Imam Suyuti ash-Shadhili ق, the Mujaddid of the 9th Century AH
Imam Suyuti whose full name is Abdul Rahman ibn Kamal al-Din Abi Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn Sabiq al-Din Jalal al-Din al-Misri as-Suyuti al-Shafi’i al-Ashari ash-Shadhili (1445–1505 CE) was an Egyptian religious scholar, hadith expert, jurist, Sufi, theologian, historian and one of the most prolific writers of the Middle Ages. He was a Sufi of the Shadhili order.
His ancestors came from al-Khudayriyya in Baghdad. His father taught Shafi'i law at the Mosque and Khanqah of Shaykhu in Cairo, but died when al-Suyuti was 5 or 6 years old. He was raised as an orphan in Cairo.
His Studies
Imam Suyuti’s studies included: Shafi'i and Hanafi fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), hadith (prophetic traditions), tafsir (exegesis), aqeedah (theology), history, rhetoric, philosophy, philology, arithmetic, timekeeping (miqat) and medicine. In the pursuit of knowledge, al-Suyuti travelled to Damascus, the Hejaz, Yemen, India and Morocco, as well as to centers of learning in Egypt such as Mahalla, Dumyat, and Fayyum. He memorized the Qur'an at the age of eight. At the age of 18, Imam Suyuti started teaching Shafi'i jurisprudence at the same mosque as his father did. Imam Suyuti also spent some time as the head teacher of Hadith at the Shaykhuniyya school in Cairo and Baybarsiyya. He was also named the mujaddid (a person who initiates renewal) of the 9th century AH.
His Seclusion
When Imam 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 river Nile, where he avoided his former colleagues as though he had never known them. It was there that he authored the majority of his 700 books and treatises. Wealthy Muslims and princes would visit him with offers of money and gifts but he rejected them and also refused the Sultan many times when he requested al-Suyuti’s presence. 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.”
Imam Suyuti returned to Allah on 18 October 1505 CE. Imam Suyuti leaves behind a library of books ranging in almost every science of his day. The compilers of Dalil Makhtutat as-Suyuti have listed 723 works to his name.
These are just some of his works:
Tafsir al-Jalalayn (Commentary of the Two Jalals); a Qur'anic exegesis written by Imam Suyuti and his teacher Jalal al-Din al-Mahalli is also recognised as one of the most popular exegeses of the Qur'an today due to its simple style and its conciseness, as it is only one volume in length.
al-Itqaan fi Uloom al-Qur'aan (The Perfect Guide to the Sciences of the Qur'an) became the base for the sciences of uloom Quran to come in the 15th century.
al-Arbain: Forty Hadith on the Principle of Legal Judgements, Virtuous Actions and Asceticism
Qatf al-Azhar: Harvesting Scattered Flowers, a very rare type of hadith collection dedicated to an even rarer type of hadith - the mass-transmitted (mutawarir) hadith
Tarikh al-Khulafa: History of the Khalifas Who Took the Right Way. This classical work presents authentic hadith about the first four Khalifahs of Islam, may Allah be pleased with them, illustrating both the integrity and wisdom that they displayed in governance.
Work of Day and Night (‘Amal al-yawm wa’l-layla): a guide to correct conduct and worship in accordance with the example of the Prophet and the Pious Predecessors. This book contains some of the most beautiful prayers in Islamic devotional literature, and Imam al-Suyuti has provided guidance about nearly every situation that one is likely to encounter day-to-day.
al-Khasa’is as-Sughra, Summary of the Unique Particulars of the Beloved Prophet Muhammad
Tanwir al-Halak fi Imkan Ru'yah al-Nabi wa al-Malak, Shedding Light on the Possibility of Seeing Prophets and Angels. This short but valuable text elucidates on the people of unveiling, where the Imams have reported seeing the Prophetﷺ, in a wakeful state. Imam al-Suyuti begins with texts that are irrefutable, from the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ and many well-documented sound anecdotal evidence of such visions, from the Companions (ra) and from the righteous Scholars and Imams (may Allah have mercy on them). This establishes the explicit possibility of the occurrence of such visions.
Al-Tibb al Nabawi, Imam Suyuti gives a detailed description of both physical and spiritual diseases and their remedies, drawing from both the Qur’an and from the wisdom of the Prophet ﷺ.
