Taqi al-Din al-Shamni al-Qustantini

Taqi al-Din Abu al-ʿAbbas Ahmad al-Shamni al-Qistantini, a Hanafi who later became a Maliki. He was born in Alexandria in Ramadan 801 AH and came to Cairo with his father. He recited the Qur'an under al-Zaratiti, studied with al-Shatnufi, attended the lessons of the judge al-Bisati, took hadith from al-Wali al-ʿIraqi, and excelled in many disciplines. Al-Suyuti, in "Bughyat al-Wuʿat," calls him "our shaykh, the imam, scholar, commentator, hadith scholar, expert in the principles of law, theologian, grammarian and master of rhetoric, the leading grammarian of his time," and praises him in a well-known poem. Shams al-Din al-Sakhawi gave him a licence to teach, and he taught and transmitted it. He lived in al-Jamaliyya and then was appointed shaykh and preacher of the tomb of Qaytbay the Circassian. He was asked to take up the judgeship of the Hanafis in Cairo in 868 AH, but declined. He wrote a commentary on "al-Mughni," a gloss on al-Shifaʾ, a commentary on the abridgement of "al-Wiqaya," and a commentary on the poem "Nukhba" on hadith terminology. Ibn al-ʿImad said that the shaykh kept showing him affection, love and respect, and praising him greatly.

He died near the evening prayer on the night of Sunday, the twenty-seventh of Dhu al-Hijja 872 AH ¹.