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Muhammad al-Amin ibn Muhammad al-Mukhtar al-Jakani al-Shinqiti

محمد الأمين بن محمد المختار الجكني الشنقيطي

between 1907 and 1908 CE · 1325 AH –

Medina → Mecca

Mauritanian exegete and legal theorist (1325–1393 AH) of the Jakani tribe, author of Adwa' al-Bayan. Born at the water called Tanba in the district of Kiffa, he grew up an orphan in his maternal uncles' household, memorised the Qur'an at ten, studied Maliki law, Arabic and legal theory, and taught, gave fatwas and judged at home; he left for the hajj in 1367 AH and settled in Medina, teaching tafsir in the Prophet ﷺ's Mosque, then in the institutes and colleges of Riyadh, then at the Islamic University of Medina from 1381 AH. He died in Mecca on the morning of Thursday 17 Dhu al-Hijja 1393 AH and was buried at al-Ma'la.

Depth

At a glance

Roles
mufassir · Scholar · teacher · judge
Counted among
Sunni
Era
The Contemporary Era
Region
Maghreb · Arabia

Life in time

18501875190019251950197520002025
The Colonial Era · The Contemporary Era · The Modern Era Contemporaries: Abd al-Rahman Tsatsa · Abdul Hai Arifi · Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani · Abdul Majid Daryabadi · Abdul Majid Sindhi

In space

MedinaMecca

Map: Natural Earth, public domain · places and route from the graph

Scripture and its sciences

Summary

Muhammad al-Amin ibn Muhammad al-Mukhtar ibn Abd al-Qadir al-Jakani al-Shinqiti, later of Medina, was an exegete and legal theorist, author of Adwa' al-Bayan. 1 2 He is not to be confused with his namesake Muhammad al-Amin ibn Ahmad al-Shinqiti al-Alawi.

Lineage, birth and upbringing

His descent goes back to Jakan al-Abarr, ancestor of the Jakani tribe, which traces itself to Himyar. 2 He was born in 1325 AH at a water called Tanba in the district of Kiffa in Mauritania and grew up an orphan: his father died while he was a small boy still reading the last part of the Qur'an, and he was raised in his maternal uncles' household, his mother being his father's cousin. 2 He memorised the Qur'an at ten with his uncle Abd Allah ibn Muhammad al-Mukhtar, then learned the Uthmanic script and the recitation of Nafi' in the transmissions of Warsh and Qalun, studied short Maliki legal texts, and learned literature, grammar, Arab genealogy and the Prophet's life from his uncle's wife. 3 4 He tells how his mother equipped him for study with two camels, one for his mount and books, the other for his provisions. 4

His learning

His biographer Khalid ibn Uthman al-Sabt says he knew by heart thousands of verses of Arabic poetry and grammatical examples, most of the hadith of the two Sahihs, and Ibn Malik's Alfiyya, Maraqi al-Su'ud and al-Iraqi's Alfiyya, and quotes him: "There is no verse in the Qur'an I have not studied on its own." 5 He says the shaykh constantly set out the Sunni creed on the names and attributes, with a firm knowledge of the theologians' schools. 6 7

At home and in the Hijaz

At home he taught, gave fatwas and judged, and was one of the two members of the 'committee on blood' to which retaliation sentences were referred. 8 9 He left for the hajj on 7 Jumada II 1367 AH and settled in Medina, saying: "There is no work greater than explaining the Book of God in the mosque of the Messenger of God." 9 He explained the whole Qur'an in the Prophet's Mosque, taught at Dar al-Ulum in Medina, then in the Riyadh institutes and the colleges of Shari'a and Arabic from 1371 AH, then at the Islamic University of Medina from 1381 AH until his death, and in 1385 AH led a university mission to ten African countries. 10 11 12

His austerity

He is reported to have kept only enough money for a month, giving the rest to poor students and widows among his kin, and not to have sold his books. 13 His biographer quotes Muhammad al-Uthaymin: seeing him for the first time at the Riyadh institute, the students took him for a Bedouin from his shabby clothes, until his lesson began and they knew they were before a great scholar. 14

Works

They include Adwa' al-Bayan; Daf' Iham al-Idtirab 'an Ayat al-Kitab, written in fifteen nights in 1373 AH; Man' Jawaz al-Majaz fi al-Munazzal li'l-Ta'abbud wa'l-I'jaz; Mudhakkirat Usul al-Fiqh on Rawdat al-Nazir; Adab al-Bahth wa'l-Munazara; a commentary on Maraqi al-Su'ud dictated to his student Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Amin; Rihlat al-Hajj ila Bayt Allah al-Haram; and lectures, among them Manhaj wa-Dirasat li-Ayat al-Asma' wa'l-Sifat. 15 16 17 18 His tafsir lessons were collected as al-Adhb al-Namir. 10

