Education

Family: Institutions and organisations · 146 entries

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Event

• The sending of Mu'adh ibn Jabal to Yemen and the Prophet's charge to him

  c. 631 CE · c. 9 AHAfter the letter of Himyar's kings the Prophet sent Mu'adh ibn Jabal as amir of his envoys to Yemen and charged him on departure: make things easy, not hard; give good tidings, do not repel; you will come to People of the Book who will ask what the key of Paradise is, so say: the testimony that there is no god but God alone without partner. Ibn Ishaq has it from Abdullah ibn Abi Bakr, who was told it, and adds a Yemeni woman's question to Mu'adh about a husband's right over his wife.

• The sending of Amr ibn Hazm to Banu al-Harith ibn Ka'b and the Prophet's written charge to him

  c. January 632 CE · c. Dhu al-Qa'da 10 AHAfter the Banu al-Harith delegation left, the Prophet sent Amr ibn Hazm to teach them religion, the sunna and the landmarks of Islam and to collect their sadaqa, writing him a charge: fear of God, taking what is right, teaching the Qur'an which none may touch but the pure, gentleness in right and severity against wrong, the rites of hajj, the prayer and its times, ablution and Friday, the ban on tribal rallying-cries, the fifth of booty and the sadaqa rates, and the rule for People of the Book who convert and for those who keep their faith and pay the jizya.

• Salah al-Din Establishes the Shafi'i Judiciary in Egypt

  c. 1171 CE · 566 AHIn 566 Salah al-Din demolished a house of the shihna (the garrison prefect) in Egypt called Dar al-Ma'una, where people were held at will, and built it as a Shafi'i madrasa, removing the injustice practised there. He also built Dar al-Adl as a Shafi'i madrasa, dismissed the Egyptian judges, who were Shi'is, and appointed a Shafi'i chief judge over Egypt, who deputed Shafi'i judges in all the lands on the twentieth of Jumada II. Taqi al-Din Umar, Salah al-Din's nephew, bought the Manazil al-Izz in Egypt and built it as a Shafi'i madrasa.

• Fath al-Bari reaches Yemen, 901

  between 1495 and 1496 CE · 901 AHIn 901 a copy of Ibn Hajar's Fath al-Bari reached Zabid from the Haram — the book's first entry into Yemen; Sultan 'Amir ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab had sent for it and it was bought for him at a great price.

Person

• Fatima al-Fihri

  c. 800 CE · c. 184 AH†Fatima al-Fihri.

• Ibn al-Athir al-Jazri

  1149 CE · 544 AHThe hadith scholar and jurist Majd al-Din Abu al-Sa'adat al-Mubarak ibn Muhammad al-Jazari al-Shaybani, the eldest of the three Ibn al-Athir brothers; he served the chanceries of the Jazira and Mosul, and after gout crippled him he produced most of his works by dictation, among them 'al-Nihaya fi Gharib al-Hadith' and 'Jami' al-Usul'.

• Ibn al-Athir Diya' al-Din

  1162 CE · 558 AHThe man of letters Diya' al-Din Abu al-Fath Nasr Allah ibn Muhammad al-Jazari al-Shaybani, third of the Ibn al-Athir brothers; author of 'al-Mathal al-Sa'ir fi Adab al-Katib wa-l-Sha'ir' on the craft of the pen, and served the Atabeg chanceries of Mosul.

• Shams al-Din al-Bisati

  c. May 1359 CE · Jumada I 760 AHAl-Bisati (b. Bisat Jumada I 760) — Egypt's Maliki chief qadi for twenty uninterrupted years from 823; once slept on cane husks in poverty, then rose through the Ustadariyya, Barquqiyya and Shaykhuniyya chairs; author of al-Mughni, Shifa' al-Ghalil and the celebrated hawashi; died of colic 12 Ramadan 842 — 'the sky rained heavily after his burial'.

• Muhibb al-Din Ibn Nasr Allah al-Hanbali

  c. 16 April 1364 CE · 17 Rajab 765 AHIbn Nasr Allah (b. Baghdad 17 Rajab 765) — shaykh al-Islam, mufti of Egypt and head of the Hanbalis after Ibn Mughli, one-eyed and august; judge of Egypt for long stretches, author of a large work on Sharh Muslim and praised hawashi on al-Muharrar; died Cairo Wednesday mid-Jumada II 844 at 79.

• Izz al-Din, 'Qadi of the Realms'

  c. 1369 CE · 770 AH'Qadi of the Realms' (b. Baghdad 770) — the only man to hold the judgeships of Baghdad, Jerusalem (first Hanbali ever, after Timur's sack, 804), Egypt (829) and Damascus; author of Mukhtasar al-Muqni', a Shatibiyya commentary and Qamar al-Munir on hadith; rode the Cairo markets himself with his servant behind him on the mule, 'all his offices came unsought'; died Damascus beginning of Dhu al-Qa'da 846, buried beside his father at Bab Kisan.

• Taqi al-Din ibn Qindas al-Ba'li

  c. 1370 CE · 772 AHIbn Qindas (b. Ba'li village 772) — the Hanbali qurra'-linguist who studied under both Ibn Muflihs and Ibn Qadi Shuhba's son, took the Zubd directly from Ibn Ruslan, made hajj in 798, and led Qur'an sessions at the Madrasa Jaddidiyya — 'a cold soul for all his razor wit'; died Damascus on Ashura 862.

• al-Sayyid al-Nassaba Husayn

  c. 1373 CE · 774 AHAl-Sayyid Husayn (b. Salihiyya 774) — shaykh of Damascus's shaykhs and its genealogist, who 'claimed to have compiled five books on nasab'; died Sha'ban 866 past one hundred.

• Majd al-Din ibn Jama'a

  c. 1377 CE · 779 AHMajd al-Din ibn Jama'a (b. Jerusalem 779) — muezzin-khatib of Madrasa Tumaj, Shafi'i jurist-poet trained by his own father and brothers; taught at the Hanbali madrasa and al-Maqasid; died the third day of Ramadan 865.

• 'Ala' al-Din al-Qalqashandi

  c. May 1377 CE · Dhu al-Hijja 778 AHAl-Qalqashandi (b. Cairo Dhu'l-Hijja 778) — 'singular among the notables'; pupil of both Bulqinis, Ibn Jama'a and Ibn al-Mulaqqin, hadith from al-'Iraqi and al-Haythami; refused the Damascus qadiship and declined repeated nomination to Egypt's own; died the first day of 856.

• Shams al-Din al-Tabbakh the Meccan sharif

  c. October 1379 CE · Rajab 781 AHAl-Tabbakh (b. Mecca Rajab 781) — the sharif-muqri' who taught at both Harams, sat nearly thirty years on Mecca's ifta' council beside Zakariyya, Ibn al-Zahira and the al-Baghuri, and kept up ~100 daily salawat on the Prophet for thirty years; al-Manawi's grandfather's own Sufi shaykh; died Wed 15 Jumada I 863.

