Taqi al-Din al-Subki

Abu Al-Hasan Taqī al-Dīn Ali ibn Abd al-Kafi ibn Ali al-Khazraji al-Ansari al-Subkī , commonly known as Taqī l-Dīn al-Subkī was a Sunni Egyptian polymath and foremost leading Shafi'i jurisconsult, traditionist, Quranic exegete, legal theoretician, theologian, mystic, grammarian, linguist, rhetorician, philologist, lexicographer, genealogist, historian, logician, controversial debater, and researcher of his time. He served as the chief judge of Damascus for 17 years. He was the father of the great Taj al-Din al-Subki.

Al-Subki was regarded as one of the most influential and highly acclaimed scholars of the Mamluk period. He was famous for being the leading scholar, judge and teacher of his time. He was given the special title Sheikh al-Islam for mastering every Islamic field and was a prolific writer who wrote books in every science.

Early life Birth Taqi al-Din al-Subki was born at the beginning of Safar in the year 683 AH, which corresponds to April 18, 1284 AD in the village of Subk al-Ahad (hence the name "Al-Subki") – one of the villages in the Monufia Governorate and he was taught in his childhood by his father, who provided him with the appropriate atmosphere for acquiring knowledge.

Jamal al-Din al-Isnawi Taj al-Din al-Subki Siraj al-Din al-Bulqini Zain al-Din al-'Iraqi Ibn al-Mulaqqin Al-Safadi Firuzabadi

Death Then he died on Monday night, the third of Jumada al-Akhira, in the year 756 AH in Cairo, and was buried at Bab al-Nasr. When he died, it was called, “The last of Mujtahid has died, the proof of Allāh ﷻ on earth has died, the ʿĀlim of this era has died” and then the scholars carried his funeral.

Ibn al-Subki stated in his famous Tabaqat al-Shafi'iyya al-Kubra that whoever attended his funeral agreed that they had not seen any funeral having more people. Rather, it was said that other than the funeral of Shaykh al-Islām al-Subkī, none of the funerals was attended by more people after the funeral of Imām Ahmad. 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" in which he stated that: "The doctrine of the Muslims is that the Garden and the Fire will not pass away. Abu Muhammad ibn Hazm has transmitted that this is held by consensus and that whoever opposes it is an unbeliever by consensus". Subkī reiterates this elsewhere in the treatise although he is careful to clarify that he does not label any particular person an unbeliever. Al-Subki blamed Ibn Taymiyyah's misguidance for not learning the proper interpretation of classical texts from qualified transmitters. He was very harsh in criticizing Taymiyyah for deviating the Sunni community and distorting fundamental principles of the true Islamic creed. Al-Subki regarded him as one of the members of the Hashwiyya sect (an anthropomorphic sect that attribute God with direction, form and image).

Taqi al-Din al-Subi tried to outlaw philosophy since he was adamantly opposed to it. Additionally, he was against using Greek logic. He was quite critical, publishing refutations to anything he deemed as an innovation.

Reception Al-Dhahabi said: “He is like Yahyā Ibn Maʿīn in Hadīth, Mālik and Sufyān in fatwā, Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī in debating and research, Ibn Mālik and al-Mubarrad in grammar.”

Al-Suyuti said: “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 al-Safadi said: “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 God-fearing 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”.

Works He left a large number of books, amounting to about (211) books in every field of Sharia sciences, some of which are printed and some that are still in manuscript form. Among his most important books are: Shifa' as-Siqam fi Ziarat khayr al'Anam - 'Cure for the Sick in Visiting the Best of Mankind' archive.org (in Arabic) Al-Sayf al-Saqil fi al-Radd ala Ibn Zafil - Refutation of Ibn al-Qayyim Al-Durra al-Mudiyya fi al-Radd 'ala Ibn Taymiyya - Refutation to Ibn Taymiyya al-'Itibār bī baqā' al-janat wa'l-nār fi ar-rad 'ala ibn Taymiyah wa ibn al-Qiyam al-Qayilin bī fana' an-Nār. - Contemplation of the eternity of Paradise and Hell, A response to Ibn Taymiyah and Ibn al-Qayyim on the temporality of Hell. Naqid al-‘Ijtimā’ wa’l-‘Iftirāq fī Masā’il al'Aymān wa’t-Talāq - 'Critique of Communion and Separation in Matters of Faith and Divorce.' Al-'Ashbāh wa’n-Naẓā’r - 'Analogues and Pairs' (in Arabic, 3 vols) Ibraz al-Hukam min hadīth rafa' al-Qalam - 'Illustration of ruling in hadith "Raising the Pen"'. Aintiqad Alliqa' Wliainfisal fi Masail al-Imam Waltalaqi (Criticism of meeting and separation in matters of faith and divorce) Itharat al-Fitnat fi 'Amr Altalaq (Raising discord in the matter of divorce) Shifa' al-Ghathayan fi Zirat khayr alnas (Healing sickness in visiting the best of people) Sayf Laen al-Rasul (The sword of the one who cursed the Messenger) Bayan Hakam Hadith Rafai al-Qalama (Highlighting the ruling from the hadeeth of raising the pen) Ahkam Kuli Ma Yushir 'Ilayhi (The provisions of all that it indicates) Bahjatan fi Sharh Tariqat al-Wusul 'ila Ilm al Usul Lilqadi Nasayr Aldiyn Al-Baydawi (Exhilaration in explaining the method on the method of access to the science of origins by Judge Nasir al-Din al-Baydawi) Al-Majmoo, Sharh al-Muadab, Walfarah fi Sharh Manhaj al'Iman Muhyi Aldiyn Al-Nawawi (Al-Majmoo', the explanation of the polite, and the joy in explaining the method of Imam Muhyi al-Din al-Nawawi) Al-Hamasat al-Wadihat Lil'Iman Li Abu Bakr Wa Umar Wa Uthman Wa Ali (The clear zeal of faith for Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali) Sabab Aliamtinai an Qira'at al-Kishafati (The reason for refraining from reading the scout) Thulathiaat al-Musnad Al-Dirmi (Triads Musnad Al-Dirmi) Bayan al'Ithbat fi 'Ithbat al-Hilal (Statement of evidence in proving the crescent)