Burhan al-Din Ibn Abi Sharif al-Maqdisi

Burhan al-Din Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn al-Amir Nasir al-Din Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr ibn Ali ibn Ayyub, known as Ibn Abi Sharif, of Jerusalem and Cairo, a Shafii and shaykh of the shaykhs of Islam, the reference point for the elite and the common people alike. He was born in Jerusalem in the year 833 and grew up there. He studied the various branches of learning with his brother al-Kamal ibn Abi Sharif, then travelled to Cairo, where he studied jurisprudence with al-Balqini and al-Shams al-Qayati, the foundations of law with al-Jalal al-Mahalli, and hadith with Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Hajar and others. He married the daughter of the chief judge Sharaf al-Din Yahya al-Manawi and deputised for him in the judgeship. He taught, issued fatwas, composed verse and prose, and wrote books ².

He was appointed judge of Egypt on the nineteenth of Dhu al-Hijja in the year 906, replacing Muhyi al-Din ibn al-Naqib. He remained a judge until the year 910, when he was dismissed in favour of al-Shihab ibn al-Furfur. Sultan al-Ghuri then gave him the shaykhdom of his dome opposite his Ghuriyya madrasa in Cairo, and he held that post until the year 919 ².

In that year an incident took place in Cairo. A man was accused of adultery with a woman. The case was brought to the chamberlain Amir Ansali, who had them beaten, and they confessed. The case was then brought to Sultan al-Ghuri, and they stated that they had withdrawn their confession. The sultan convened an assembly of scholars and the four chief judges. Ibn Abi Sharif ruled that the retraction was valid. The sultan was angered by this, ordered that both of them be beaten in the assembly until they died under the blows, and ordered that they be hanged at Ibn Abi Sharif's door, and they were hanged. He himself was removed from the shaykhdom of the Ghuri dome, along with the four judges ².

He then stayed at home, and people came to him to learn and to study the rational and transmitted sciences. Al-Sha'rani said: "He was one of those who turned to God night and day. Hardly a bad word was ever heard from him. He never visited any of the rulers. He lived off a soap workshop he owned in Jerusalem and took nothing from the salaries of the shaykh al-Islam. He was a speaker of the truth who commanded what is right and did not fear the blame of anyone for God's sake." People used to say that everything that happened to al-Ghuri was because of the shaykh's secret ¹.

His works include a commentary on al-Minhaj in four large volumes, a commentary on al-Hawi, a book on the verses that abrogate and are abrogated, and others. Among his verses is a poem with which he concluded his reading of Sahih al-Bukhari ³.

He died at dawn on Friday, two nights into the month of Muharram in the year 923, and was buried west of the tomb of Imam al-Shafii ³.