Imām Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī

Known as: The Last Mujaddid of the Mamlūk Era and the Universal Scholar of Cairo

Early Life and Background

Imām ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Bakr Jalāl al-Dīn al-Khuḍayrī al-Suyūṭī [عبد الرحمن بن أبي بكر جلال الدين الخضيري السيوطي] was born on 1 Rajab 849 AH / 3 October 1445 CE in Cairo, Egypt, during the late Mamlūk Sultanate.^1
His father, Kāmāl al-Dīn Abū Bakr al-Suyūṭī, was a respected jurist and teacher at Madrasa al-Shaykhūniyyah; his family traced their roots to Suyūṭ (أسيوط) in Upper Egypt, which became his nisbah “al-Suyūṭī.”^2

He was orphaned at age five, and his father’s students assumed responsibility for his upbringing. By age eight, he had memorized the Qurʾān, and soon after completed the core texts of Arabic grammar (al-Ajurrūmiyyah الأجرومية) and law (Matn Abī Shujāʿ متن أبي شجاع).^3

His prodigious memory and independence made him one of the youngest scholars to be publicly certified (ijāzah إجازة) in Cairo.

Education and Teachers

Al-Suyūṭī studied under a constellation of late Mamlūk masters who were themselves students or successors of Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī:

Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad al-Sakhāwī [محمد بن عبد الرحمن السخاوي] — the foremost student of Ibn Ḥajar and al-Suyūṭī’s chief teacher in hadith;

Sirāj al-Dīn al-Bulqīnī [سراج الدين البلقيني];

Taqī al-Dīn al-Shumnī [تقي الدين الشمني];

ʿAlī al-Biqāʿī [علي البقاعي] (the Qurʾānic exegete);

and Jalāl al-Dīn al-Maḥallī [جلال الدين المحلي], whose Tafsīr al-Jalālayn al-Suyūṭī later completed.^4

He studied the six canonical hadith collections, memorized thousands of reports with isnād (إسناد) precision, and mastered uṣūl al-fiqh أصول الفقه, tafsīr, grammar, rhetoric, and Sufism.
By his thirties, he was regarded as one of Cairo’s leading polymaths (mujtahid mutlaq مجتهد مطلق).^5

Scholarly Career and Reputation

Al-Suyūṭī became a prolific author, teacher, and jurist of the Shāfiʿī school, lecturing at al-Azhar and Madrasa al-Baybarsiyyah.
He composed over 500 works across disciplines — many still extant — and earned the title:

“Ḥujjat al-Islām wa Khātim al-Muḥaddithīn” — “The Proof of Islam and the Seal of the Hadith Scholars.”^6

He was known for his intellectual independence: refusing state stipends, declining political office, and living reclusively on the island of Rawḍah (الروضة) in the Nile during his later years.^7

His contemporaries debated his mujaddid claim (reviver of the 10th century AH), but his mastery across genres made that recognition almost universal among later scholars.

Methodology and Thought

Al-Suyūṭī’s scholarship united the precision of the muhaddith with the expansiveness of the encyclopedist.
His guiding principles were:

Taḥqīq (تحقيق): critical verification of sources and narrators;

Jamʿ (جمع): collection of dispersed knowledge across works and schools;

Talfīq (تلفيق): synthesis without sectarian bias;

Tajdīd (تجديد): renewal through clarification rather than innovation.

He described his mission as “reviving the Sunnah by compiling what others left scattered.”^8

Major Works

Work Arabic Title Subject Notes
al-Itqān fī ʿUlūm al-Qurʾān الإتقان في علوم القرآن Qurʾānic sciences The definitive manual on the disciplines of Qurʾān: revelation, abrogation, compilation, and stylistic miracles.^9
Tafsīr al-Jalālayn (completion) تفسير الجلالين Qurʾānic exegesis He completed the half-written tafsīr of his teacher al-Maḥallī, producing the concise, globally popular commentary still taught today.^10
al-Jāmiʿ al-Ṣaghīr & al-Jāmiʿ al-Kabīr الجامع الصغير / الجامع الكبير Ḥadīth compilation Encyclopedic collections arranged alphabetically and thematically, merging authentic narrations from all previous sources.^11
Tadrīb al-Rāwī fī Sharḥ Taqrīb al-Nawawī تدريب الراوي في شرح تقريب النووي Hadith methodology Commentary on al-Nawawī’s Taqrīb; cornerstone of hadith pedagogy, still read in al-Azhar.^12
Ḥusn al-Muḥāḍarah fī Tārīkh Miṣr wa al-Qāhirah حسن المحاضرة في تاريخ مصر والقاهرة History Cultural and scholarly chronicle of Egypt and Cairo — essential source for Mamlūk history.^13
al-Riyāḍ al-Anīqah fī Sharḥ Asmāʾ Allāh al-Ḥusnā الرياض الأنيقة في شرح أسماء الله الحسنى Theology Spiritual exposition of the Divine Names, blending philology and devotional reflection.

