Ibn Hajar al-ʿAsqalani

The leading hadith master of Mamluk Cairo, he wrote Fath al-Bari on Sahih al-Bukhari, Bulugh al-Maram and major works on narrators and Companions.

Shihab al-Din Abu al-Fadl Ahmad ibn ʿAli ibn Hajar al-ʿAsqalani was born in Shaʿban 773 AH in Cairo; his family originally came from Ashkelon (ʿAsqalan) in Palestine. Both of his parents died while he was a small child, and he was raised by a guardian. He memorised the Quran by the age of nine, and as a boy travelled to Makkah with his guardian.

He studied with the leading scholars of Egypt, especially the hadith master Zayn al-Din al-ʿIraqi, as well as Siraj al-Din al-Bulqini and Ibn al-Mulaqqin, and he travelled to the Hijaz, Yemen and Syria for knowledge. He became the foremost hadith scholar of his age, honoured with the title “Amir al-Muʾminin fi’l-Hadith”.

His masterpiece is Fath al-Bari, a commentary on Sahih al-Bukhari that he worked on for about twenty-five years (817–842 AH); its completion was celebrated with a great gathering of scholars. His other works include Bulugh al-Maram on the hadith of rulings, al-Isabah fi Tamyiz al-Sahabah on the Companions, Tahdhib al-Tahdhib and Taqrib al-Tahdhib on narrators, Lisan al-Mizan, and Nukhbat al-Fikar on the terminology of hadith.

He served many times as chief Shafiʿi judge of Egypt from 827 AH, and taught and preached for decades. He died in Cairo in Dhu al-Hijjah 852 AH; a huge crowd attended his funeral, and he was buried in the Qarafah cemetery.