al-Ramli (Shams al-Din)

Shams al-Din Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Hamzah al-Ramli al-Ansari al-Misri was known as 'the little al-Shafi'i' (al-Shafi'i al-Saghir) for his mastery of the Shafi'i school. He was the student of Zakariyya al-Ansari. His Nihayat al-Muhtaj ila Sharh al-Minhaj (a commentary on al-Nawawi's Minhaj) became a standard Shafi'i legal reference in Egypt and Greater Syria (though Ibn Hajar al-Haytami's Tuhfah is preferred in Southeast Asia and East Africa). He and Ibn Hajar al-Haytami were considered the two supreme authorities in the Shafi'i school of their era. He died in Cairo in 1004 AH.