Shihab al-Din al-Qarafi

Name He apparently grew up in al-Qarafa in Old Cairo, whence his sobriquet of al-Qarafi.

Early life Birth He was born in Bahfashīm, a village in the province of Bahnasa in 1228. This village belonged to the district of Būsh, a town just a few miles to the north of Beni Suef.

Education His father taught him in his hometown until the early teens, when he moved to Cairo in pursuit of higher education and more authoritative teachers. It is this city where he studied a number of sciences. According to his biographers, al-Qarafi studied at Sahibiyya, a Maliki madrasa in Cairo that was established sometime around 1214 by the vizier Safi l-Din 'Abd Allah al'Aziz ibn Shakr.

Teachers Little biographical material exists on al-Qarafi, which makes his educational background unclear. No teachers are mentioned by historians such as al-Safadi and al-Suyuti. Only four of al-Qarafi's teachers are listed by Ibn Farhun: the Shafi'i jurist Izz al-Din ibn 'Abd al-Salam, the Maliki jurist Al-Sharif al-Karaki (d. 688 or 9/1290 or 91), the accomplished Shafi'i theologian and legal theorist Shams al-Din al-Khusrushahi (d. 652/1254), who was a pupil of the renowned polymath Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, and the Hanbali jurist and Hadith scholar, Shams al-Din Abu Bakr Muhammad b. Ibrahim. 'Abd al-Wahid . 'Ali b. Surur (d. 676/1265). Others mentioned he studied with Ibn al-Hajib who taught him Maliki law and grammar, and he studied Hadith science under al-Mundhiri.

Without a doubt, the most significant of his teachers was the Damascene scholar, Izz al-Din ibn 'Abd al-Salam, who was regarded as the foremost Shafi'i authority of his era. His immense popularity and his independence in handling the political power earned him the moniker 'Sultan of the scholars." The biographers speculate that shortly after Ibn 'Abda al-Salam arrived in Cairo in 1241, at the age of thirteen, the youthful al-Qarafi became attached to him. Al-Qarafi's greatest gain in knowledge came from Ibn 'Abdal al-Salam, and al-Qarafi makes more references to him than any other scholar of his era in his writings.

Death On Sunday, 30 Jumada 11 684/ 2 September 1285, al-Qarafi died at Dayr al-Tin, a village on the Nile bank in the Birkat al-Habash region, just south of Cairo. The following day, he was buried in the Qarafa cemetery.

He is also regarded as one of the most outstanding jurists in the Maliki school whose writings serve as one of bases of the Maliki jurisprudence. Al-Qarafi was considered highly influential legal scholar and pioneer who developed on Maqasid theory in his writings. He was the first to add the maqsad of 'ird/honour to the already recognized five Maqasid of Islamic Law.

Works Al-Qarafi was an energic and prolific writer who wrote on a wide range of topics, including theology, jurisprudence, legal theory, anti-Christian polemics, Arabic language sciences, Qur'anic interpretations, etc. Many of his works became highly revered and are considered major references till this day. His most famous books include:

Al-dhakhirah ("The Stored Treasure") is one of the most important works in the Maliki madhhab, spanning several volumes, where the imam explains fiqh with evidences from usul al-fiqh in detail and has a strong personality in the way he presents the school. Al-furuq ("Differences") Nafais al usul ("Gems of Legal Theory") Kitab al-ihkam fi tamyiz al-fatawa an al-ahkam wa tasarrufat al-qadi wal-imam ("The Book of Perfecting the Distinction Between Legal Opinions, Judicial Decisions, and the Discretionary Actions of the Judge and the Caliph") Ajwiba l-fākhira ʿan al-as’ila l-fājira fī l-radd ʿalā l-milla l-kāfira ("Superb answers to shameful questions in refutation of the unbelieving religion") is a hefty apologetic work against Christian and Jews. The first part is a response to Paul of Antioch's Letter to a Muslim Friend.