Salim al-Bishri

Salim al-Bishri — Salim ibn Abi Farraj ibn Salim ibn Abi Farraj al-Bishri — (1832–1917) was an Egyptian scholar who twice held the office of Shaykh al-Azhar. He was born in 1248 AH / 1832 CE at Mahallat Bishr, a village of Shubrakhit in Beheira, into a comfortable family; his father died when he was seven, and at nine he went to Cairo to study, memorising the Qur'an in his village first and then taking his lessons at al-Azhar, where Ibrahim al-Bajuri was among his teachers. He rose through al-Azhar's ranks to become its shaykh in 1899–1903 and again from 1909 until his death. He was the father of six sons who became scholars, among them the writer Abd al-Aziz al-Bishri, and grandfather of the judge and historian Tariq al-Bishri. No Urdu Wikipedia article on him exists; this page rests on the English and Arabic articles, which differ on his death year, as set out below. ^{1 2}

He was one of only six men to hold the Azhar shaykhdom twice. The Arabic article describes his tenure as firm and well administered, and credits it with introducing the examination system for those seeking to teach at al-Azhar. His written works range across the Azhari curriculum: a commentary on Ahmad Shawqi's Nahj al-Burda (Wadh al-Nahj), a gloss on Tuhfat al-Tullab, a commentary on Ali al-Sa'di, a gloss on Shaykh Ulaysh's treatise on theology, a much-used grammatical treatise, al-Isti'nas fi Bayan al-A'lam wa-Asma' al-Ajnas, and Uqud al-Juman fi Aqa'id Ahl al-Iman on the creeds of the people of faith. He died in Cairo and was buried in the Maliki cemetery in the Qarafa of Sayyida Nafisa. ^{2 1}

His record gives his faith as sunni-maliki, documented — and the basis is what the texts say about the man, not the office he held. The English article calls him an "Egyptian Sunni religious scholar" and "a significant Maliki scholar" who headed the Maliki scholars at al-Azhar, and gives his very nisba as al-Maliki. The Arabic article independently calls him "one of the Maliki jurists", and its infobox gives his creed as Ahl al-Sunna wa-l-Jama'a. Two independent texts naming the affiliation personally is the standard this museum requires; his two terms as Shaykh al-Azhar would not by themselves have attested any school. ^{1 2}

The articles disagree. The English article dates his death to 1916, and his second term accordingly to 1909–1916. The Arabic article dates his death to Dhu al-Hijja 1335 AH — a month that falls in September–October 1917 — and says of his second term that it ran "to the year of his death, 1917". The data record follows the Arabic article's specific Hijri datum, gives 1917, and marks the date debated with both traditions stated. ^{2 1}