• 'Ali ibn Sudun

  c. 1382 CE · 784 AH'Ali ibn Sudun (b. Damascus 784) — the celebrated jester who 'first brought the shadow-play (khayal al-zill) to Damascus,' companion of amirs who mourned his own self in a famous elegy; died Rajab 868 at ~85.

• Shams al-Din al-Nuwaji

  c. 1383 CE · 785 AHAl-Nuwaji (b. Cairo ~785) — the celebrated man of letters who 'took the palm of precedence in adab'; author of Ta'hil al-Gharib (all-ghazal qasidas), Marati' al-Ghilzan on fair youths, and Hilyat al-Kumayt on wine — whose first title 'the wine-pitchers' brought him a grave ordeal and a fatwa forcing its renaming; died 859.

• Shams al-Din al-Qayati

  c. 1383 CE · 785 AHAl-Qayati (b. ~785) — Shafi'i chief qadi of Egypt, 'verifier of the age and mark of the horizons'; taught at the Barquqiyya, Ashrafiyya and Shaykhuniyya, judged 'with probity and abstinence,' author of a Sharh al-Minhaj; died Sunday night 18 Muharram 850 at Cairo.

• al-Kafiyaji

  c. 1386 CE · 788 AHAl-Kafiyaji (b. 788) — al-Suyuti's 'master of masters,' nicknamed for his lifelong work on the Kafiya; studied under al-Fanari, Haydar and Ibn Firishta in 'Ajam, held the Shaykhuniyya after Ibn al-Humam; so prolific he could not recall his own titles; 'in Zayd qā'im there are 113 discussions' — Suyuti companied him fourteen years 'and counted him a second father'; died Friday night 4 Jumada I 879.

• al-Shihab al-Hijazi

  c. August 1388 CE · Sha'ban 790 AHAl-Shihab al-Hijazi (b. Sha'ban 790) — 'singular poet of his age,' author of Rawd al-Adab, al-Qawa'id, al-Maqamat and al-Tadhkira; praised by the great for his recitation, fine hand and sweet company; died Ramadan 875.

• Badr al-Din al-Ja'fari al-Nabulsi

  c. 1390 CE · c. 792 AHAl-Ja'fari (b. ~791) — from the house of knowledge and riyasa; qadi of Nablus, Jerusalem, Ramla and deputy of Egypt in turn, 'of good conduct, chaste in office'; dismissed in old age, died at Nablus Thursday 16 Ramadan 881 near ninety.

• al-'Ala' ibn al-Taj al-Baghdadi

  c. 1391 CE · 793 AHIbn al-Taj (b. Baghdad 793) — the musnid of Baghdad who heard in his youth from Abu Hurayra ibn al-Dhahabi, then took Cairo and Damascus; 'a righteous man whose assemblies multiplied in recitation'; al-Dhahabi: 'he was great'; died 867, buried at Bab Nasr cemetery.

• Kamal al-Din al-Jini

  c. October 1394 CE · Dhu al-Hijja 796 AHAl-Jini (b. Hama Dhu'l-Hijja 796) — katib al-sirr of Egypt and 'singular among the notables,' Damascus's chief qadi too; al-Manhal: 'the greatest we saw in this age'; died Cairo Sunday 16 Safar 856.

• Sharaf al-Din al-Manawi

  c. 1396 CE · 798 AHSharaf al-Din al-Manawi (b. 798) — chief qadi of Egypt, 'last of the Shafi'i scholars and verifiers,' grandfather of 'Abd al-Ra'uf al-Manawi the Jami' al-Saghir commentator; al-Suyuti's shaykh al-Islam; died Monday night 2 Jumada II 871.

• Siraj al-Din, Qadi of the Two Sanctuaries

  c. May 1397 CE · Sha'ban 799 AHSiraj al-Din 'Abd al-Latif (b. Mecca Sha'ban 799) — the sharif first to hold the judgeship of BOTH Sanctuaries combined, Mecca and Medina from 847, after serving as the Haram's Hanafi imam and Mecca's qadi; died of dysentery Monday morning 7 Shawwal 853, buried at al-Ma'la.

• Jalal al-Din al-Hilli al-Taftazani

  c. 1399 CE · 801 AHJalal al-Din al-Hilli (b. ~801 at Hilla) — 'the diamond-boring critic,' Baghdad's shaykh al-Islam at the Mansuriyya and the last academic link of Iraq; pupil of al-Razi al-Sam'ani and al-Taftazani's circle at Khurasan; author of al-Kashf al-Shafi and the Umda glosses; 'none in his age more piercing of insight' — he denounced tyrants to their faces and was jailed for it; died the first day of 864, buried Bab al-Gharbi cemetery.

• Sayf al-Din al-Baktmari

  c. 1399 CE · c. 800 AHAl-Baktmari (b. ~800) — Ibn al-Humam's deputy at the Shaykhuniyya, called by him 'the muhaqqiq of the Egyptian lands'; refused the 'Ayni-madrasa hadith chair; al-Suyuti's last surviving shaykh, elegised in a famous qasida; died Tuesday 12 Dhu'l-Qa'da (~883).

• Taqi al-Din al-Shamni al-Qustantini

  c. May 1399 CE · Ramadan 801 AHAl-Shamni (b. Alexandria Ramadan 801) — al-Suyuti's own shaykh, praised in the Bughya as 'imam of the grammarians of his age' in every field; companion of al-Bisati and al-'Iraqi; refused the Cairo Hanafi qadiship in 868; author of sharh al-Mughni of Ibn Hisham and sharh Nazm al-Nukhba; died near nightfall Sunday 17 Dhu'l-Hijja 872.

• Nur al-Din ibn Aqbaras

  c. 1400 CE · 802 AHIbn Aqbaras (b. ~802) — sole nazir of Egypt's awqaf under Jaqmaq after Ibn al-Imad's dismissal; studied under al-'Iraqi and Zakariyya and 'companied Ibn Hajar'; died the first night of Ramadan 862 — the awqaf-nazirate stayed in his sons' and grandsons' hands.

• Qasim ibn Qutlubugha

  c. 1400 CE · c. 802 AHQasim ibn Qutlubugha (b. ~802 Cairo) — the Hanafi mufannin: Takhrij Ahadith al-Ikhtiyar, rijal of Sharh Ma'ani al-Athar, Thiqat al-Rijal in four volumes, a hashiya on al-Talwih reaching 'the discourse of the Sunna'; Ibn al-Humam's pupil; died Rabi' II 879 at seventy-seven.

• Mulla Musannifak

  c. 1401 CE · 803 AHMusannifak (b. 803, of Fakhr al-Din al-Razi's line) — the deaf Ottoman polymath: Mehmed II granted him 80 dirhams daily, he wrote a kurrasa a day; sharhs on al-Mutawwal, the Kashshaf, Ibn Sina's spiritual qasida and a Persian tafsir 'written at the sultan's command'; died at Constantinople 875, buried near Abu Ayyub's shrine.

