al-Izz ibn Abd al-Salam

Izz al-Din Abd al-Aziz ibn Abd al-Salam al-Sulami (578–660 AH / 1182–1262 CE) was one of the most distinguished Shafiite scholars of medieval Islam, given the title "Sultan of the Scholars" (Sultan al-Ulama) for his extraordinary combination of legal mastery, political courage, and spiritual authority. He was born in Damascus and studied there under the leading scholars of Syria.

He became the leading jurist of Damascus and later of Egypt, where the Ayyubid and subsequently Mamluk sultans sought his rulings on matters of law. He is most famous for his ruling that the Mamluk soldiers who had been slaves — and who had been sold and resold as commodities — had no legal right to hold political authority until they redeemed themselves from their slave status. He reportedly ordered a public auction in Cairo in which the Mamluk amirs had to purchase their own freedom before they could legitimately govern. This act of extraordinary juristic courage made him both feared and respected.

His major theoretical work Qawa'id al-Ahkam fi Masalih al-Anam (Rules of Rulings on the Interests of People) laid the theoretical foundation for the concept of maslaha (public interest) as a source of Islamic law, alongside a rigorous framework for understanding the higher objectives of the Sharia. This work influenced all subsequent discussions of maqasid al-sharia (the objectives of Islamic law).

He died in Cairo in 660 AH, having witnessed the Mongol invasions of the east and having helped organize the Mamluk resistance. His fatwa authorizing the Mamluk army to collect forced loans for the defense against the Mongols at the Battle of Ain Jalut (1260 CE) is considered one of the most consequential legal decisions in medieval Islamic history.