Who are True scholars? Imam Junayd

Some people ask "how do I know a real scholar of Islam, and distinguish him/her from the fake scholars? How do I know a guided scholar?" Well Imam Junayd al-Baghdadi was asked similar, and in his Risala, he gave this amazing answer (apologies for the differing sizes, but insha'Allah it's readable):

Mehr Ali Shah: defeater of Qadianis- From Great Scholars of Islam Series

I recently read about a famous scholar of India Mehr Ali Shah (RA) who challenged and defeated Mirza Gulam Ahmed Qadiani (followers are called "Qadianis" or "Ahmadis") who claimed to be a Prophet. Here's a summary about him:

The biography of Pir Sayyid Mihr Ali Shah is unique for a shaykh of the twentieth century, and reads like that of one of the Salaf. His miracles [karamat] are legendary and he was almost solely responsible (along with his contemporary Hazrat Pir Sayyid Jama’at Ali Shah Alipuri Naqshbandi) for defeating the Qadiani heresy in Punjab when he openly challenged Mirza Qadiani to a munazarah. “Let us both jump off the minaret of the Badshahi Mosque in Lahore, he said, “and if your claims to prophecy are true you will not be harmed! I am just a slave of the Prophet but I challenge you!” He also challenged him to write a tafsir of the Qur’an with the proviso that none of them would touch their pens! “I will command my pen to write and it will by the grace of Allah!” he said in a famous public challenge. In all cases Mirza ran away from this lion of Ahlus Sunnah and descendent of the Prophet who spent his long life in the worship of his Lord to reach these high spiritual stations of which we can only imagine.


"Pir Mehr Ali was once approached by a questioner asking him why the Qur'an contained no mention of the Ahlul-Bayt. Pir Mehr Ali responded by questioning this assumption, 'Who says there is no mention of them?'. He proceeded to write the BasmAllah in front of the man and listed the numerical values of each letter and totalled them up. He next wrote the names of Ali, Hassan, Hussain (I think Fatima too - I'm not 100% sure) and again listed the numerical values of each letter, totalling them up. Both totals matched exactly leaving the man astounded. Professor Shahtaz, commented that what was so amazing about this episode was the swiftness of Pir Mehr Ali's response to the question, clearly highlighting this man's wilayah." (from deenport thread "Pir Mehr Ali"

His full biography can be viewed here:
http://www.thelightofgolrasharif.com/Website/TheLightofGolraSharif/hazrat/chapters.htm

Imam Zahid al-Kawthari- Great Scholars of Islam

"Imam al-Kawthari was a true scholar; the scholars knew his knowledge. I knew him years before meeting him. I knew him through his writings in which the light of truth shone forth. I knew him through his commentary of manuscripts which he undertook to publish. By Allah! My amazement at the manuscript did not match my amazement at the commentary of the editor. Even when the original manuscript was a brief epistle, yet the Imam's commentary on it would turn it into a major work that should be read. Truly one's insight and wide erudition show plainly in such commentaries. All this he did with an elegant style, subtle allusions, forceful analysis, accomplished accuracy, and total mastery over his own thought and writing technique. It could not occur to the mind of the reader that he was a non-Arab writer and not patently Arab. ... Yet it is not really astonishing, for he was Turkish in ancestry, education, and everyday life at the time he lived in Istanbul (al-Astana) but his scholarly life was purely Arabic, for he read nothing but Arabic, and nothing filled his head but the shining light of Muhammadan Arabic. ...

"He came from a Caucasus family, as reflected in his vigor, strength, handsome body and spirit, and the quality and depth of his thought. His father moved to Istanbul where he was born in surroundings of guidance and truth. He studied the Islamic sciences until he attained the highest rank in them at around twenty-eight years of age. Then he ascended the ladder of teaching positions until he reached their highest level quite early. He reached the point when he was confronted by those who wanted to separate the world from religion in order to rule the world by other than what Allah has revealed, but he stood in ambush for them despite the fact that he was yet without experience, with everything that a young man at the beginning of his career could hope for. But he chose his Religion over their world. He chose to defend what is still left of Islam rather than have a pleasant life. He preferred to face continuous enmity while obtaining the good pleasure of Allah Most High rather than pleasure and comfort amidst people's approval and the good pleasure of those who held the keys of the lower world. Obtaining the good pleasure of Allah is truly the goal of faith.

