al-Sayyid al-Safawi al-Husayni

Sayyid Qutb al-Din al-Sharif al-Hasani al-Husayni al-Iji al-Shafii al-Sufi, known as al-Safawi. The name comes from his maternal grandfather, Sayyid Safi al-Din, father of Shaykh Mu'in al-Din al-Iji, author of a Qur'an commentary. He was born in the year 900. He studied grammar and morphology with his father, learned jurisprudence from him, and took from him the Small and Large treatises and the teaching of al-Sharif on logic ².

He then stayed with Shaykh Walrazil al-Kazaruni, author of a commentary, in Gujarat. He read with him al-Unsur and al-Mutawwal and other works, and received a licence from him. He heard al-I'na on the authority of Abu al-Fadl al-Astarabadi, travelled to Delhi, attended the sessions of its scholars and debated with them, and his excellence became evident. Sultan Ibrahim ibn Sikandar Shah honoured him. He also met al-Jalal al-Dawani and received a licence from him. He then made the pilgrimage and stayed in Mecca for several years ¹.

He entered Syria around the year 939. A group of people from Damascus and Aleppo took knowledge from him, and he taught in Damascus a commentary on al-Kafiyya by al-Radi. He visited Jerusalem and travelled to Anatolia twice. Sultan Sulayman granted him fifty Ottoman coins from the treasury of Egypt. In Aleppo Ibn al-Hanbali took knowledge from him and received from him the Sufi cloak and the dhikr. He then entered Egypt and settled there. His works include an abridged commentary on al-Kafiyya, a commentary on al-Ghurra on logic by Sayyid al-Sharif, a commentary on al-Fawa'id al-Diya'iyya, an abridgement of Ibn al-Athir's "al-Nihaya" about half its length, and a commentary on the Qur'an from the chapter of "Amma" to the end of the Qur'an. He was one of the wonders of his age ³.