Cairo, Egypt
Coordinates: 30.007645, 31.259331
Ibn hajar al-Asqalani was a medieval Islamic scholar “whose life work constitutes the final summation of the science of Hadith.
He authored some 150 works on hadith, history, biography, tafsir, poetry, and Shafi’ite jurisprudence, the most valued of which being his commentary of the Sahih of Bukhari, titled Fath al-Bari
When he accompanied al-Kharrubi to Mecca at the age of 12, he was considered competent to lead the Tarawih prayers during Ramadan.
Al-Suyuti said: “It is said that he drank Zamzam water in order to reach the level of al-Dhahabi in memorization—which he succeeded in doing, even surpassing him.”
In 1397, at the age of twenty-five, Al-‘Asqalani married the celebrated hadith expert Uns Khatun, who held ijazas from Hafiz al-Iraqi and gave public lectures to crowds of ulema, including al-Sakhawi.
Ibn Hajar went on to be appointed to the position of Egyptian chief-judge (Qadi) several times.
Ibn Hajar died after ‘Isha’ (night prayer) on 8th Dhul Hijja 852 (2 February 1449), aged 79. An estimated 50,000 people attended his funeral in Cairo, including Sultan Sayf ad-Din Jaqmaq (1373-1453 CE) and Caliph of Cairo Al-Mustakfi II (r. 1441-1451 CE).