"He fought the promoters of atheism (al-ilhâdiyyîn) in power when they tried to shorten the period of study for the religious curriculum when he saw that to shorten it would jeopardize its preliminary and final parts, so he left no stone unturned until he did away with their wish and even lengthened the period that they were trying to cut short, so that students would be able to absorb and digest all the disciplines they needed, especially for non-natives learning in a patent Arabic tongue. ...

"He strove with all his might and effort - may Allah be well-pleased with him - on the loftiest paths until he became Deputy of the Office of Shaykh al-Islam in [Ottoman] Turkey. He was among those known to give such a post its due. He never exceeded bounds so as to please someone high-placed, no matter how great their power over him, eventually preferring to be expelled from his position for the sake of upholding the public good. It is better to be expelled for the sake of truth than to implement falsehood. ...

"Then the lofty-minded, abnegating, Godwary scholar was put to the severest test when he saw his dear country - the Great Land of Islam, the pivot of his strength, the locus of hopes for Muslims - overshadowed by atheism and taken over by those who do not wish any honor for this Religion. The one who clings to his Religion in such a place soon becomes like one clasping a burning coal. Then he finds himself targeted by persecution so that unless he escaped, he would be thrown into some forlorn prisons and blocked from all that is knowledge and teaching. At that point, the Imam faced three choices. Either to remain a prisoner in chains, his knowledge put out in the deep gaol; a harsh fate for a scholar of learning accustomed to teach and guide others, extracting the treasures of the Religion and bringing them to light for the benefit of humankind. Or grovel and flatter and kowtow, short of which he would remain in fetters or even risk losing his life. Or emigrate - and vast are the lands of Allah. He remembered the saying of Allah, {Was not the earth of Allah spacious that you could have migrated therein?} (4:97).

"So he emigrated to Egypt then moved to Syria. He then returned to Cairo, then went back to Damascus again, until he finally settled in Cairo.

"During his trips to Sham and his residence in Cairo he was a beacon of light. His residence expanded into a school to which flocked the students of true knowledge - not the students of schoolish knowledge. Those students were guided to the sources of knowledge through the books that were written when the marketplace of the Islamic sciences was vibrant and the souls of the ulamas thriving with Islam. He coached the minds of those searching students with those sources and directed them to them. At the same time he would explain whatever they found obscure and pour out the abundance of his learning and share the fruits of his thought. ...

"I bear witness that I have heard the praise of eminent personalities and scholars, but I never prided myself with any of it as much as I prided myself with the praise of this magnificent shaykh - for such is a scholarly badge from someone who is truly able to give it. ...

"That noble man who suffered many trials and overcame them, was also afflicted with the loss of loved ones, for he lost his children during his own lifetime, death taking them one after the other. By virtue of his knowledge, he was able to be patient, uttering the statement of the Prophet Ya`qub - peace upon him -, {Patience is beautiful, and the help of Allah must be entreated} (12:18). ... He passed on to his Lord, patient, thankful and praiseful, as the sincere and righteous pass on. May Allah be pleased with him and make him pleased!"

From: http://www.sunnah.org/history/Scholars/Imam_al_Kawthari.htm

Imam Junayd al-Baghdadi- Great Muslim Scholars

Al-Junayd ibn Muhammad ibn al-Junayd, Abu al-Qasim al-Qawariri al-Khazzaz al-Nahawandi al-Baghdadi al-Shafi`i (d. 298). Called Imam Junayd al-Baghdadi or Abu al-Qasim for short. The Imam of the World in his time, shaykh of the Sufis and "Diadem of the Knowers," he accompanied his maternal uncle Sari al-Saqati, al-Harith al-Muhasibi, and others.