Death

He died on the morning of Thursday 17 Dhu al-Hijja 1393 AH at his home in Mecca; Abd al-Aziz ibn Baz led the funeral prayer, and he was buried in the al-Ma'la cemetery. 19

Connections

Explore the connections

Died in
Mecca
Lived in
Medina
Authored
Adwa' al-Bayan

People and things also explored

Abdullah ibn Abbas· Abdullah ibn Mas'ud· Ahmad ibn Hanbal· Aisha bint Abi Bakr· Hafsa bint Umar· Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali· Umm Salama (Hind bint Abi Umayya)· Sabil (public water fountain)

Sources

  1. Adwa' al-Bayan fi Idah al-Qur'an bi'l-Qur'an — Muhammad al-Amin al-Shinqiti, vol. 1, in the series 'Athar al-Shaykh Muhammad al-Amin al-Shinqiti' supervised by Bakr ibn Abd Allah Abu Zayd (Dar Ata'at al-Ilm and Dar Ibn Hazm, 5th ed., 2019) , p.7
  2. Adwa' al-Bayan fi Idah al-Qur'an bi'l-Qur'an — Muhammad al-Amin al-Shinqiti, vol. 1, in the series 'Athar al-Shaykh Muhammad al-Amin al-Shinqiti' supervised by Bakr ibn Abd Allah Abu Zayd (Dar Ata'at al-Ilm and Dar Ibn Hazm, 5th ed., 2019) , p.19
  3. Adwa' al-Bayan fi Idah al-Qur'an bi'l-Qur'an — Muhammad al-Amin al-Shinqiti, vol. 1, in the series 'Athar al-Shaykh Muhammad al-Amin al-Shinqiti' supervised by Bakr ibn Abd Allah Abu Zayd (Dar Ata'at al-Ilm and Dar Ibn Hazm, 5th ed., 2019) , p.20
  4. Adwa' al-Bayan fi Idah al-Qur'an bi'l-Qur'an — Muhammad al-Amin al-Shinqiti, vol. 1, in the series 'Athar al-Shaykh Muhammad al-Amin al-Shinqiti' supervised by Bakr ibn Abd Allah Abu Zayd (Dar Ata'at al-Ilm and Dar Ibn Hazm, 5th ed., 2019) , p.21
  5. Adwa' al-Bayan fi Idah al-Qur'an bi'l-Qur'an — Muhammad al-Amin al-Shinqiti, vol. 1, in the series 'Athar al-Shaykh Muhammad al-Amin al-Shinqiti' supervised by Bakr ibn Abd Allah Abu Zayd (Dar Ata'at al-Ilm and Dar Ibn Hazm, 5th ed., 2019) , p.23
  6. Adwa' al-Bayan fi Idah al-Qur'an bi'l-Qur'an — Muhammad al-Amin al-Shinqiti, vol. 1, in the series 'Athar al-Shaykh Muhammad al-Amin al-Shinqiti' supervised by Bakr ibn Abd Allah Abu Zayd (Dar Ata'at al-Ilm and Dar Ibn Hazm, 5th ed., 2019) , p.24
  7. Adwa' al-Bayan fi Idah al-Qur'an bi'l-Qur'an — Muhammad al-Amin al-Shinqiti, vol. 1, in the series 'Athar al-Shaykh Muhammad al-Amin al-Shinqiti' supervised by Bakr ibn Abd Allah Abu Zayd (Dar Ata'at al-Ilm and Dar Ibn Hazm, 5th ed., 2019) , p.25
  8. Adwa' al-Bayan fi Idah al-Qur'an bi'l-Qur'an — Muhammad al-Amin al-Shinqiti, vol. 1, in the series 'Athar al-Shaykh Muhammad al-Amin al-Shinqiti' supervised by Bakr ibn Abd Allah Abu Zayd (Dar Ata'at al-Ilm and Dar Ibn Hazm, 5th ed., 2019) , p.26
  9. Adwa' al-Bayan fi Idah al-Qur'an bi'l-Qur'an — Muhammad al-Amin al-Shinqiti, vol. 1, in the series 'Athar al-Shaykh Muhammad al-Amin al-Shinqiti' supervised by Bakr ibn Abd Allah Abu Zayd (Dar Ata'at al-Ilm and Dar Ibn Hazm, 5th ed., 2019) , p.27
