Al-Kamal ibn al-Humam explained

Kamal al-Din ibn al-Humam Arabic: كمال الدين بن الهمام
Kamal al-Din^[1] ^[2] — Shaykh al-Islam^[3]
Birth Date:	790 A.H. = 1388 A.D.
Birth Place:	Alexandria
Death Date:	861 A.H. = 1457 A.D.
Death Place:	Cairo
Religion:	Islam
Denomination:	Sunni Sufi
Jurisprudence:	Hanafi
Creed:	Maturidi^[4]
Main Interests:	Aqidah, Kalam (Islamic theology), Tawhid, Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), Usul al-Fiqh, Usul al-Din, Hadith studies, Tafsir, Logic, Arabic grammar, Arabic literature, Rhetoric, Islamic inheritance jurisprudence, Sufism, Mathematics, Music
Notable Works:	Al-Musayarah, Fath al-Qadeer
Influences:	Abu Hanifa Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani Badr al-Din al-Ayni 'Izz al-Din ibn Jama'a Waliy al-Din al-'Iraqi
Influenced:	Al-Sakhawi Al-Suyuti Zakariyya al-Ansari Kamal al-Din ibn Abi Sharif Ibn Qutlubugha Ibn Amir al-Hajj Ibn al-Ghars Sharaf al-Din Yahya al-Munawi

Al-Kamal ibn al-Humam (Arabic: الكمال بن الهمام) was a prominent Egyptian^[5] Hanafi-Maturidi, polymath, legal theorist and jurist. He was a mujtahid and highly regarded in many sciences of knowledge and was also a Sufi. Highly regarded in all fields of knowledge, including fiqh, usul al-fiqh, kalam (Islamic theology), logic, Sufism, Arabic language and literature, tafsir (Qur'anic exegesis), Hadith, Islamic law of inheritance (in Arabic, known as 'ilm al-fara'id, or 'the science of [ancestral] shares'), mathematics, and music.^{[6] [7]}

He is famous for his commentary known as Fath al-Qadeer on the famous Hanafi book al-Hidayah.^[8]

Name

He is Kamal al-Din Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahid ibn 'Abd al-Hamid ibn Mas'ud al-Siwasi, then al-Iskandari, known and often referred to as Ibn al-Humam.

Life

He was born in Alexandria, Egypt, and studied in Cairo as well as Aleppo.He was born in Alexandria and grew up and died in Cairo.^[9] He was appointed head shaykh of the Khanaqah Shaykhuniyyah in Cairo in 1443.^{[10] [11]}

Teachers

He studied under many notable scholars, among them are:^[12]

• 'Izz al-Din ibn Jama'a (d. 819/1416).
• Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalani (d. 825/1449).
• Wali al-Din al-'Iraqi (d. 826/1423) the son of Zain al-Din al-'Iraqi.
• Badr al-Din al-'Ayni (d. 855/1451).

Students

Among his celebrated students are:^{[13] [14]}

• Sharaf al-Din Yahya al-Munawi (d. 871/1467) (whose great-grandson 'Abd al-Ra'uf al-Munawi would write a commentary on al-Suyuti's Al-Jami' al-Saghir titled Fayd al-Qadir).
• Ibn Amir al-Hajj (d. 879/1474).
• Ibn Qutlubugha (d. 879/1474).
• Badr al-Din Abu al-Yusr Muhammad ibn al-Ghars (d. 894/1488).
• Shams al-Din al-Sakhawi (d. 902/1497).
• Kamal al-Din ibn Abi Sharif (d. 905-906/1499-1500).
• Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti (d. 911/1505).
• Zakariyya al-Ansari (d. 926/1520).

Books

Among his well-known writings are:

• Fath al-Qadeer lil-'Ajiz al-Faqeer (Arabic: فتح القدير للعاجز الفقير).^[15]
• Al-Musayara fi al-'Aqaid al-Munjiya fi al-Akhira (Arabic: المسايرة في العقائد المنجية في الآخرة), a Maturidi theological treatise that follows the sequence of Imam al-Ghazali's tract on dogmatic theology called al-Risala al-Qudsiyya (The Jerusalem Epistle); hence, the name al-Musāyarah (the Pursuit).^[16]
• Zad al-Faqeer (Arabic: زاد الفقير), a treatise on the rulings of prayer and purification.

See also

• Badr al-Din al-'Ayni
• Akmal al-Din al-Babarti
• Khidr Bey
• List of Hanafis
• List of Ash'aris and Maturidis
• List of Muslim theologians
• List of Sufis

External links

• The Life and Works of al-Kamāl Ibn al-Humām [{{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20240212015955/https://hadithnotes.org/the-life-and-works-of-al-kamal-ibn-al-humam/|date=12 Feb 2024}}]
• Al-Kamal ibn al-Humam and His Book: Fath al-Qadeer

Notes and References

1. Book: David Dean Commins. Islamic Reform: Politics and Social Change in Late Ottoman Syria. 1990. Oxford University Press. 9780195362947. 74.
2. Book: Sherman A. Jackson. Islam and the Problem of Black Suffering. 2009. Oxford University Press. 9780195382068. 102.
3. Web site: The Biography of Imam al-Kamal ibn al-Humam. Dar al-Ifta' al-Misriyya.
4. Book: Cenap Çakmak. Islam: A Worldwide Encyclopedia [4 volumes]]. 2017. ABC-CLIO. 9781610692175. 1015.
5. Book: Baber Johansen. Contingency in a Sacred Law: Legal and Ethical Norms in the Muslim Fiqh. 1999. Brill Publishers. 9789004106031. 148.
6. Web site: The Life and Works of al-Kamāl Ibn al-Humām. Ahnaf Blog.
7. Web site: Al-'Alam by al-Zirikli. shamela.ws.
8. Book: Abdul Azim Islahi. History of Islamic Economic Thought: Contributions of Muslim Scholars to Economic Thought and Analysis. 2014. Edward Elgar Publishing. 9781784711382. 43.
9. Web site: The Life and Works of al-Kamāl Ibn al-Humām. Ahnaf Blog.
10. Web site: The Biography of Ibn al-Humam. The Oxford Dictionary of Islam - Oxford Islamic Studies Online.
11. Book: John L. Esposito. The Oxford Dictionary of Islam. 2004. Oxford University Press. 9780199757268. 152.
12. Web site: The Biography of Imam al-Kamal ibn al-Humam. Dar al-Ifta' al-Misriyya.
13. Web site: The Life and Works of al-Kamāl Ibn al-Humām. Ahnaf Blog.
14. Web site: The Biography of Imam al-Kamal ibn al-Humam. Dar al-Ifta' al-Misriyya.
15. Web site: Fath al Qadir: 10 Volumes, Arabic. Madani Propagation.
16. Web site: The Life and Works of al-Kamāl Ibn al-Humām. Ahnaf Blog.