Shams al-Din al-Shami

Shaykh Shams al-Din Muhammad al-Shami, who held fast to the Muhammadan Sunna and lived in the Barquqiyya tomb. Ibn al-Imad quoted al-Sha'rani, in his appendix to his biographical dictionary, as saying that he was a learned and righteous scholar, skilled in many sciences. He wrote the well-known biography of the Prophet ﷺ, which he compiled from a thousand books. People took to copying it, and he followed a model in it that no one had followed before him ².

He was a bachelor and never married. When a guest came to him, he would hang up the pot and cook for him. He was sweet in speech, dignified in appearance, and devoted to much fasting and night prayer. Al-Sha'rani stayed with him for nights, and rarely saw him sleep at night except for a little. When a student of knowledge died and left young children and posts, he would go to the judge and have the posts assigned to them, carry out the duties himself, and give their stipends to the orphans until they were able to do the work. He accepted nothing from the money of the rulers or their agents and ate none of their food. His turban was about seven cubits long, wound around his head, and he always kept his gaze lowered ².

His works include "Uqud al-Juman fi Manaqib Abi Hanifa al-Nu'man", a concise comprehensive guide to the languages of the Qur'an, "Guide of the Traveller to the Alfiyya of Ibn Malik", with notes drawn from the notes of his teacher al-Suyuti, a book called "The Great Miraculous Verses on the Ascension of the Lord of the People of This World and the Next", and its abridgement, "The Clear Verses", "Removing Confusion in the Return of the Sun", a commentary on al-Ajurrumiyya, "The Rahmanic Victory", a commentary on the Adab of al-Jurjani on speech, "The Gift of the Attentive Seeker in the Biography of Abu Amr al-Awza'i", "The Precious Jewels in Editing the Book of the Brides", "The Collected Benefits on the Fabricated Hadiths", and "The Eye of Accuracy on Knowing the Companions". He died on Monday, the fourteenth of Sha'ban in the year 942 ¹.