The Mu`tazili (a sect based on philosophy) al-Ka`bi said: "My eyes did not see his like. Writers came to hear him for his linguistic mastery, philosophers for the sharpness of his speech, poets for his eloquence, and kalam scholars for the contents of his speech."


He took fiqh from Abu Thawr - in whose circle he would give fatwas at twenty years of age - and, it was also said, from Sufyan al-Thawri. He once said: "Allah did not bring out a single science on earth accessible to people except he gave me a share in its knowledge." He used to go to the market every day, open his shop, and commence praying four hundred rak`as until closing time.


Al-Junayd went on pilgrimage on foot thirty times. 



When his uncle asked him to speak from the pulpit he deprecated himself, but then saw the Prophet  in his dream ordering him to speak. 



Among his sayings about the Sufi Path: "Whoever does not memorize the Qur'an and write hadith is not fit to be followed in this matter. For our science is controlled by the Book and the Sunnah."


His student Abu al-`Abbas ibn Surayj would say, whenever he defeated his adversaries in debate: "This is from the blessing of my sittings with al-Junayd." 


Once a young Christian asked him: "What is the meaning of the Prophet's hadith: 'Beware the vision of the believer for he sees with the light of Allah'?"² Al-Junayd remained immersed in thought then lifted his head and said: "Submit, for the time has come for you to accept Islam." The young man embraced Islam on the spot. 

Al-Junayd defined the Knower (al-`arif) as "He who addresses your secret although you are silent."

He also said "The Sufi is like the earth: both the righteous and the sinners walk upon it. He is like the clouds: they give shade to all things. He is like the raindrop: it waters all things."


And:
"The Sufi is like the earth: every kind of abomination is thrown upon it, but naught but every kind of goodness grows from it." 

On his deathbed he recited the Qur'an incessantly. Al-Jariri related that he told him: "O Abu al-Qasim! Put yourself at ease."

He replied: "O Abu Muhammad! Do you know anyone that is more in need of Qur'an at this time, when my record is being folded up?" He finished one khatma then started over until he recited seventy verses of Sura al-Baqara, then he died. Ibn `Imad al-Hanbali said: "If we were to speak of his merits we could fill volumes."

Before his death Junayd ordered that all the saying of knowledge attributed to him which people have written down should be buried. When people asked him the reason he said, "When the people have the knowledge of the Prophet of Allah with them, I desire that I may meet Allah Ta'ala in the state that there remains nothing attributed to me".

After his death Shaykh Ja'far al-Khaldi saw him in a dream. Ja'far al-Khaldi asked Junayd "How did Allah Ta'ala treat you?"

Imam Junayd replied:
"Those subtle signs were finished, those phrases disappeared, those sciences were annihilated, those illustrations were erased and nothing helped us except some rak`ats which we used to pray before dawn".

For more info on him, see:
http://www.sunnah.org/history/Scholars/imam_junayd.htm

and
http://seekersguidance.org/blog/2009/11/a-true-hajj-amazing-explanation-of-imam-junaid-al-baghdadi/ 

Fakhr ad-Din ar-Razi- Great Scholars of Islam

Muhammad ibn `Umar ibn al-Hasan ibn al-Husayn<sup>1</sup> Abu `Abd Allah al-Qurashi, al-Bakri, al-Taymi, al-Tabaristani al-Shafi`i, known as Ibn al-Khatib and as Fakhr al-Din al-Razi (543-606), Shaykh al-Islam, the imam of the learned scholars of kalam and the foundations of belief, a major jurist of the Shafi`i school, specialist of usul, Sufi, commentator of the Qur'an, philologist, genealogist, heresiographer, logician, and physician. "An ocean that contains more pearls than the ocean." The principal spokesman of Ahl al-Sunna in his time, he refuted all the sects with which he came into contact, particularly the multifarious groups of the Mu`tazila, Shi`a, and Hashwiyya as well as  the Jews and Christians.

