Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani
Egyptian Islamic scholar (1372–1449)
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He was regarded as the foremost scholar of the fifteenth century across all fields of Islamic law.
Early life
He was born into an Arab Kinani family in Cairo on 22 Shaʿbān 773 AH, corresponding to February 28th 1372.He was the son of the Shafi'i scholar and poet Nur ad-Din 'Ali. His parents had moved from Alexandria, originally hailing from Ascalon (Arabic: عَسْقَلَان, ʿAsqalān). His mother was named Sitt al-Tujjar ("Mistress of Merchants").
"Ibn Hajar" was the nickname of one of his ancestors, which was extended to his children and grandchildren and became his most prominent title. He was known by the kunya Abū al-Faḍl, and he was called al-ʿAsqalānī in attribution to Aqsalān (Ashkelon) in Palestine, the homeland of his family; and al-Kinānī in attribution to Kināna, to which his lineage goes back.
His father, Ali bin Muhammad Asqalani, was also a scholar who, besides engaging in trade like his forefathers, knew the seven canonical Qurʾānic readings (qirāʾāt al-sabʿ), composed poetry, and wrote a supplement (istidrāk) to al-Nawawī’s al-Adhkār. For a while, he was the deputy of Ibn Aqeel Baha'udin, Abu Muhammad Abdullah bin Abdur Rahman Shafi'i. He was also a poet and had several diwans and was allowed to give fatwas . Both of his parents died in his infancy, and he and his sister, Sitt ar-Rakb, became wards of his father's first wife's brother, Zaki ad-Din al-Kharrubi, who enrolled Ibn Hajar in Qur'anic studies when he was five years old. Here he excelled, learning Surah Maryam in a single day and memorising the entire Qur'an by the age of 9. He progressed to the memorization of texts such as the abridged version of Ibn al-Hajib's work on the foundations of fiqh.
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Education
When he accompanied al-Kharrubi to Mecca at the age of 12, he was considered competent to lead the Tarawih prayers during Ramadan. When his guardian died in 1386, Ibn Hajar's education in Egypt was entrusted to hadith scholar Shams ad-Din ibn al-Qattan, who entered him in the courses given by Sirajud-Din al-Bulqini (d. 1404) and Ibn al-Mulaqqin (d. 1402) in Shafi'i fiqh, and Zain al-Din al-'Iraqi (d. 1404) in hadith, after which he travelled to Damascus and Jerusalem, to study under Shamsud-Din al-Qalqashandi (d. 1407), Badr al-Din al-Balisi (d. 1401), and Fatima bint al-Manja at-Tanukhiyya (d. 1401). He learned the fundamentals of Hadith and other subjects from the renowned scholar Izz al-Din Ibn Jama'ah,. After a further visit to Mecca, Medina, and Yemen, he returned to Egypt. Al-Suyuti said: "It is said that he drank Zamzam water in order to reach the level of adh-Dhahabi in memorization—which he succeeded in doing, even surpassing him."
Ibn Ḥajar benefited from 628 teachers, 55 of them women. Among his female teachers were Fāṭima al-Tanūkhiyya and Fāṭima al-Maqdisiyya, from whom he read various works. Rivalries arose between Ibn Ḥajar and scholars such as Walī al-Dīn al-Seftī, Muḥammad b. ʿAṭāʾ Allāh al-Harawī, Shams al-Dīn al-Hirmāwī, and Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl al-Wanāʾī due to posts such as chief judgeship and teaching.
Personal life
In 1397, at the age of twenty-five, Al-'Asqalani married the celebrated hadith expert Uns Khatun, who held ijazat from 'Abdur-Rahim al-'Iraqi and gave public lectures to crowds of 'ulama', including as-Sakhawi. He had five daughters from Uns, and one daughter from a later wife. All of his daughters died during his lifetime. He married a third time, but his only son was Abū al-Maʿālī Badr al-Dīn Muḥammad, born 815 AH / 1412 CE to a slave woman of Tatar origin. It is not known for sure, but there is good reason to suspect that his son was not qualified for the scholarly positions in which his father tried to place him, nor was he a good administrator of either college finances or his own.
Ibn Ḥajar was of medium height, refined-looking, yet awe-inspiring and energetic. He did not give importance to food and drink.Because of his quick comprehension and strong memory, he could follow and correct texts being read to him while he was writing something else.
Positions
Ibn Hajar went on to be appointed to the position of Egyptian qadi (chief judge) several times. He had a scholarly rivalry with the Hanafi scholar Badr al-Din al-Ayni.
Death
Ibn Hajar died after 'Isha' (night prayer) on 8th Dhul-Hijjah 852 (2 February 1449), aged 79. The funeral prayer was led by the ʿAbbāsid caliph, and an estimated 50,000 people attended his funeral in Cairo, including Sultan Sayfud-Din Jaqmaq (1373–1453 CE) and Caliph of Cairo Al-Mustakfi II (r. 1441–1451 CE). He was buried in Karāfat al-Ṣughrā Cemetery.