• Shams al-Din al-'Ulaymi

  c. 1405 CE · 807 AHAl-'Ulaymi (b. Ramla 807, of 'Umar's descent) — the first Hanbali to hold Ramla's judgeship, then qadi of Jerusalem and al-Khalil; pupil of al-Mardawi; died of the plague Tuesday 4 Dhu'l-Qa'da 872 — grandfather-line of the historian Mujir al-Din.

• Taj al-Din 'Abd al-Wahhab ibn 'Arabshah

  between 1410 and 1411 CE · 813 AHSon of the historian Ibn 'Arabshah, b. 813 — rose from a professional witness ('utter cunning in the craft of testimony') and poverty to wealth and rank, composed a large verse work on Hanafi doctrine, was chief qadi of Damascus Rajab 884–Shawwal 895, then held the Sarghitmishiyya shaykhate in Cairo until his death 15 Rajab 901.

• Nasir al-Din ibn Zurayq al-Salihi

  c. February 1410 CE · Shawwal 812 AHIbn Zurayq (b. Salihiyya Shawwal 812) — of the Abu 'Umar line, 'the grey-haired handsome one on the salaf's way', long nazir of his grandfather's madrasa then withdrew from office; died eve of Saturday 9 Jumada II 899.

• Muhyi al-Din al-'Abadi, the grammarian of Mecca

  c. 15 August 1411 CE · 18 Rabi' II 814 AHAl-'Abadi (b. Mecca 18 Rabi' II 814) — the Maliki nahwi of Mecca, recipient of al-Suyuti's praise litany ('had Sibawayh seen him he would have owned him'); heard al-Fasi, was licensed by al-Bisati; died 880.

• 'Ilm al-Din al-Bulqini

  c. 1412 CE · 815 AH'Ilm al-Din al-Bulqini (b. 815) — 'shaykh al-Islam, bearer of the Shafi'i banner of his age'; grandson of Siraj al-Din, qadi of Damascus and Egypt over twenty-six years though he refused much of its pomp; al-Iraqi and al-Tabari among his teachers; died Wed 5-nights-remaining of Rajab 868.

• Shihab al-Din Ibn Hajji al-Hisbani

  c. 1 February 1416 CE · 5 Dhu al-Hijja 818 AHThe deaf judge of Damascus, b. 5 Dhu'l-Hijja 818 — before his hearing went he had already listened to Ibn Hajar himself and Ibn Burdis al-Ba'ali; the chronicler al-Nu'aymi was licensed to transmit all he had from him; d. Wednesday 7 Ramadan 907, buried at Bab al-Faradis cemetery.

• Ibrahim Ibn al-Qalqashandi

  c. 1426 CE · c. 831 AHThe last transmitter of Ibn Hajar's generation — a travelling hafiz who heard al-Bulqini, al-Damiri and al-Sakhawi too; d. Tuesday 10 Jumada II 922, aged ninety-one.

• Burhan al-Din Ibn Abi Sharif al-Maqdisi

  between 1429 and 1430 CE · 833 AHShaykh mashayikh al-Islam, 'the recourse of elite and commoner' — b. Jerusalem 833; Egypt's chief qadi 906–910, then shaykh of the Ghuriyya qubba until 919, when he ruled that a coerced adultery confession could be retracted: al-Ghuri had the pair beaten to death and hanged at his door, dismissing him and all four chief judges. He withdrew home, living off a Jerusalem soap-factory, and 'people said all that befell al-Ghuri was by the shaykh's secret'. Author of the four-volume Sharh al-Minhaj; died dawn Friday 2 Muharram 923, buried beside Imam al-Shafi'i.

• Shams al-Din Ibn Jama'a al-Kinani

  c. November 1429 CE · Safar 833 AHThird-generation Jerusalem chief qadi, b. Safar 833 — licensed to give fatwa by Taqi al-Din Ibn Qadi Shuhba, held in Safar 872 the combined offices of chief qadi, Salahiyya teacher and Aqsa preacher without ever taking an unlawful dirham; dismissed under al-'Aziz al-Kinani he withdrew into his house in the Aqsa compound; works include al-Najm al-Lami' on Jami' al-Jawami', volume-length ta'liqs on the Rawda and Minhaj, and al-Durr al-Nazim on the tale of Musa; d. ~901 at Jerusalem.

• Badr al-Din al-Sa'di, chief qadi of Egypt

  c. 1431 CE · c. 835 AHBadr al-Din al-Sa'di (b. Cairo ~835) — 'shaykh al-Islam, the travelled 'allama': Ibn Hajar's hearer, Ibn Hisham's pupil, al-'Izz al-Kinani's deputy at twenty-five and his successor as Egypt's chief qadi, mufti of dar al-'adl, author of a praised Manasik al-Hajj — al-'Ulaymi's last tabaqat entry; died suddenly Tuesday night 3 Dhu'l-Qa'da 899.

• Kamal al-Din 'ibn qadi Nablus'

  c. 1431 CE · c. 835 AHKamal al-Din 'ibn qadi Nablus' (b. ~835) — third-generation Ja'fari chief qadi: Nablus deputy for his father, then Egypt (succeeding al-'Izz al-Kinani), then Jerusalem (succeeding al-'Ulaymi), plus Ramla; deposed and restored repeatedly, ended as deputy at Damietta — news of his death reached Cairo from Alexandria in 889.

• al-Taqi Ibn Zurayq

  between 1433 and 1434 CE · 837 AHDamascene Shafi'i (b. 837) — first to sit teaching at the Jawlaq madrasa upon its completion, held the zawiya mashyakha and the hisba, 'profuse in transmission'; d. Damascus 917.

• Shihab al-Din Ibn al-Muwajjih

  c. 1436 CE · c. 841 AHDamascus's last-word dignitary — 'his word carried, every wronged man sheltered with him', his table fed commoner and governor alike; he split the night in thirds: company and copying, sleep, and tahajjud with recitation; Qaytbay sent him Jerusalem's khitaba while he was in Egypt — he accepted then yielded it to a Jerusalemites' eager rival; d. Saturday 13 Rabi' I 912, buried beside Taqi al-Din al-Hisni.

• 'Abd al-Haqq al-Sunbati

  c. 1438 CE · 842 AHShaykh al-Islam, 'the cream of the learned' — memorized the books in Cairo, licensed by Ibn Hajar and al-'Ayni to teach and give fatwa, led the iqra' at al-Azhar; then moved his whole household to Mecca 'to die at one of the Sanctuaries', where generations studied under him — 'grandsons were joined to grandfathers'; died at dawn Friday at the start of Ramadan 931, Ma'la.

