Abu Al-Hasan Taqī al-Dīn Ali ibn Abd al-Kafi ibn Ali al-Khazraji al-Ansari al-Subkī (Arabic: أبو الحسن تقي الدين علي بن عبد الكافي بن علي الخزرجي الأنصاري السبكي), commonly known as Taqī l-Dīn al-Subkī (Arabic: تقي الدين السبكي) was a Sunni Egyptian polymath and foremost leading Shafi'i jurisconsult, traditionist, Quranic exegete, legal theoretician, theologian, mystic, grammarian, linguist, rhetorician, philologist, lexicographer, genealogist, historian, logician, controversial debater, and researcher of his time. He served as the chief judge of Damascus for 17 years. He was the father of the great Taj al-Din al-Subki. Al-Subki was regarded as one of the most influential and highly acclaimed scholars of the Mamluk period. He was famous for being the leading scholar, judge and teacher of his time. He was universally recognized as a mujtahid and was the greatest jurist in the Shafi'i school of his time. He was given the special title Sheikh al-Islam for mastering every Islamic field and was a prolific writer who wrote books in every science. His books were considered authoritative, regardless of what science he wrote in.
Early life
Birth Taqi al-Din al-Subki was born at the beginning of Safar in the year 683 AH, which corresponds to April 18, 1284 AD in the village of Subk al-Ahad (hence the name "Al-Subki") – one of the villages in the Monufia Governorate and he was taught in his childhood by his father, who provided him with the appropriate atmosphere for acquiring knowledge.
Education He moved with his father to Cairo, where he was apprenticed to some notables of his time, headed by his father, Sheikh Abd al-Kafi al-Subki, and he was one of the deputies of Sheikh al-Islam Ibn Daqiq al-'Id in the judiciary, and he took great care of him to devote himself to seeking knowledge. He also travelled to acquire knowledge of hadith from the scholars of Syria, Alexandria and the Hijaz.
Teachers He studied under the foremost leading scholars of his time and mastered these sacred sciences under them:
Ibn al-Rif'ah who taught him Shafi'i jurisprudence Al-Dimyati who taught him Hadith 'Ala al-Din al-Baji who taught him principles of jurisprudence and theology Abu Hayyan al-Gharnati who taught him grammar Ibn Ata Allah al-Iskandari who taught him Tasawwuf Alam al-Din al-Iraqi who taught him Qu'ran exegesis Sayf al-Din al-Baghdadi, who taught him Islamic logic
Scholarly life
Positions During his scholarly life in Egypt, he was employed as a professor at the Cairo's prestigious Islamic educational institutions. He was summoned to Damascus in 739 AH (he was 66 years old at the time) to assume the position of head legal judge, which he retained for the next 17 years. In addition to his role as chief judge, he served as the preacher at the Umayyad mosque and he was employed as a professor at several leading educational institutions in Damascus, including al-Ghazzaliyya, al-Adiliyya, al-Atabakiyya, al-Mansuriyya, al-Shamiyya, al-Barraniyya, and the school of the prophetic traditions, Dar al-Hadith al-Ashrafiyya, which was the world's leading Hadith academy.
Students He educated the foremost scholars of their time:
Jamal al-Din al-Isnawi Taj al-Din al-Subki Siraj al-Din al-Bulqini Zain al-Din al-'Iraqi Ibn al-Mulaqqin Al-Safadi Firuzabadi
Death Then he died on Monday night, the third of Jumada al-Akhira, in the year 756 AH in Cairo, and was buried at Bab al-Nasr. When he died, it was called, “The last of Mujtahid has died, the proof of Allāh ﷻ on earth has died, the ʿĀlim of this era has died” and then the scholars carried his funeral. Ibn al-Subki stated in his famous Tabaqat al-Shafi'iyya al-Kubra that whoever attended his funeral agreed that they had not seen any funeral having more people. Rather, it was said that other than the funeral of Shaykh al-Islām al-Subkī, none of the funerals was attended by more people after the funeral of Imām Ahmad.
Views Al-Subki staunchly defended the mainstream Sunni beliefs against the extremist minority and their heresy. Al-Subki belonged to the Sunni theological school of Ash'ari and in line with his school strongly opposed anthropomorphism. He also vehemently defended the Ashari view that Paradise and Hell Fire are eternal and to that end wrote a comprehensive treatise entitled "Al-I'tibar" in which he stated that: "The doctrine of the Muslims is that the Garden and the Fire will not pass away. Abu Muhammad ibn Hazm has transmitted that this is held by consensus and that whoever opposes it is an unbeliever by consensus". Subkī reiterates this elsewhere in the treatise although he is careful to clarify that he does not label any particular person an unbeliever. Al-Subki blamed Ibn Taymiyyah's misguidance for not learning the proper interpretation of classical texts from qualified transmitters. He was very harsh in criticizing Taymiyyah for deviating the Sunni community and distorting fundamental principles of the true Islamic creed. Al-Subki regarded him as one of the members of the Hashwiyya sect (an anthropomorphic sect that attribute God with direction, form and image). Taqi al-Din al-Subi tried to outlaw philosophy since he was adamantly opposed to it. Additionally, he was against using Greek logic. He was quite critical, publishing refutations to anything he deemed as an innovation.
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