Badr al-Din al-Sa'di, chief qadi of Egypt

Badr al-Din Abu al-Maʿali, chief judge Muhammad al-Saʿdi al-Misri al-Hanbali, Shaykh al-Islam, imam, scholar and traveller. He was born in Cairo around 835 AH. He heard from the hafiz Ibn Hajar, studied jurisprudence with Jamal al-Din Ibn Hisham, the scholar of the Hanbalis, and then kept company with al-Izz al-Kinani. He strove and worked hard, examined various disciplines, excelled in his school of law, became one of its notables, and mastered Arabic and the rational sciences.

He served his shaykh, Judge ʿIzz al-Din, who appointed him as his deputy in legal rulings while he was about twenty-five years old. He also authorised him to issue legal opinions and to teach, and entrusted him with important cases. He performed the pilgrimage, and he read al-Alaʾ al-Mardawi's book "al-Insaf" with him and kept company with him, and he too granted authority. For more than fifteen years he acted as a deputy judge, and he became mufti of the House of Justice, known for his chastity and integrity. After the death of his shaykh al-ʿIzz al-Kinani, he was appointed chief judge of Egypt, and he followed the best ways, even in accepting gifts. He wrote a book on the rites of pilgrimage according to the sound opinion of the school, an excellent work.

His student al-ʿUlaymi recorded him in his biographical dictionary, the last of those he recorded there. He died suddenly on the night of Tuesday, the third of Dhu al-Qaʿda 899 AH ¹.