A student of his father Khatib al-Rayy Diya' al-Din `Umar and Majd al-Din al-Jili al-Maraghi principally, then Abu Muhammad al-Baghawi and Kamal al-Din al-Simnani, he memorized early on Imam al-Haramayn's work in kalam entitled al-Shamil. He began his scholarly career in poverty and died at sixty-three at the height of fame and wealth, poisoned, it is said, by the Karramiyya of Herat who were envious of his great following among the princes of Khurasan.

A superb teacher, al-Razi could debate and preach in both Arabic and Persian, and he answered gracefully and at length the questions of the scholars of all four schools in Herat. He would often break into emotional states while preaching, moving to tears whoever listened to him. He was expelled from Khwarizm and Transoxiana by the Mu`tazila and returned to his native Rayy where he authored a series of works which achieved widespread fame in a short time.

 Imam al-Razi said in his "Testament" (wasiyya):

 "I have explored the ways of kalam and the methods of philosophy, and I did not see in them a benefit that compares with the benefit I found in the Qur'an. For the latter hurries us to acknowledge that greatness and majesty belong only to Allah, precluding us from involvement into the explication of objections and contentions. This is for no other reason than because human minds find themselves deadened in those deep, vexing exercises and obscure ways [of kalam and philosophy].

 Therefore, I say that everything that stands established by literal proofs concerning the necessity of Allah's existence, His oneness, His exemption from any and all partners, as well as His beginninglessness and pre-existence, His disposal of all things, His exclusive efficacy: that is what I also believe, and what I hope to meet Allah with.

 As for what is ultimately subtle and unclear, as well as all that is mentioned in the Qur'an and the sound books of hadith that specifically bears one meaning: it is all exactly as the text says. Whatever is otherwise, I say: O God of the worlds, I see that all of creation concur that You are the most generous of all generous ones,  and the most merciful of them; therefore, concerning anything I wrote or thought, I bear witness that if You saw that I tried to declare true something false, or declare false something true, then do with me as I deserve; but if you saw that I only tried to declare transcendent whatever I considered truly transcendent, and believed so truthfully, then let Your mercy be commensurate with my intention, not with my outcome....

 As for the books which I authored and in which I listed and explicated countless questions, let whoever looks into them remember me kindly and pray for me out of compassion and benevolence, or else, strike out any wrong words. For I did not intend other than abundant investigation and the sharpening of thought, all the while relying upon Allah"

 Ibn al-Subki quotes the following lines of poetry from Imam al-Razi:

  "The daring of minds ends in shackles,   Most of mankind's undertakings are folly.   Our souls are indifferent to what our bodies do,   And the sum of our lives is affliction and harm.   We did not benefit from our lifelong search   Except in collecting what these said, and those.   Atop many a mountain men have triumphed   And gone, while the mountains remained.   How many men and states have we seen  Goaded to disappear one and all."

For more, see:
http://www.sunnah.org/history/Scholars/al_fakhr_al_razi.htm

Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani- Great scholars of Islam

Abu’l-Fadl Ahmad ibn Hajar’s family originated in the district of Qabis in Tunisia. He became known as "Commander of the Faithful in Hadith", a very rare title in Islamic history. He was born in Egypt in 773, the son of the Shafi‘i scholar and poet Nur al-Din ‘Ali and the learned and aristocratic Tujjar. Ibn Hajar was entered in a Qur’anic school (kuttab) when he reached five years of age. Here he excelled, learning Surat Maryam in a single day, and progressing to the memorization of texts such as the Mukhtasar of Ibn al-Hajib on usul. 


By the time he accompanied al-Kharrubi to Mecca at the age of 12, he was competent enough to lead the Tarawih prayers in the Holy City, where he spent much time studying and recalling God amid the pleasing simplicity of Kharrubi’s house, the Bayt al-‘Ayna’, whose windows looked directly upon the Black Stone. Two years later his protector died, and his education in Egypt was entrusted to the hadith scholar Shams al-Din ibn al-Qattan, who entered him in the courses given by the great Cairene scholars, after which he was able to travel to Damascus and Jerusalem, where he studied under more famous scholars. After a further visit to Mecca and Madina, and to the Yemen, he returned to Egypt. 

