسف بن موسى بن تمام بن حامد بن يحيى بن عمر بن عثمان بن علي بن
مسوار بن سوار بن سليم شيخ الإسلام إمام العصر
“The Imam, the jurist (Faqih), the traditionist (Muhaddith), the
Hafidh, the exegete (Mufassir), the legal theorist (Usuli), the
theologian (Mutkallim), the grammarian (Nahwi), the linguist
(Lughawi), the writer (Adib), the Mujtahid Taqi al-Din Abul Hasan
‘Ali bin ‘Abd al-Kafi bin ‘Ali bin Tammam bin Yusuf bin Musa bin
Tammam bin Hamid bin Yahya bin ‘Umar bin ‘Uthman bin ‘Ali bin Miswar
bin Sawwar bin Salim, the Shaykh al-Islam and Imam of [his] era.”
From: Nuh Ha Mim Keller, Reliance of the Traveller:
The Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law Umdat Al-Salik, x345, pg.
1102
‘Ali ibn ‘Abd al-Kafi ibn ‘Ali ibn Tamam, Abu al-Hasan Taqi al-Din
al-Subki, born in Subk, Egypt, in 683/1284. The Shafi’i scholar and
Imam of his time, he was a brilliant intellectual, hadith master
(hafiz), Koranic exegete, and Islamic judge who was described by Ibn
Hajar Haytami as “the mujtahid Imam whose imamate, greatness, and
having reached the level of ijtihad are agreed upon,” and by Dhahabi
as “the most learned, eloquent, and wisest in judgement of all the
sheikhs of the age.”
Educated in Cairo by such scholars as Ibn Rif’a in Sacred Law, ‘Alam
al-Din Iraqi in Koranic exegesis, and Sharaf al-Din al-Dimyati in
hadith, he also travelled to acquire knowledge of hadith from the
sheikhs of Syria, Alexandria, and the Hijaz after which, as Suyuti
records, “he devoted himself to writing and giving legal opinion,
authoring more than 150 works, his writings displaying his profound
knowledge of hadith and other fields and his magisterial command of
the Islamic sciences. He educated the foremost scholars of his time,
was a painstaking, accurate, and penetrating researcher, and a
brilliant debater in the disciplines. No previous scholar attained
to his achievements in Sacred Law, of masterful inferences,
subtleties in detail, and carefully worked-out methodological
principles.”
Salah al-Din Safadi said of him, “People say that no one like him
had appeared since Ghazali, though in my opinion they thereby do him
an injustice, for to my mind he does not resemble anyone less than
Sufyan al-Thawri.” With his vast erudition, he was at the same time
a godfearing ascetic in his personal life who was devoted to worship
and mysticism, though vigilant and uncompromising in matters of
religion and ready to assail any innovation (bid’a) or departure
from the tenets of faith of Ahl al-Sunna. In addition to al-Takmila
[The completion], his eleven-volume supplement to Nawawi’s Sharh
al-Muhadhdhab [The exegesis of “The rarefaction”], he also authored
the widely quoted Fatawa al-Subki [The legal opinions of Sukbi] in
two volumes, as well as a number of other works on tenets of faith,
Koranic exegesis, and fundamentals of Islamic law, in the latter of
which his three-volume al-Ibhaj fi sharh al-Minhaj [The gladdening:
an exegesis of “The road”], an exposition of Baydawi’s Al-Minhaj on
the methodological bases of legal ijtihad, has won lasting
recognition among scholars. In A.H. 739 he moved from Cairo to
Damascus, where he was appointed to the judiciary and presided for
seventeen years, at the end of which he became ill, was replaced by
his son Taj al-Din, and returned to Cairo, where he died twenty days
later in 756/1355.