  10. Adwa' al-Bayan fi Idah al-Qur'an bi'l-Qur'an — Muhammad al-Amin al-Shinqiti, vol. 1, in the series 'Athar al-Shaykh Muhammad al-Amin al-Shinqiti' supervised by Bakr ibn Abd Allah Abu Zayd (Dar Ata'at al-Ilm and Dar Ibn Hazm, 5th ed., 2019) , p.28
  11. Adwa' al-Bayan fi Idah al-Qur'an bi'l-Qur'an — Muhammad al-Amin al-Shinqiti, vol. 1, in the series 'Athar al-Shaykh Muhammad al-Amin al-Shinqiti' supervised by Bakr ibn Abd Allah Abu Zayd (Dar Ata'at al-Ilm and Dar Ibn Hazm, 5th ed., 2019) , p.29
  12. Adwa' al-Bayan fi Idah al-Qur'an bi'l-Qur'an — Muhammad al-Amin al-Shinqiti, vol. 1, in the series 'Athar al-Shaykh Muhammad al-Amin al-Shinqiti' supervised by Bakr ibn Abd Allah Abu Zayd (Dar Ata'at al-Ilm and Dar Ibn Hazm, 5th ed., 2019) , p.30
  13. Adwa' al-Bayan fi Idah al-Qur'an bi'l-Qur'an — Muhammad al-Amin al-Shinqiti, vol. 1, in the series 'Athar al-Shaykh Muhammad al-Amin al-Shinqiti' supervised by Bakr ibn Abd Allah Abu Zayd (Dar Ata'at al-Ilm and Dar Ibn Hazm, 5th ed., 2019) , p.31
  14. Adwa' al-Bayan fi Idah al-Qur'an bi'l-Qur'an — Muhammad al-Amin al-Shinqiti, vol. 1, in the series 'Athar al-Shaykh Muhammad al-Amin al-Shinqiti' supervised by Bakr ibn Abd Allah Abu Zayd (Dar Ata'at al-Ilm and Dar Ibn Hazm, 5th ed., 2019) , p.32
  15. Adwa' al-Bayan fi Idah al-Qur'an bi'l-Qur'an — Muhammad al-Amin al-Shinqiti, vol. 1, in the series 'Athar al-Shaykh Muhammad al-Amin al-Shinqiti' supervised by Bakr ibn Abd Allah Abu Zayd (Dar Ata'at al-Ilm and Dar Ibn Hazm, 5th ed., 2019) , p.34
  16. Adwa' al-Bayan fi Idah al-Qur'an bi'l-Qur'an — Muhammad al-Amin al-Shinqiti, vol. 1, in the series 'Athar al-Shaykh Muhammad al-Amin al-Shinqiti' supervised by Bakr ibn Abd Allah Abu Zayd (Dar Ata'at al-Ilm and Dar Ibn Hazm, 5th ed., 2019) , p.35
  17. Adwa' al-Bayan fi Idah al-Qur'an bi'l-Qur'an — Muhammad al-Amin al-Shinqiti, vol. 1, in the series 'Athar al-Shaykh Muhammad al-Amin al-Shinqiti' supervised by Bakr ibn Abd Allah Abu Zayd (Dar Ata'at al-Ilm and Dar Ibn Hazm, 5th ed., 2019) , p.36
  18. Adwa' al-Bayan fi Idah al-Qur'an bi'l-Qur'an — Muhammad al-Amin al-Shinqiti, vol. 1, in the series 'Athar al-Shaykh Muhammad al-Amin al-Shinqiti' supervised by Bakr ibn Abd Allah Abu Zayd (Dar Ata'at al-Ilm and Dar Ibn Hazm, 5th ed., 2019) , p.37
  19. Adwa' al-Bayan fi Idah al-Qur'an bi'l-Qur'an — Muhammad al-Amin al-Shinqiti, vol. 1, in the series 'Athar al-Shaykh Muhammad al-Amin al-Shinqiti' supervised by Bakr ibn Abd Allah Abu Zayd (Dar Ata'at al-Ilm and Dar Ibn Hazm, 5th ed., 2019) , p.39
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Muhammad al-Amin ibn Muhammad al-Mukhtar al-Jakani al-Shinqiti”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/person/muhammad-al-amin-al-shinqiti-al-jakani/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-11-06.

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