When he reached 25 he married the lively and brilliant Anas Khatun, then 18 years of age. She was a hadith expert in her own right, holding ijazas from Zayn al-Din al-‘Iraqi, and she gave celebrated public lectures in the presence of her husband to crowds of ulema among whom was Imam al-Sakhawi. After the marriage, Ibn Hajar moved into her house, where he lived until his death. Many noted how she surrounded herself with the old, the poor and the physically handicapped, whom it was her privilege and pleasure to support. So widely did her reputation for sanctity extend that during her fifteen years of widowhood, which she devoted to good works, she received a proposal from Imam ‘Alam al-Din al-Bulqini, who considered that a marriage to a woman of such charity and baraka would be a source of great pride.

Once ensconced in Egypt, Ibn Hajar taught in the Sufi lodge (khaniqah) of Baybars for some twenty years, and then in the hadith college known as Dar al-Hadith al-Kamiliyya. During these years, he served on occasion as the Shafi‘i chief justice of Egypt, and was an Ash'ari scholar (like most scholars in history) of the Ahlus Sunnah.

It was in Cairo that the Imam wrote some of the most thorough and beneficial books ever added to the library of Islamic civilization. He wrote over 150 books, and in 817, Ibn Hajar commenced the enormous task of assembling his Fath al-Bari. It began as a series of formal dictations to his hadith students, after which he wrote it out in his own hand and circulated it section by section to his pupils, who would discuss it with him once a week. As the work progressed and its author’s fame grew, the Islamic world took a close interest in the new work.


In 833, Timur’s son Shahrukh sent a letter to the Mamluk sultan al-Ashraf Barsbay requesting several gifts, including a copy of the Fath, and Ibn Hajar was able to send him the first three volumes. In 839 the request was repeated, and further volumes were sent, until, in the reign of al-Zahir Jaqmaq, the whole text was finished and a complete copy was dispatched. Similarly, the Moroccan sultan Abu Faris ‘Abd al-‘Aziz al-Hafsi requested a copy before its completion. When it was finished, in Rajab 842, a great celebration was held in an open place near Cairo, in the presence of the ulema, judges, and leading personages of Egypt. Ibn Hajar sat on a platform and read out the final pages of his work, and then poets recited eulogies and gold was distributed. It was, says the historian Ibn Iyas, ‘the greatest celebration of the age in Egypt.’

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Hajar departed this life in 852. His funeral was attended by ‘fifty thousand people’, including the sultan and the caliph; ‘even the Christians grieved.’ He was remembered as a gentle man, short, slender, and white-bearded, a lover of chess and calligraphy, much inclined to charity; ‘good to those who wronged him, and forgiving to those he was able to punish.’ A lifetime’s proximity to the hadith had imbued him with a deep love of the Messenger (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). 


A more detailed bio is here:
http://www.sunnah.org/history/Scholars/imam_ibn_hajar_al-asqalani.htm 

Imam Ghazali- Great Scholars of Islam

Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad, Abu Hamid al-Tusi al-Ghazzali[or al-Ghazali] al-Shafi`i (450-505), "the Proof of Islam" (Hujja al-Islam), "Ornament of the Faith," "Gatherer of the Multifarious Sciences," "Great Siddîq," absolute mujtahid, a major Shafi'i jurist, heresiographer and debater, expert in the principles of doctrine and those of jurisprudence, and a master of philosophy.

Shaykh Yusuf al-Qaradawi stated that, like 'Umar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz and al-Shafi'i for their respective times, al-Ghazzali is unanimously considered the Renewer of the Fifth Islamic Century. Ibn al-Subki writes: "He came at a time when people stood in direr need of replies against the philosophers than the darkest night stands in need of the light of the moon and stars."

On his way back from Jurjan to Tus al-Ghazzali was robbed by highwaymen. When they left him he followed them but was told: "Leave us or you will die." He replied: "I ask you for Allah's sake to only return to me my notes, for they are of no use to you." The robber asked him: "What are those notes?" He said: "Books in that satchel, for the sake of which I left my country in order to hear, write, and obtain their knowledge." The robber laughed and said: "How can you claim that you obtained their knowledge when we took it away from you and left you devoid of knowledge!" Then he gave an order and the satchel was returned to him. Al-Ghazzali said: "This man's utterance was divinely inspired (hâdhâ mustantaqun): Allah caused him to say this in order to guide me. When I reached Tus I worked for three years until I had memorized all that I had written down."

