Al-Kamal ibn al-Humam

Al-Kamal ibn al-Humam (الكمال بن الهمام) was a prominent Egyptian 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. He is famous for his commentary known as Fath al-Qadeer on the famous Hanafi book al-Hidayah. 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. He was born in Alexandria, Egypt, and studied in Cairo as well as Aleppo. His ancestry was from the Turkish province of Sivas, but he was born in Alexandria and grew up and died in Cairo. He was appointed head shaykh of the Khanaqah Shaykhuniyyah in Cairo in 1443. He studied under many notable scholars, among them are: '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). Among his celebrated students are: 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). Among his well-known writings are: Fath al-Qadeer lil-'Ajiz al-Faqeer (فتح القدير للعاجز الفقير). Al-Musayara fi al-'Aqaid al-Munjiya fi al-Akhira (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).