al-Suyuti

Jalal al-Din Abd al-Rahman al-Suyuti al-Shafi'i (849–911 AH / 1445–1505 CE) was the most prolific scholar in the history of Islam, a Cairo-based Egyptian polymath who claimed to have authored over 600 works on virtually every Islamic science. He was the last of the great medieval encyclopedists and the figure who codified and summarized the entire tradition of Islamic scholarship in systematic reference works that students and scholars use to this day.

Among his most important works: al-Itqan fi Ulum al-Quran (on the sciences of the Quran), which is the definitive reference for all matters relating to Quranic sciences; Tadrib al-Rawi (on hadith methodology), the standard commentary on al-Nawawi's hadith terminology manual; al-Jami al-Saghir and al-Jami al-Kabir, comprehensive hadith collections organized alphabetically; al-Dur al-Manthur, a tafsir composed entirely of hadith references; and Husn al-Muhadara, a history of Egypt.

He was immensely prolific because he wrote quickly, dictated to students, and drew systematically on prior scholarship. He was aware of and proud of his productivity. He also made controversial claims including that he had reached the rank of mujtahid mutlaq (independent legal scholar), which many contemporaries disputed, and that he had met the Prophet ﷺ while awake — not just in dream — which provoked criticism.

His relationship with the Mamluk authorities was complex. He initially sought patronage, then withdrew from public life after a dispute, spending his final years in relative seclusion at Rawdha island in the Nile. He died in Cairo in 911 AH, leaving behind a body of work that defined the scope of Islamic scholarship for all subsequent centuries.