• Taqi al-Din Ibn Qadi 'Ajlun

  c. January 1438 CE · Sha'ban 841 AHShaykh al-Islam of Damascus — b. Sha'ban 841, 'the most juridical of his age', riyasa of the Shafi'is 'not in Syria alone but in other lands of Islam'; he boycotted al-Biqa'i over the anti-Ghazali/anti-Ibn-'Arabi tract; under al-Ghuri he was hauled to Cairo and fined until he sold most of his books — then his fatwa prevailed and the razed turba was rebuilt. Died Monday 11 Ramadan [928], Bab al-Saghir.

• Jamal al-Din al-Kazaruni al-Madani

  Al-Kazaruni al-Madani — Medina's head of scholarship, its qadi and khatib until removed; repeatedly in Cairo, and 'Medina saw none to compare with him after'; died 843.

• Salah al-Din Ibn al-Faras

  Ibn al-Faras — Cairo's celebrated wit-poet who 'wore the dress of the Turks' sons' and began in Hanafi fiqh before letters claimed him; heavyset yet nimble, ever-ready with impromptu verse; died Sha'ban 843 past fifty.

• Jamal al-Din al-Sanbati, the preacher

  Al-Sanbati — the Azhar's preaching voice for some seventy years; al-Bulqini's constant companion, deputy judge, still 'busy with learning and preserving fiqh' into old age; died Ramadan 846 after a long illness.

• Shams al-Din Ibn Kamil al-Mansuri

  Ibn Kamil — Mansura's independent qadi, Ibn Hajar's own hajj companion of 824 ('we talked fiqh on the road'); killed suddenly in Dhu al-Qa'da 848 when a storm snapped the Shalmun mosque's minaret onto his cell — the wood was found propped over him, his body unscratched, dead for want of escape.

• Zayn al-Din Ibn al-Adami, the preacher

  Ibn al-Adami of Hama — the celebrated preacher who settled in Cairo after the Timurid sack, held the khitaba of al-Aqsa, read Sahih al-Bukhari every Ramadan in several venues for eighty-plus years of life; died suddenly 2 Dhu al-Qa'da 848 having held two maw'id sessions on his very last day.

• Izz al-Din Ibn al-Furat

  Ibn al-Furat — the travelled Hanbali-historian of Mecca and Medina, musnid of his age; heard the great Egyptians (al-'Iraqi, al-Maraghi, Ibn al-Jazari) and compiled his own diwan and epistles; al-Buqa'i met and wrote from him; died 851.

• Jamal al-Din Ibn Ruslan al-Buwaydi

  between 1447 and 1448 CE · 851 AHOf Buwayda village outside Damascus (b. 851) — companion-in-study to Taqi al-Din al-Balatinsi, from whom Musa al-Kinnawi took Sahih al-Bukhari; died at the Nuri hospital Thursday 6 or 7 Dhu'l-Qa'da, al-Balatinsi leading his prayer, buried at Bab al-Saghir near Shaykh Hammad.

• Taqi al-Din al-Balatinsi

  c. 27 August 1447 CE · 10 Rajab 851 AHShaykh mashayikh al-Islam of Damascus — b. Friday 10 Rajab 851, of 'a house of piety and learning' per his own pupil; settled in Damascus never taking a dirham of its waqfs, refusing money and posts, the recourse of jurists and governors in hard questions, a khatma every Friday and two each Ramadan night; his nuniyya praised Sulayman and chronicled Rhodes and Chaldiran; died Monday eve 2 Muharram, buried beside his grandfather at Bab al-Saghir.

• al-Qastallani Shihab al-Din

  c. 25 January 1448 CE · 12 Dhu al-Qa'da 851 AHThe hafiz of Bukhari's greatest sharh — b. Cairo 12 Dhu'l-Qa'da 851, he read the Sahih on al-Sakhawi in five sessions, held the Harrar maqam mashyakha and preached at the Ghuri mosque 'without peer'. Works: Irshad al-Sari in ten large volumes ('perhaps the most complete and finest of Bukhari's commentaries'), al-Mawahib al-Ladunniyya, sharhs on the Shatibiyya and the Burda (al-Anwar al-Mudiyya), al-Rawd al-Zahir on 'Abd al-Qadir's manaqib. Al-Suyuti accused him of unattributed borrowing; Qastallani walked barefoot and bare-headed to Suyuti's Rawda door to soothe him — 'my heart is soothed,' said Suyuti, and never opened the door. News of Ibrahim b. 'Ata' Allah al-Makki's beheading struck him off his mount; he died days later, Thursday night 7 Muharram 923.

• Shihab al-Din Ibn 'Arabshah

  Ibn 'Arabshah — the Damascene Hanafi historian of Timur ('Aja'ib al-Maqdur), 'imam of his age in verse and prose'; repeatedly in Cairo where Ibn Taghribirdi studied his own works under him and received his ijaza for the whole corpus including Mir'at al-Adab on rhetoric; died 854.

• Shams al-Din Ibn Zuhayr al-Ramli

  c. March 1450 CE · Rabi' I 854 AHDamascus's last shaykh al-iqra' — b. Ramla Rabi' I 854, memorized the Minhaj, the Alfiyya, both Shatibiyyas and the Durra, heard the last primordial-linked Aqsa khatib Ibn Jama'a, and ended with the iqra' mashyakha of the Umayyad mosque and both Ashrafiyya institutions; d. Saturday 10 Dhu'l-Hijja [923], buried at Bab al-Saghir.

• Kamal al-Din Ibn al-Munaqib

  Ibn al-Munaqib — the Asyuti grammarian who trained a generation (Ibn Fahd of Mecca among his pupils); when Jaqmaq meant to seat him on Egypt's qadiship and sent word through the caliph al-Mustakfi, he refused with a verse: 'sweeter than reaching the vizierate is a day that shows you the viziers' downfall'; died Monday night at the 'isha' call, 5 Safar 855.

• Shihab al-Din Ibn al-Mallah al-Ramli

  between 1454 and 1455 CE · 859 AHRamla-born then Damascene (b. 859) — 'great share of learning, piety and purity of heart', imam in the qira'at who held the iqra' mashyakha; d. about 923.

• al-Dalji al-'Uthmani

  c. 1456 CE · 860 AHThe Shafi'i of Dalja — b. 860; after Cairo he lived thirty years in Damascus studying under al-Biqa'i, Burhan al-Din al-Naji and al-Sakhawi, met Sultan Bayezid in Rum, then returned to Cairo; works: sharhs of the Khazrajiyya, the Arba'in, the Shifa' and the Munfarija, plus Maqasid al-Maqasid with his own sharh; al-Ghayti heard much from him.

• Fatima bint Quraymizan

  c. 16 June 1473 CE · 4 Muharram 878 AHFatima bint Quraymizan — shaykha of both the 'Adiliyya and Dajajiyya khanqahs of Aleppo; b. 4 Muharram 878, a fine calligrapher who copied many books, learned 'from this husband of mine' — the Ardabili who said 'God taught me thirty-six sciences'; she willed her prayer mat buried with her, and Ibn al-Hanbali bore her bier [966].

