Shams ad-Din ar-Ramli

Shams ad-Din Abu Abdallah Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Hamzah ar-Ramli al-Ansari al-Misri (919-1004 AH / 1513-1596 CE) was the foremost Shafii jurist of his era, earning the honorific title ash-Shafii as-Saghir (the Little Shafii) in recognition of his extraordinary mastery of the school's jurisprudence. He was born in Ramla, Palestine, into a family already distinguished in Islamic scholarship — his father Ahmad ar-Ramli was himself a prominent Shafii jurist — and later settled in Cairo where he spent the bulk of his scholarly career.

He studied under the leading scholars of his age including his father, Shaykh al-Islam Zakariyya al-Ansari, and other senior Shafii authorities in Cairo. His mastery of the Shafii school was unparalleled in his generation and he attracted students from across the Muslim world. He taught at al-Azhar and other major institutions of Cairo, and his legal opinions were sought on difficult questions by scholars throughout Egypt, the Levant, and beyond.

His most famous and enduring work is Nihayat al-Muhtaj ila Sharh al-Minhaj (The Final Resource for One in Need: Commentary on the Minhaj), a comprehensive multi-volume commentary on Imam an-Nawawi's Minhaj at-Talibin. This became one of the two most authoritative references in the Shafii school — alongside the Tuhfat al-Muhtaj of his contemporary Ibn Hajar al-Haytami. In the tradition of later Shafii jurisprudence, when scholars speak of relying on ash-Shaykhatayn (the Two Shaykhs), they mean ar-Ramli and al-Haytami, and their commentaries are studied in parallel to determine the relied-upon positions of the school.

His legal responsa (fatawa) were also collected and widely circulated, addressing both standard legal questions and novel issues arising in Ottoman-period Egyptian society. His son Khayr ad-Din ar-Ramli also became a distinguished scholar, following the Hanafi school and continuing the family's tradition of scholarship.

Shams ad-Din ar-Ramli's positions became the default relied-upon opinions in the Shafii school across Egypt, the Levant, and much of the Muslim world. He passed away in Cairo in 1004 AH (1596 CE), and his Nihayat al-Muhtaj remains central to Shafii legal education in al-Azhar institutions to this day.