al-Shawkani

Muhammad ibn Ali al-Shawkani al-San'ani (1173-1250H / 1759-1834 CE) was a Yemeni jurist, hadith scholar, and reformer who rose to become the Chief Judge of Yemen under the Zaydi Qasimid imams. Despite his Zaydi upbringing, he moved toward Sunni positions and advocated independent legal reasoning (ijtihad) based directly on Quran and Sunnah, rejecting strict adherence (taqlid) to any single madhab. His Nayl al-Awtar (an explanation of Muntaqa al-Akhbar) is a widely read collection of hadith with legal commentary. His Fath al-Qadir is an important Quran commentary. He is influential among 20th-century Salafi scholars who cite his legal methodology.