• Hasan Celebi al-Fanari

  Hasan Celebi al-Fanari — the Edirne teacher who travelled to Egypt just to read Mughni al-Labib on a Maghrebi who knew it perfectly ('the sultan said: that man's mind must be unhinged'), then sent the finished work to Mehmed II and was given the Iznik madrasa and 80 dirhams a day; settled at Bursa and died ~879.

• Shams al-Din Ibn Tulun

  c. 1475 CE · c. 880 AHIbn Tulun the historian of Damascus — b. about 880 in the upper Sahm of the Salihiyya, trained by his uncle Jamal al-Din and licensed by al-Suyuti in writing; teacher of Hanafis at the Shaykh al-Islam Abu 'Umar madrasa and imam of the Sulaymiyya, author of the sixty-part 'Ta'liqat' notebooks full of compilations and al-Suyuti's works; his pupils included al-Taybi, 'Ala' al-Din b. 'Imad, and the muftis al-Nabulsi, Ibn Sultan, al-'Aynawi and Ibn Abi al-Wafa; died Sunday 11 Jumada I [954] and left no offspring.

• Khayr al-Din al-Talsami al-Safari

  Khayr al-Din al-Talsami — sixth-generation descendant of an 'Ajami who fled Genghis Khan into Kastamonu; studied at Bursa and Edirne under al-Fanari's son, served the Tashkopru madrasa till Mehmed II dismissed him with the district's fall, and preached Fridays at the copper-mine town till his death ~879.

• Shams al-Din ibn Aja of Aleppo

  Ibn Aja — Aleppo's Hanafi qadi; died at Aleppo Jumada II 880 at sixty.

• Burhan al-Din ibn Muflih

  Burhan al-Din ibn Muflih — 'shaykh al-Islam, master of scholars and rulers, blessing of the age,' Damascus's qadi time and again; author of sharh al-Muqni' and the alphabetical Hanbali tabaqat al-Maqsad al-Arshad; died 5 Sha'ban 884 at Salihiyya, buried by his ancestors in the Rawda.

• Ahmad al-Bukhari al-Makki

  c. October 1480 CE · Safar 883 AHThe Bukharan-born Meccan — b. Safar 803; he read Abu Dawud and the Shifa' on al-Sakhawi, heard al-Dimyati and al-Suyuti in Cairo, wore the khirqa, held qadi, imama and mashyakha posts; died at Jeddah Saturday 10 Rabi' II [948], carried to Mecca and buried at Ma'la.

• Muhammad al-Izniki

  Al-Izniki — al-Fanari's pupil who 'joined shari'a, tariqa and haqiqa'; author of a fine sharh of Sadr al-Din al-Qunawi's Miftah al-Ghayb and of his Fusus; died 886.

• Molla Khosrow

  Molla Khosrow — son of a converted Frankish amir, named for the foster-son who raised him; Mehmed II's qadi of Constantinople and mufti of the imperial throne ('this is the Abu Hanifa of the age'), Ayasofya's teacher, builder of mosques; died at Constantinople 886 and was carried back to be buried in his Bursa madrasa.

• al-Sadr Sulayman al-Ubshithi

  Al-Ubshithi — the Shaykhuniyya scholar turned Sufi who put the Shamsiyya away when al-Hurayfish's karama redirected him; his unattended mule went to Rumayla and returned at lesson's end; died ~887 near eighty.

• Burhan al-Din ibn Abi al-Wafa al-'Iraqi

  Ibn Abi al-Wafa — the Husayni Iraqi Shafi'i who read the seven qira'at, wrote, entered Cairo, and died at his Damascus zawiya Jumada I 887 at sixty-six.

• Shihab al-Din ibn al-Ji'an

  Ibn al-Ji'an — died Sha'ban 889 at forty.

• Shams al-Din ibn al-Shihna, Hanafi qadi of Egypt

  Ibn al-Shihna — Egypt's Hanafi qadi, 'scion of the illustrious scholars' and a poet; died Muharram 890 at eighty-five.

• Shams al-Din ibn Ruslan al-Bulqini

  Ibn Ruslan al-Bulqini — Cairo's Shafi'i qadi, of the Bulqini scholar house; died at Cairo 890 near seventy.

• Molla Sinan al-Din Yusuf ibn Khidr Beg

  Molla Sinan al-Din — Khidr Beg's brilliant, doubt-prone son (his father struck him with a plate when he conceded he might doubt the dish was copper); Mehmed II's teacher and favourite, 'Ali al-Qushji's pupil in mathematics, vizier in 875, then disgraced until the ulama threatened to burn their books in the Divan; died ~891.

• Shihab al-Din al-Sa'di, Hanbali qadi of Damascus

  Al-Sa'di — 'a head among Damascus's heads' from a house of knowledge and riyasa; briefly succeeded Burhan ibn Muflih as Damascus qadi then lived honoured at his Salihiyya home; died at Mecca Thursday 3 Sha'ban 891, buried at al-Ma'la.

• Burhan al-Din ibn Zuhayra, 'alim of the Hijaz

  Ibn Zuhayra — 'the scholar of the Hijaz', of the Meccan Zuhayra ulama house; died Friday night 6 Dhu'l-Qa'da 891 near sixty-five.

• Khawaja-zada

  Khawaja-zada — the merchant's son paid one dirham a day for choosing scholarship over trade, Khidr Beg's 'sound mind', Mehmed II's own teacher who wrote the Tahafut at his command; the famous scene where his once-scornful father came poor to Edirne and found no seat for his other sons amid the ulama; ended paralyzed on his right side writing hashiyas with his left hand; died 893.

• Hafiz 'Ubayd al-Abyurdi

  Hafiz 'Ubayd al-Abyurdi — the 'allama of Abyurd in Khorasan; died 895.

• al-Sayyid Ahmad al-Husayni al-Shirazi

  Al-Sayyid Ahmad al-Shirazi — the Husayni 'alim who travelled from Shiraz through Mecca, Medina, Jerusalem and Damascus 'and the kings of his age turned to him'; died at Mecca Jumada I 895 at seventy-one.

• Sadr al-Din 'Abd al-Mun'im ibn al-Muflih

  Sadr al-Din ibn al-Muflih — qadi 'Ala' al-Din's son, 'of the people of knowledge and religion' though without his father's worldly fortune; died at Aleppo Rabi' II 897.

• 'Abd Allah al-Fakihi, the grammarian

  c. 1493 CE · 899 AHAl-Fakihi of Mecca — son of an Abyssinian freedwoman, b. 899; he wrote his Qatr al-Nada sharh at eighteen and found it already being read in Cairo — answering the students' difficulty, they would not believe him until he proved the author was himself; he coined definitions of nahw in a booklet then commented them — 'unprecedented'; 'he had no peer in his time in grammar, he was a sign of God's signs'.