Relations with His Teachers and Contemporaries

Al-Suyūṭī’s early mentor al-Sakhāwī later became his fiercest critic, accusing him of self-promotion for declaring himself mujaddid.^14
Al-Suyūṭī replied humbly that he merely “observed what God had manifested,” not out of pride but gratitude.
Despite these tensions, he continued the Ibn Ḥajar tradition of rigorous verification and commentary, integrating Sufi spirituality and Qurʾānic sciences into hadith studies.

Retirement and Spiritual Focus

In 890 AH / 1485 CE, at age 40, al-Suyūṭī withdrew from public teaching to devote himself to writing, worship, and dhikr (ذكر).
From his home on Rawḍah Island, he authored dozens of treatises yearly until his death, describing this period as “ʿUzlah fī ʿIlm wa ʿIbādah” — seclusion in knowledge and devotion.^15

He practiced daily recitation of the Qurʾān, maintained voluntary fasting, and trained select students through correspondence rather than classroom debate.

Death

Al-Suyūṭī passed away on 19 Jumādā al-Ūlā 911 AH / 18 October 1505 CE, at age 61, in Cairo.^16
He was buried in the Qarāfah Kabīrah cemetery near his teacher Ibn al-ʿAṭṭār.
Historians describe his funeral as attended by judges, jurists, and common folk alike — a testament to the love his writings inspired.

Legacy

Imām al-Suyūṭī stands as the final great encyclopedic scholar of classical Islam, the bridge between medieval synthesis and early-modern specialization.

His works unified:

the hadith-critical rigor of Ibn Ḥajar,

the exegetical clarity of al-Maḥallī,

and the literary elegance of the Arabic humanists (udabāʾ أدباء).

He explicitly saw himself as heir to Ibn Ḥajar’s revivalist spirit, writing:

“He revived the sciences of hadith in the ninth century; I revive them in the tenth.”^17

Modern institutions — from al-Azhar to Deoband — still teach his Tadrīb al-Rāwī and Itqān fī ʿUlūm al-Qurʾān as primary texts.
Through him, the scholarly synthesis of hadith, Qurʾān, and Arabic literature reached its final classical perfection.

References (for footnote conversion)

Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd ed., s.v. “al-Suyūṭī.”

Al-Sakhāwī, al-Jawāhir wa al-Durar, vol. 2 (Cairo: al-Amīriyyah, 1896), 190.

Jonathan A. C. Brown, Hadith: Muhammad’s Legacy in the Medieval and Modern World (Oxford: Oneworld, 2009), 93.

IslamicFinder.org, “Biography of Imam al-Suyuti,” accessed October 2025.

Al-Sakhāwī, al-Jawāhir wa al-Durar, 201.

Ibn Iyās, Badāʾiʿ al-Zuhūr fī Waqāʾiʿ al-Duhūr, vol. 5 (Cairo: Dār al-Kutub, 1909), 88.

Al-Suyūṭī, Ḥusn al-Muḥāḍarah, vol. 1, Preface.

Al-Suyūṭī, al-Itqān fī ʿUlūm al-Qurʾān, Introduction.

Ibid.

Al-Suyūṭī & al-Maḥallī, Tafsīr al-Jalālayn (Cairo: Dār al-Salām, 1998), Preface.

Al-Suyūṭī, al-Jāmiʿ al-Ṣaghīr, Preface.

Al-Suyūṭī, Tadrīb al-Rāwī, Introduction.

Al-Suyūṭī, Ḥusn al-Muḥāḍarah, vol. 2, Conclusion.

Al-Sakhāwī, al-Jawāhir wa al-Durar, 214.

Al-Suyūṭī, al-Tashyīd fī al-ʿUzlah, MS Dār al-Kutub Cairo.

Ibn Iyās, Badāʾiʿ al-Zuhūr, vol. 5, 112.

Al-Suyūṭī, al-Itqān, Preface.

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Imām Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī