| Religion: | Islam |
| Occupation: | Muhaddith, Scholar, Muslim Jurist, Historian |
| Al-Mundhiri | |
| Shaykh al-Islām[1] Zaki al-Din Al-Ḥāfiẓ | |
| Birth Date: | 1185 |
| Birth Place: | Fustat, Ayyubid dynasty |
| Death Place: | Cairo, Mamluk Sultanate |
| Region: | Egypt |
| Denomination: | Sunni |
| Jurisprudence: | Shafi'i[2] |
| Creed: | Ash'ari[3] |
| Main Interests: | Hadith, Fiqh, History, Arabic |
| Works: | At-Targhib wat-Tarhib |
| Influences: | Al-Shafi'i Abu Hasan al-Ash'ari Abu Tahir al-Silafi |
| Influenced: | Ibn Daqiq al-'Id Al-Dimyati Ibn Khallikan Ibn al-Dawadari Abu Ḥusayn al-Yunini |
Abū Muhammad 'Abd al-'Azim b. 'Abd al-Qawi Zaki al-Din al-Mundhiri (Arabic: المنذري), commonly known as Al-Mundhiri was a classical Islamic Sunni scholar, Shafi'i jurist, hadith specialist, historian, the muhaqqiq (researcher), and an expert in the Arabic language.[4] He is regarded in his time as the greatest scholar of hadith.[5]
Al-Mundhiri was of Syrian origin but was born in Fustat, Egypt in the year of the 1st Sha'ban 581 corresponding to 28 October 1185. He was well-versed in Islamic etiquette and law and had memorised the Qur'an. He started studying the sciences of hadith and excelled in it. He studied under a number of hadith scholars with the most prominent being Al-Hafiz Abu al-Hasan `Ali ibn al-Mufaddal al-Maqdisi the famous pupil of Abu Tahir al-Silafi. He stayed with him for a while and completed his education with him. After he completed his studies, he began travelling to peruse further knowledge and visited many cities such as Mecca, Medina, Damascus, Harran, Edessa, Alexandria and others, prior to beginning to teach in the Al-Zafiri Mosque in Cairo. After that, he served as Shafi'i professor of hadith sciences at Dar al-Hadith al-Kamiliyya mosque for about 20 years. He then focused on authoring and narrating ahadith. He passed away on the 4 Dhu 'l-Qa'da 656/3 November 1258.[6] [7]
Many scholars would study and narrate Hadith from him. Among his most famous students;[8] [9]
In Egypt, he used to issue Fatawa (religious verdicts). He then stopped passing such judgements. He refused to make a religious determination for a bizarre reason, which reveals to us his justice, the softness of his soul, and his ability to identify virtue in those who possess it. Taj al-Din al-Subki hinted at this and said: "I heard my father (Taqi al-Din al-Subki) saying that Ash-Shaikh Izz al-Din ibn 'Abd al-Salam used to teach Ahadith for a short period in Damascus. Then, when he entered Cairo, he gave up teaching and began attending the gathering of Ash-Shaikh Zakiuddin Al-Mundhiri. He would sit in Al-Mundhiri's lessons and listen to him amongst the ordinary group of listeners and he would not teach anything. Ash-Shaikh Zakiuddin Al-Mundhiri also gave up giving religious verdicts during this time. He said: "Wherever Ash-Shaikh `Izzuddin enters (i.e., a town, city or land), then the people there have no need of me!"[10] [11]
Izz al-Din ibn 'Abd al-Salam said: "Our Shaikh, Zakiuddin had no equal in the Science of Hadith with all of its various branches. He was an `Ilim (extremely knowledgeable) concerning the authentic Ahadith, the unauthentic Ahadith, the defective Ahadith and their routes of transmission. He was extremely well-versed in his knowledge of the Hadith reporters, their disparagement and their integrity (JarhwaTa'dil), their deaths, their births and their life events. He was a leader, steadfast and extremely pious. He was firm in whatever he said, and certain concerning whatever he reported."
Al-Dhahabi said: "There was no one in his time who had memorized more (Ahadith) than him."