al-Sha'rani

c. 1493 CE–c. 1565 CE · Cairo

'Abd al-Wahhab ibn Ahmad al-Sha'rani (c. 898/1493 - 973/1565) was an Egyptian scholar of the Shafi'i madhhab (one of Sunni Islam's four schools of law) who became one of the most influential Sufi writers of the Ottoman era. His family name derives from Saqiyat Abi Sha'ra, the village in Egypt's Munufiyya province where his family settled. As a youth he moved to Cairo, where he studied the religious sciences — Qur'an, hadith and Shafi'i law — and is reported to have attended the circles of leading teachers such as Zakariyya al-Ansari and the polymath al-Suyuti.

Al-Sha'rani's spiritual formation is traditionally traced to 'Ali al-Khawwas, an unlettered guide whom his own writings present as his master in the Sufi path (tariqa). He went on to found a Cairene order, the Sha'rawiyya, and established a zawiya (Sufi lodge) that drew students of both the exoteric and esoteric sciences. Sources differ on his relationship to the Shadhiliyya: some describe his path as Shadhili-derived, while others stress that he never formally bound himself to one established order.

A prolific author, he is best known for al-Tabaqat al-kubra, a celebrated dictionary of the lives and sayings of Sufi saints, and for al-Mizan al-kubra, which argued for harmony among the legal schools. He died in Cairo and was buried in his zawiya, which remains a visited shrine. His works are still widely read.

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Stop 1 of 11505–1565Studied, Taught, Founded Order, Died

CairoקהירEgypt

What they did here

As a youth (one report gives 910 AH / c. 1505) al-Sha'rani moved to Cairo, where he studied at al-Azhar and is reported to have lodged for years at the mosque of Abu al-'Abbas al-Ghamri. He took the Sufi path from 'Ali al-Khawwas, founded the Sha'rawiyya order, ran a zawiya, and wrote his major works. He died in Cairo in 973 AH / 1565 and was buried in his zawiya. The exact start year of his move and the precise month of death (within Jumada 973) vary between sources.

Cairo in this era

From 1517 Cairo was the capital of the Ottoman province of Egypt and remained a great centre of learning around al-Azhar, where scholars from West Africa to the Hijaz studied and taught. Napoleon's army occupied it from 1798 to 1801.

About Cairo

Cairo, at the head of the Nile delta, grew from two foundations: Fustat, the garrison town built by the Arab conquerors in 641, and al-Qahira ('the Victorious'), the walled city founded by the Fatimid dynasty in 969, where the mosque of al-Azhar opened in 970-72 and became a great centre of learning. Under the Ayyubids (from 1171) and the Mamluks (1250-1517) it was one of the largest cities of the Islamic world. Fustat's Jewish community, home to Maimonides in the 12th century, left the Cairo Geniza, a vast store of medieval documents. Later ruled by the Ottomans and, from 1882, under British occupation, Cairo is the capital of modern Egypt.

Across the traditions, in Cairo at the same time

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In the same place & time

Sages whose lives overlapped with al-Sha'rani’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.

Across the traditions

The world in their lifetime

Thinkers and teachers of other traditions whose lives overlapped with al-Sha'rani’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.

Jewish world

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