• Molla 'Abd al-Karim al-Rumi

  A freed slave who rose to be mufti of Constantinople under Mehmed II — studied under al-Tusi and Sinan al-'Ajami (Molla Fenari's pupil), taught at one of the Eight Madrasas founded at the conquest, then judge of the 'askar, then mufti until his death in 901; author of hashiyas on the opening of al-Talwih.

• Molla 'Ala' al-Din 'Ali al-'Arabi

  An Aleppine who studied under Molla al-Kurani then served Khidr Beg, repetiteur at Edirne's Dar al-Hadith, then master of the Manisa madrasa where he joined the leadership of learning and the Sufi path — forty-day retreats, a heart-dhikr audible from afar, the tale of smelling 'the scent of impurity' on a visiting imam carrying Ibn Qadi Samawna's treatise which he then ordered burned; ended as mufti of Constantinople, first to gloss the Four Muqaddimat, d. 901.

• Molla Hasan al-Samuni

  In the service of Molla Khosrow he acquired 'all the sciences, root and branch, rational and legal'; teacher in the madrasas then one of the Eight, tutor to Mehmed II, judge of the victorious army then qadi of Constantinople — of upright conduct and sound nature, scrupulous, a prolific copyist; d. 901.

• Molla Muhyi al-Din Ibn al-Khatib al-Rumi

  Of the famous Rum mawali — his father Molla Taj al-Din, his teachers 'Ali al-Tusi and Khidr Beg; rose through the offices until Mehmed II made him his own tutor; hashiyas on al-Sayyid al-Sharif's Sharh al-Tajrid and on his gloss on the Kashshaf; d. 901.

• Manla-zada al-Samarqandi

  A Samarqandi Shafi'i imam and muqri' of high isnad — four men between him and al-Shatibi; travelled Arabia, Aleppo and Damascus whose scholars took from him; among his works a compendium of the Hidaya and the Muharrar and a commentary on Hidayat al-Hikma; al-Ghazzi lists the Shaykh al-Islam 'the grandfather' and Aleppo's mufti al-Suyufi among his pupils; he marvelled 'how can one who memorizes something forget it?'; d. ~901.

• Molla Muhyi al-Din al-Tukshari

  A master of Arabic, the legal and rational sciences and riyada; pupil of Fath Allah al-Shirwani, Husam al-Tuqati and Yusuf Bali b. Muhammad al-Fanari; Friday preacher alternately at Hagia Sophia and Mehmed II's mosque — and when 'the time of judgement' drew near he completed his tafsir recital at Hagia Sophia, told the people he had asked God to spare him only until the khatm of the Qur'an, prayed the amen with them, went home, sickened and died in 901.

• Muslih al-Din al-Qastallani al-Rumi

  One of Mehmed II's Eight Madrasas teachers — he claimed he could deliver three lessons a day in each of all eight; thrice qadi of Bursa, of Edirne and of Constantinople, then qadi al-'askar, so plain-spoken that vizier Muhammad Pasha al-Qaramani had the office split in two to curb him; Bayezid II pensioned him off at a hundred dirhams a day; al-Ghazzi notes he took hashish daily yet was so quick he read Ibn Sina's Shifa' in a few nights; wrote glosses on Sharh al-'Aqa'id, a treatise on seven difficulties, and glosses on Sadr al-Shari'a's Four Muqaddimat answering Molla 'Ali al-'Arabi; d. 901, buried beside Abu Ayyub.

• Molla Qasim al-Baghdadi al-Kirmani

  Nephew of the poet Molla Shaykhi, in the service of Molla 'Abd al-Karim; teacher at Amasya, then the Abu Ayyub madrasa, then one of the Eight Madrasas — a quick, sweet-natured scholar who lectured daily on two or three lines unpacking grammar, semantics, logic and usul and resolving every difficulty kindly; glosses on Sharh al-Mawaqif and answers to Molla Lutfi's Seven Difficulties, with fine Turkish and Persian metaphors; d. 901.

• Ghars al-Din Khalil al-Faradisi

  The Hanbali of Bab al-Faradis — after Qur'an he read the Muharrar to Majd al-Din Ibn Taymiyya and attached himself to qadi Nasir al-Din Ibn Zurayq, then turned to witness-work and administering the Abu 'Umar madrasa's endowments; Ibn Tulun held his ijaza. He died in the prison of Qurtubay the Red, commander-in-chief at Damascus, in 904.

• Badr al-Din al-Ghazzi, shaykh al-Islam of Damascus

  c. 12 June 1499 CE · 14 Dhu al-Qa'da 904 AHBadr al-Din al-Ghazzi — Damascus's shaykh al-Islam; given the khirqa and a full ijaza by Abu al-Fath al-Mizzi before he was two, teaching from seventeen; holder of the Umayyad qurra' mashyakha and six madrasa chairs, who let qadis and na'ibs wait at his door and closed the gift-door absolutely; 115 works including the great verse tafsir in 180,000 verses; died Wednesday 16 Shawwal 984, buried at Shaykh Arslan's turba.

• Sa'd al-Din ibn 'Iraq

  c. 1501 CE · 907 AHSa'd al-Din b. 'Iraq — b. 907 on Beirut's coast aboard the 'Iraqi ship; Qur'an memorized at five in two years, a khatma every Friday for six; a deaf man of the deepest learning, khatib of Medina — and the man who made coffee famous at Damascus, whence its shops multiplied — his own father had denounced it and destroyed its house in Mecca.

• Taqi al-Din Ibn Khalil al-Hadari

  Aleppo's preacher 'who stirred hearts by argument, not imitation' — students of al-Kafiyaji, he campaigned against shaved beards, preached at the Umayyad mosque, and ended as the city's riyasa; an Anatolian disciple spent months catching his sweet temperament; d. Muharram 913.

• al-Hafiz al-Tahir ibn al-Ahdal, Yemen's musnid

  c. 1508 CE · 914 AHAl-Tahir b. al-Ahdal — b. 914 at al-Marawi'a, Ibn al-Dibba''s successor in hadith-riyasa at Zabid; after a Meccan mujawara he became 'musnid al-dunya,' teacher of al-Yazzaz, al-Sabuni and Ibn Ja'man; died Wednesday 17 Rabi' I 998 at Zabid.

• Najm al-Din al-Ghayti, Egypt's shaykh al-Islam

  c. 1510 CE · c. 916 AH†Najm al-Din al-Ghayti — Alexandria-born musnid of Egypt, 'the Bukhari of his age' per qadi Muhibb al-Din; holder of the Salahiyya mashyakha and Siryaqusiyya khanqah unsought, an unafraid enjoiner of right before amirs; his Mi'raj book read at the Azhar every Rajab.

• Ibn al-Qarsali

  A peasant who struck three dirhams digging a well in his orchard — he left farming for scholarship on the spot, audited under our shaykh, and became 'one of the sharpest minds'; died aged about ninety in 918.

• Ibn al-Karki the musnid

  Egypt's musnid — heard under Jalal al-Din al-Bulqini, had Ibn Hajar's ijaza, and sat with the greats of his age; drowned in the Elephant Pond on Tuesday 5 Sha'ban 922, and Sultan Tuman Bay II walked in his funeral.

