At a glance
- Roles
- Scholar · Jurist · Philosopher
- Era
- The Crusades, Ayyubids and Mamluks
- Region
- Persia & Central Asia · Egypt & Nile
- Review
- Draft Completeness 1/5 · Help complete it
Life in time
In space
Map: Natural Earth, public domain · places and route from the graph
Place in the story
sunni-shafii (transmitted)
Roles are dated and sourced; the museum describes the act and attributes the judgement.
Overview
Al-Khunaji, the Shafi'i chief qadi; born Jumada I 590, he studied in the non-Arab lands, then came to Egypt and held its judgeship — seeking and attaining — and plunged into the sciences of the ancients until he alone held their headship in his time, giving fatwa and debating. 1
His absentmindedness
He composed al-Mujiz, al-Jumal, Kashf al-asrar and Kitab adwar al-hayat; his blind pupil al-'Izz al-Irbili mourned him in verse. Absentmindedness would overtake him in the rational problems he pondered: once at the sultan's he put his hand into the spout-ring of a ewer and forgot himself in thought — the company rose while he remained seated, his finger holding him down, until a blacksmith was brought to free it. 1
Connections
People and things also explored
Al-Azhar Mosque· The Dar al-Hikma of Cairo· Baybars takes the sultanate, 658 AH· Capture of Cairo· death of Asad al-Dīn Shīrkūh — Saladin chosen vizier in his place· The great earthquake of Egypt, 608 AH· Egypt's famine and epidemic, 695· Four madhhab qadis appointed in Egypt, 663
Sources
- Shadharat al-Dhahab — Ibn al-Imad al-Hanbali , p. 244-245
Cite this page
islam.museum contributors. “Afdal al-Din al-Khunaji”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/person/al-khunaji/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-21.