Al-Ghazzali came to Baghdad in 484 and began a prestigious career of teaching, giving fatwa, and authoring books in nearly all the Islamic sciences of his day. His skill in refuting opponents was unparalleled except by his superlative godwariness, which led him to abandon his teaching position at the Nizamiyya school four years later, deputizing his brother Ahmad, famous for his preaching, to replace him. Upon completion of pilgrimage to Mecca al-Ghazzali headed for Damascus, then al-Qudus, then Damascus again where he remained for several years, taking up the ascetic life with the words: "We sought after knowledge for other than Allah's sake, but He refused that it be for anything other than Him."

He came out of seclusion in 499 and travelled to Cairo, Iskandariyya and other places, finally returning to Baghdad where he taught his magnum opus Ihya' 'Ulum al-Din until his death in nearby Tus, occupying the remainder of his time with devotions, Qur'an recitations, prayer and fasting, and the company of Sufis. Ibn al-Jawzi narrated in al-Thabat 'Inda al-Mamat ("Firmness at the Time of Death") from al-Ghazzali's brother Ahmad: "On Monday [14 Jumada al-Akhira] at the time of the dawn prayer my brother Abu Hamid made his ablution, prayed, then said: 'Bring me my shroud.' He took it, kissed it and put it on his eyes, saying: 'We hear and obey in readiness to enter the King's presence.' Then he stretched his legs, facing the Qibla, and died before sunrise ( may Allah sanctify his soul! ). It is related that al-Shadhili saw a dream in which the Prophet Muhammed (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam)  pointed out al-Ghazzali to Musa (AS) and 'Isa (AS) asking them: "Is there such a wise scholar in your communities?" to which they replied no.

Ibn al-Subki narrated with his chain from Abu al-Hasan al-Shadhili that Ibn Hirzahm, one of the Moroccan shaykhs who had intended the burning of the book (Ihya), saw the Prophet in his dream commending the book before al-Ghazzali and ordering that Ibn Hirzahm be lashed for slander. After five lashes he was pardoned and woke up in pain, bearing the traces of the lashing. After this he took to praising the book from cover to cover.

NB- the philosophers at the time of Imam Ghazali, like now, were attacking religion and Islamic beliefs. But Imam Ghazali mastered philosophy and memorised at least 10,000 pages in philosophy and then refuted the philosophers by using philosophy to show that philosophy doesn't lead to certainty nor to the unIslamic beliefs. His "tahafut" is a famous work that showed that.

For more on Imam Ghazali and his list of works and fatwas, see the end of:

http://www.livingislam.org/ghaz_e.html

Nafisa at-Tahira- Great Scholars of Islam

Sayyida Nafisa was born in Makkah on the 11th of Rabi`a al-Awwal, the same night that the Prophet (s) was born, in the year 145 H. Her father had been appointed governor of Madinat al-Munawwara in the year 150 H. She accompanied her father to Madina at the tender age of five. There she memorized the entire Qur`an and studied Islamic jurisprudence in depth. Being extremely intelligent she also became adept in explaining the Qur`an despite her young age.

She was the daughter of al-Hasan al-Anwar, the son of Zaid al-Ablaj, son of al-Imam al-Hasan (r), brother of al-Imam al-Husayn (r), son of the Daughter of the Prophet (s) Sayyida Fatimat al-Zahra (r). She is from the family of the Prophet (s) about which Allah said in the Holy Qur`an “Allah only desires to keep away the uncleanness from you, O people of the House! and to purify you a (thorough) purifying.” [33: 33]

Young Nafisa frequented the grave of her grandfather the Prophet (s) (mulazamat qabri jaddiha al-Mustafa). The People of Madina loved her deeply. She became renowned for her abstemiousness (zuhd) and piety (taqwa), for fasting the day, spending the nights in prayer and for her excessive devotion to worshipping Allah (swt).

