Al-Nuwayri's birth at Akhmim, 21 Dhu al-Qa'da 677/5 April 1279

Shihab al-Din Ahmad ibn Abd al-Wahhab al-Nuwayri was born at Akhmim in Upper Egypt on 21 Dhu al-Qa'da 677/5 April 1279 — al-Zirikli gives his birth and upbringing at Qus. His family may have originated from the small Sa'id township of al-Nuwayra, though he had no direct link with it ^{1 2}.

His father Taj al-Din Abu Muhammad Abd al-Wahhab (618-699) was born at Misr in a madrasa known as Manazil al-Izz; his son's obituary of him in the Nihaya stresses his piety. He died at the Salihiyya Najmiyya madrasa in a room reserved for Maliki teaching on 21 Dhu al-Hijja 699/7 September 1299 and was buried in the turba of the Maliki chief qadi Ibn Makhluf al-Nuwayri al-Jazuli (d. 718), probably the encyclopedist's patron though no kinship is proven ¹.