Birth and Education He was born and raised in his childhood in
Ramla. He was raised in the adoration and submission to one God. Since He was a young child, He has been fervently seeking knowledge and exerting great effort to obtain it. Nobody among his classmates could handle such tenacity and effort. He encouraged scrupulousness, humility, abstinence, and piety. He studied
hadith,
fiqh, its
legal theory,
grammar,
linguist,
rhetoric, and
literature. He also read Hadith. His status increased, as did his reputation. None of his contemporaries succeeded to the same degree as He did. He was so influential that His Sheikh,
Shaykh al-Islam Zakariyya al-Ansari, allowed him to edit his writings both while he was alive and after his passing,
Shaykh al-Islam used to say to him, “Correct what you see in my books that needs correcting and edit whatever needs to be edited and ascribe it to me.” While Shiekh al Islam was alive, Al Shihab al-Din modified a number of verses from Sharh al Bahjah and Sharh al Rawd. He was given the go-ahead to issue fatwas and to teach by a group of his teachers. He studied general education courses, and his reputation spread quickly. His admiration made him well-known, and students came to him from all over.
Students There are too many of al Shihab al Din's students to count. Students from the east and west came to learn with him. He served as the Shafi'i madhhab's Sheikh al Shuyukh during the time of its consolidation. He eventually rose to the position of leader of the Islamic sciences. Nearly every
Shafi'i scholar (among the later Shafi'is) was either one of his students or a student of one of his students. The most prominent of his students are; •
Ibn Hajar al-Haytami •
Al-Sha'rani •
Al-Khatib al-Shirbini • Shihab al-Din al-Ghazzi •
Shams al-Din al-Ramli (his son)
Death Shihab al Din lived an extended life. He continued to be very humble and abstinent from this world as he grew older. He spent his time learning by instructing, issuing formal legal judgements, writing, and commanding good and prohibiting evil. He continued in this state till the beginning of Jumada al Akhir (957 AH), when he died and entered the mercy of Al Rahman. People flocked from all over when word of His death spread, their eyes welling with tears and their hearts heavy with sorrow. The people prayed his burial prayer at
Al-Azhar on the day of Jumu'ah. On that particular day,
Al-Azhar was so full that many people were forced to attend funeral prayers somewhere else. ==Reception==