Sayyida Nafisa used to pray the five prayers regularly behind her father in Masjid an-Nabawi (s) from the age of six. Her father used to take her by the hand and enter inside the room of the grave of the Holy Prophet (s), which is the house of Sayyida `Ayesha (r). He would address the Prophet (s) directly saying: "Ya Rasullullah!, O Beloved Prophet of Allah! I am pleased with my daughter Nafisa!" He continued these visits repeatedly until one day the Prophet (s) appeared to him in a dream saying to him, “Ya Hasan, I am pleased with your daughter Nafisa, because you are pleased with her, and Allah is pleased with her because I am pleased with her.

She performed hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca) thirty times ‑ most of them on foot. She would say, “I am following my grandfather Imam al-Husayn (r) in doing that, for he said, ‘I feel shy to meet my Lord having never walked to His House,'" for which reason he used to make the pilgrimage walking.

It is said that on her circumambulation around the Ka`aba, she asked Allah (swt) "O Allah! be satisfied with me (mati`ani bi-ridaaka `annee), I see nothing that veils You from me."

When Sayyida Nafisa was 44 years old she moved to Cairo. She arrived on the 26th of Ramadan in the year 193 H. On her way, she passed through the city of Arriche. When people knew of her arrival, they rushed forth en masse to meet her, for her renown as a devout worshipper and lady saint had preceded her. Historians say the men and women of Egypt went to receive her in a huge procession, riding on horses, camels, donkeys and on foot; waiting overnight in tents; greeting her in the morning with the chanting of 'la ilaha ill-Allah' and 'Allahu akbar', and accompanying her in a huge procession from Arriche to Cairo, according her great dignity and respect.

Sayyida Nafisa hosted most of the scholars of her time, experts in jurisprudence, hadith, and Qur`anic explanation. But by far the greatest scholarly gatherings were those she hosted for the pillars of tasawwuf and the pious of her time (Aqtab al-tasawwuf). Among these pillars of tasawwuf and fiqh was Imam al-Shafi`i who had moved to Egypt from Baghdad in 109 H., five years after Sayyida Nafisa's arrival in Cairo.

One day the governor of Egypt sent Sayyida Nafisa 100,000 dirhams (equivalent to perhaps millions of dollars in today's money). He said, "Take this money from me. I ask nothing in return, but I thank Allah for this opportunity to repent. I give this money to you because of your piety." She took that money as her own and distributed it to the poor until nothing remained. Princes, nobles and many ordinary people sent her gifts. She accepted them, then distribute them in whatever way she liked.

Sayyida Nafisa was renowned for asceticism and for living a life of hardship (zuhd). When asked what her meals consisted of, Zainab, daughter of her brother, replied, "My auntie used to eat once every three days. She had a basket hanging in her niche. Whenever she wanted something small to eat she would find something in that basket, sent from Allah (swt).  She never ate anything other than food from her husband and that which Allah sent her as a gift."

The story is related that when Sayyida Nafisa arrived in Egypt and settled in her home, there was a non-Muslim family living beside her, whose daughter was paralyzed from the waist down. One day the girl’s mother brought her to Sayyida Nafisa to watch while she went shopping. She left her daughter in one corner of Sayyida Nafisa's house. Sayyida Nafisa began making ablution and water from her ablution flowed towards the girl. As the water touched the body of the girl, she experienced something strange. She began to take the water from Sayyida Nafisa’s ablution and rub it on her paralyzed feet and legs. Suddenly by Allah's (swt) Mercy, the paralysis disappeared completely and she was able to stand.

When she began to feel her death approaching, Sayyida Nafisa dug her grave with her own hands inside her home. Every day she would enter the grave and worship in it, as a reminder of the coming afterlife. She used to pray all her supererogatory prayers inside that grave. Al-Allama al-Ajhuri said, "She completed the Holy Qur`an while sitting in her grave six thousand times, and she granted the rewards of that recitation to all deceased Muslims." 