• Muhyi al-Din al-Barda'i of Rum

  An Anatolian scholar who took the long road east — Shiraz and Herat for learning, then back to teach at Ahmad Pasha's madrasa in Bursa and one of the twin madrasas of Edirne, where he died in post; glosses on al-Baydawi's tafsir, the Sharif's Tajrid sharh, al-Jalwi, and a sharh on 'Izz al-Din's Adab al-Bahth; d. Edirne 923.

• Ahmad Pasha ibn Khidr Beg

  Khidr Beg's son — 'my grandfather recounted he was a man people and the poor sought out for his forbearance, generosity and warm response'; climbed Bursa's madrasas to become its mufti, known in his day simply as 'Molla Ahmad Pasha', and endowed several awqaf; d. 933.

• Burhan al-Din al-Hasib al-Nasib

  The celibate mystic of Abu Ayyub — his father a sayyid of the 'Ajam and himself 'among the greatest saints'; he studied at Bursa under Sinan al-Din, served Hasan al-Samuni then Khwaja-zada, taught at Sultan Bayezid's madrasa on a hundred uthmani, and Selim bought him the house beside Abu Ayyub's tomb which he endowed to whoever teaches at its madrasa; never married, indifferent to gold or clay; d. 935, buried at the Abu Ayyub mosque.

• Isma'il al-Nabulsi, mufti of Damascus

  c. 1530 CE · 937 AHBadr al-Din Isma'il al-Nabulsi — Damascus's mufti and teacher at the Zahiriyya; orphaned, teaching at sixteen, a teacher's man of 'ulus and furu' who kept students housed on his roof and took no illicit fee; author of a sharh on al-'Aqida al-Nasafiyya and al-Mustaqsa fi'l-khilaf; dismissed by Murad Beg in 993 and died Saturday 13 Muharram 993.

• Karim al-Din al-Ja'bari

  The celebrated muqri' — author of the famous sharh on al-Shatibi's Shatibiyya; came to Damascus in 932 where Shihab al-Din al-Taybi took hadith and Ibn al-Jazari's works from him; d. about 939.

• Muhyi al-Din ibn al-Fanari

  The Fanari grandson — schooled in Samarkand and Bukhara, back to Rum where Selim gave him the vizier Qasim Pasha's madrasa; a lover of the Wafa'iyya Sufis, keeper of histories and saints' tales; author of Tahdhib al-Kafiya with sharh, a gloss on Mawlana-zada's Hidayat al-Hikma sharh, glosses on the Sharif's Tajrid, and Tanwir al-Duha; d. 940.

• Sa'di Chalabi

  Sa'di Chalabi — Kastamonu-born, trained in Constantinople to al-Samuni's service; Mahmud Pasha madrasa, then the Sultaniyya of Bursa, qadi of Constantinople, then long-serving mufti; 'superior to his peers, short on words, prompt to the right answer' — glosses on Baydawi's tafsir circulating among scholars, a short Hidaya sharh, a house for Qur'an readers beside his own; died at Friday prayer on the second day of 'Id al-Fitr [945] of gout, Jawizade succeeding him as mufti.

• Shams al-Din al-Tunisi 'Maghwash'

  Maghwash — qadi 'askar of Tunis, honoured by Sulayman at Constantinople where even the qadi 'askars studied under him and he dictated sessions on al-Ja'bari's Shatibiyya sharh; departing for Egypt he taught at Aleppo (Ibn al-Hanbali among his pupils) and Damascus (al-Taybi licensed by him in qira'at) — 'from the marvels of the world': he read everything from memory and owned no book nor paper; died late Sha'ban [947] in Cairo, buried beside Imam al-Shafi'i.

• Shihab al-Din ibn 'Abd al-Haqq al-Sunbati

  The Azhar's greatest preacher — son of the Meccan mujawir 'Abd al-Haqq, he preached in the Haram in his father's lifetime and prayed over him at his death; 'we never saw the crowds flock to a preacher like him', men fighting over him when he stepped down; a Sunni champion famous from Syria to Yemen and Rum, holder of the Khushabiyya chair, first a coffee-prohibitionist 'then ijma' settled on its permissibility'; Egypt went dark at his death in late Safar [950] — the largest funeral al-Sha'rani ever saw bar al-Ramli's.

• al-Sharbi al-Miknasi, Medina's shaykh al-qurra'

  Al-Sharbi al-Miknasi — shaykh al-qurra' of Medina, a Maliki polymath: Minhaj al-Wusul and Majma' al-Salik in usul al-din, a verse-ification of al-Suyuti's Jawahir in tafsir, Durar al-Usul, plus works on jadal, balagha, sarf, nahw, hisab and mantiq; he toured Jerusalem, Damascus and Aleppo and died at Medina [964].

• Nasir al-Din al-Tablawi

  Al-Tablawi — Egypt's encyclopedist and al-Sha'rani's companion of fifty years; licensed by Muhammad al-Bayluni in writing (892), his chain running through Zakariyya, al-Suyuti and Ibn al-Jazari's Damiettan student; 'famous in Egypt for the frequency of his dreams of the Prophet' until a saint advised concealment; holder of the Khushabiyya chair and 'the most learned of all his peers and the humblest'; died 10 Jumada II [966] near a hundred years old, buried in Imam al-Shafi'i's hawsh.

• Tashkopruzade

  Tashkopruzade — author of al-Shaqa'iq al-Nu'maniyya on the scholars of the Ottoman state; Constantinople's qadi until his eyes failed — 'the judgeship came with blindness' — then he retired and compiled the Shaqa'iq blind, the first to write it; also Miftah part-three sharh, a kalam work, glosses gathering al-Qushji, al-Dawani and Mir Sadr al-Din, and a large then epitomized history; died of hemorrhoids in 968.

• Taj al-Din al-Hamadani

  Taj al-Din al-Hamadani — the Hanafi who compiled his sixteen-point refutation of Ibn Kamal Pasha's Sadr al-Shari'a sharh into a risala and delivered copies to vizier Muhammad Pasha and the grand vizier Rustam Pasha, who 'changed utterly' when he read the denunciation; later teacher then mufti of Amasya, 'sea of knowledge, fathom of the sciences'; also a Miftah gloss refuting Ibn Kamal's claimed unique points and a sharh of the Mir'ah.

• 'Ata' Allah, Sultan Selim II's teacher

  Molla 'Ata' Allah al-Konari — madrasa teacher at Iznik then Edirne, up the dar ladder to the eighty, then qadi 'askar, and teacher of Sultan Selim b. Sulayman while he reigned; died at the start of Safar 979.

• al-Zarnuji

  Draft card for Burhan al-Din al-Zarnuji, the thirteenth-century Hanafi jurist author of Ta'lim al-Muta'allim; the biographical entry is not yet checked on the page.

• Baysonqor

  Draft card for Ghiyath al-Din Baysonqor, the Timurid prince governing Herat under Shah Rukh and famed patron of calligraphy, d. 1433; the dynastic handbook entry is not yet checked on the page.

• Stephen Covey

  Stephen Covey as Tareq al-Suwaidan presents him: the trainer from whom he learnt the critique of annual award ceremonies — asking a company head who honoured fifty of his nine hundred and eighty employees: did you hire successes or failures?

Building

• al-Attarine Madrasa, Fez

  Draft card for the al-Attarine Madrasa of Fez, the Marinid college built by Sultan Abu Said Uthman II in 1323 near the Qarawiyyin; a masterwork of Marinid architecture per the cited encyclopedia, the page not yet checked.

Concept

• Experience versus service, and self-development

  Experience versus service in Tareq al-Suwaidan's teaching: years of work do not add up to experience without continuous development, whose minimum standards he sets as two books a month, three courses a year, one specialist and one general journal, and following two scholars of one's field.

• Scientific matn (condensed school text)

  A condensed text in a branch of knowledge, its matters fixed in a short wording to be memorised and explained by a teacher; it arose among later scholars to order subjects and ease memorising, and it has been debated for its effect on teaching.

• Reading and culture (al-qira'a wa-l-thaqafa)

  Sheikh Omar Abdelkafy's figures on reading and publishing among nations, his view of why the young turn away from books, and his proposed daily reading habits.

• Motivation

  Motivation in Tareq al-Suwaidan's teaching: a person receiving a verbal, positional or material reward; it fails without inner desire and without knowledge, planning and experience, its highest degree is belief in an idea, and honouring a single 'ideal employee' is a failed philosophy.

• The youth cultural crisis

  The 'Al-Wasatiyya' episode on the youth cultural crisis. Seventy-one percent voted that the youth suffer a real cultural crisis; and they split on the satellite-and-internet effect: 47% saw culture weakened after them, 43% saw it improved; from the episode's figures: only 4% of girls read books against 96% magazines (a Saudi study), and 6-8 hours daily before the two screens; and 30% placed the remedy in education, only 7% in the intellectuals.

• Life management and choosing one's field

  Life management in Tareq al-Suwaidan's teaching — the fourth generation of time management: choosing a single field of life by the desire-opportunity-ability equation, setting three to ten major projects needing fifteen to twenty years, and distributing goals over one's faith, social, health, financial and skill roles, by the fifty-per-cent rule.

• Madrasa

  Madrasa.

• Teacher (mu'allim)

  In the Kuwaiti encyclopedia's account a mu'allim is one who takes teaching as a profession, and the word also covers a person who teaches a craft in which he excels. The entry sets out the merit of teaching, whether a teacher may take a fee, the schools' rulings on fees for teaching crafts and religious learning, the duty to earn only lawful pay, the teacher's character and conduct towards pupils, and the lessons he must give.

• The quartets of making creatives

  Tareq al-Suwaidan's methodology distilled from the lives of the greats of Islamic civilisation and the sciences of management and human development — also called 'the secrets of the greats': four stages of four elements each, from the spark of beginning to unique giving; two per cent of creatives suffices, in his view, for the ummah's rise.

Screening Room

• The Imam

  An Arabic series on the life of Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal and his steadfastness during the Mihna — the largest Arabic drama about a Sunni scholar-saint.

• The Perfect Candidate

  2019 CE · 1440 AH†Haifaa al-Mansour's film about a Saudi doctor who runs for a municipal council seat in a conservative town.

• Aligarh

  2015 CE · 1436 AH†Aligarh.

• Buddha Collapsed Out of Shame

  2007 CE · 1428 AH†Buddha Collapsed Out of Shame.

• At Five in the Afternoon

  2003 CE · 1424 AH†At Five in the Afternoon.

• Guru Bangsa: Tjokroaminoto

  2015 CE · 1436 AH†Guru Bangsa: Tjokroaminoto.

• When Love Glorifies God

  2009 CE · 1430 AH†The Indonesian adaptation of Habiburrahman El-Shirazy's novel about an al-Azhar student balancing study, love and livelihood in Cairo — a major Indonesian religious hit.

• Science and Islam

  Jim Al-Khalili's three-part BBC series on science in Islamic civilisation — from the House of Wisdom to the present.

• Perempuan Berkalung Sorban

  2009 CE · 1430 AH†Perempuan Berkalung Sorban.

• Khawatir

  Ahmad al-Shugairi's MBC Ramadan programme across eleven seasons, blending faith with social service and travel — the Arab world's most successful youth religious programme.

• Mehmed: Fetihler Sultanı

  2024 CE · 1445 AH†Mehmed: Fetihler Sultanı.

• Rehana Maryam Noor

  2021 CE · 1442 AH†Rehana Maryam Noor.

• Saladin: The Animated Series

  MNC Animation's Malaysian series dramatising Saladin's youth for children, aired on Al Jazeera Children's Channel — among the first animated works on a major Islamic figure.

• Sang Pencerah

  2010 CE · 1431 AH†Hanung Bramantyo's film on Ahmad Dahlan, founder of Muhammadiyah, and the early years of Indonesia's Islamic reform movement in Yogyakarta.

• He Named Me Malala

  2015 CE · 1436 AH†He Named Me Malala.

• The Clay Bird

  2002 CE · 1423 AH†The Clay Bird.

• Omar & Hana

  Durioo+'s Malaysian animated series about siblings Omar and Hana — one of the most successful Muslim children's channels on YouTube, with billions of views and ten-language dubs.

• Boy from Heaven

  2022 CE · 1443 AH†Tarik Saleh's film about an al-Azhar student drawn into a power-and-faith struggle after the Grand Imam's death; Cannes screenplay winner.

• Zaky

  One4Kids' kangaroo character — songs and lessons on prayer, fasting and manners for Muslim children; among the first and most-watched Islamic children's works on YouTube.

Work

• Al-Mubdi'un (programme)

  Tareq al-Suwaidan's programme 'Al-Mubdi'un': the lives of great figures of Islamic civilisation presented not for entertainment but to set exemplars and change convictions — analysed on his 'quartets of making creatives' methodology; he thought of naming it 'Secrets of the Greats'.

• Mawsu'at A'lam al-Ulama' wa-l-Adaba' al-Arab wa-l-Muslimin

  An institutional encyclopedia in eight volumes of alphabetically arranged biographies of Arab and Muslim scholars and writers — an ALECSO project — recording for each figure his lineage, upbringing, achievements and works, with indexes and sources.

What is missing? Tell us · A theme is open when it has a reviewed guide, 10 questions, 25 entries across 5 classes, and voices from several traditions and regions.

Controversial topics

• Sexuality and gender diversity
• Converts and those who leave
• Images and figural art
• Takfir and its critics
• Dissent, heresy and freethought
• Conquest and its debates
• Violent extremism and the Muslim response
• Islam and atheism or secular thought