The source, and detailed biography with more info is given here:
http://www.sunnah.org/history/Scholars/nafisa_at_tahira.htm

Imam Jalal ad-Din Suyuti- The Great Scholars Series

This is the first, of a series of posts where I plan to provide biographies of the great Muslim scholars who significantly shaped and influence the development of the Muslim world. It shows how sincere these great Muslim scholars were and that they refused to be influenced by power, and they stood up for the truth, even in the threat of death. The other reason for this series is being because many Muslims don't know of their Islamic history, and  it is known that“Mercy descends when the Righteous are mentioned and remembered.”  (Abdullah ibn Mubarak)
However I don't plan to copy the full biography, but to link to the whole biography, whilst quoting parts.
Imam Suyuti was the famous author of Tafsir Jalalayn in 40 days (it was written by another scholar partially before). Imam Suyuti was also called `Abd al-Rahman ibn Kamal al-Din Abi Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn Sabiq al-Din, Jalal al-Din al-Misri al-Suyuti al-Shafi`i al-Ash`ari, also known as Ibn al-Asyuti (849-911), the mujtahid imam and renewer of the tenth Islamic century, foremost hadith master, jurist, Sufi, philologist, and historian, he authored works in virtually every Islamic science. 
Born to a Turkish mother and non-Arab father and raised as an orphan in Cairo, he memorized the Qur'an at eight, then several complete works of Sacred Law, fundamentals of jurisprudence, and Arabic grammar; after which he devoted himself to studying the Sacred Sciences under about a hundred and fifty shaykhs. He wrote over 723 works.
When al-Suyuti reached forty years of age, he abandoned the company of men for the solitude of the Garden of al-Miqyas by the side of the Nile, avoiding his former colleagues as though he had never known them, and it was here that he authored most of his nearly six hundred books and treatises. Wealthy Muslims and princes would visit him with offers of money and gifts, but he put all of them off, and when the sultan requested his presence a number of times, he refused. 

He once said to the sultan's envoy: "Do not ever come back to us with a gift, for in truth Allah has put an end to all such needs for us."

Al-Suyuti's student and biographer Shams al-Din al-Dawudi al-Maliki - the author of Tabaqat al-Mufassirin al-Kubra - said: "I saw the shaykh with my own eyes writing and finishing three works in one day which he himself authored and proofread. At the same time he was dictating hadith and replying beautifully to whatever was brought to his attention."

He also said of himself: "When I went on hajj I drank Zamzam water for several matters. Among them: (I asked) that I reach, in fiqh, the level of Shaykh Siraj al-Din al-Bulqini and in hadith, that of the hafiz Ibn Hajar."
And he confided to his friend, shaykh AbdulQadir al-Shadhili, that he saw the Prophet (pbuh) in the waking state, saying to him, “Oh Shaykh of the Hadith!” So he said, “Oh Messenger of Allah, am I of the people of Paradise?”, so he, peace be upon him, said “yes”. “Without prior punishment?” So he said “yes.”
So AbdulQadir al-Shadhili asked him, “How many times have you seen the Prophet (pbuh) while awake?” And he replied, “Seventy-some times.”

A giant among contemporaries, he remained alone, producing a sustained output of scholarly writings until his death at the age of sixty-two. He was buried in Hawsh Qawsun in Cairo. In the introduction to his book entitled al-Riyad al-Aniqa on the names of the Prophet -- Allah bless and greet him -- he said: "It is my hope that Allah accept this book and that through this book I shall gain the Prophet's -- Allah bless and greet him -- intercession. Perhaps it shall be that Allah make it the seal of all my works, and grant me what I have asked Him with longing regarding the Honorable One."

Amongst his fatwas online are:


Seeing the Prophet whilst Awake


The Parents of the Prophet are Saved

For the full bio see:
http://www.sunnah.org/history/Scholars/Al-Suyuti.htm

And:
http://riyada.hadithuna.com/shaykh-of-the-hadith/

The teachers he studied under are given here:
http://www.sunnah.org/history/Scholars/suyutis_teachers.htm