Mujir al-Din al-Ulaimi al-Hanbali – nicknamed Abu al-Yaman – was a Hanbali scholar and jurist, historian of Jerusalem and Hebron, and chief judge of Jerusalem. He was born in 1456 AD and died in 1520 AD.
Birth and upbringing
Abd al-Rahman bin Muhammad bin Abd al-Rahman Mujir al-Din al-Amri al-Ulaimi al-Maqdisi al-Hanbali, nicknamed Abu al-Yaman, was born in Jerusalem on October 13, 1456 AD in the house of Alam and Salah.
His father was a judge in Ramla and Jerusalem, and his lineage is linked to Abdullah bin Omar bin Al-Khattab, and therefore he is called Al-Omari. As for the title of Al-Alimi, he acquired it in reference to the village named after the village of Ali bin Al-Alim, located north of Jaffa, in which Ali bin Al-Alim is buried, and which is the home of his ancestors.
Abdul Rahman grew up in the city of Jerusalem, where he grew up and received basic education from his father, who was keen to prepare him academically so that he would have a position that would preserve the glory of his family, and then he was promoted to the councils of senior Jerusalemite scholars and sheikhs.
He went to Hajj in 1502 AD and stayed in Mecca for a month, then returned to Jerusalem and stopped to give fatwas and teach in Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Study and training
Abdul Rahman Al-Alimi received his education in the early stages in the city of Jerusalem, and this period extended from the year 1455 AD to 1475 AD, and his first sheikh was his father, who taught him the Qur’an, reading and writing, and some of the religious duties, arithmetic, jurisprudence, and grammar.
He had been accompanying him to the gatherings of scholars since the age of three, and he had memorized the salt of parsing in grammar organized by Al-Hariri, the author of Al-Maqamat, when he was no more than six years old. He presented it to the Shafi’i jurist from Qalqashanda, located in the Qalyubia Governorate in Egypt, Taqi al-Din al-Qalqashandi, who was the first sheikh to sit in front of him. .
Al-Alimi memorized the Qur’an at the age of ten, read it to the Hanafi reciter Alaa al-Din al-Ghazi, excelled in the seven recitations, and completed the Qur’an many times in the principal’s office in Jerusalem.
Sheikh Taqi al-Din al-Qalqashandi used to encourage him to attend the gatherings of Sheikh Muhammad bin Musa al-Ghazi, the sheikh of reciters in Jerusalem, and he benefited from him in reading the Qur’an and heard Sahih al-Bukhari through him.
As for the sciences of jurisprudence (especially the book Al-Muqni’ by Ibn Qudamah and the book Mukhtasar Al-Kharqi by Abu Al-Qasim Omar bin Al-Hussein Al-Kharqi), he studied them with his father, and he also delved into them with others, such as his sheikh Kamal Al-Din bin Abi Al-Sharif, who attended his sessions in Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Saliyah School.
He also studied with Sheikh Abu Al-Asbat Al-Amiri, Ahmed bin Abdul Rahman bin Abi Bakr Al-Amiri Al-Ramli, who worked at the Salihiya School in Jerusalem.
Mujir al-Din studied in Al-Zawiya al-Khatniyya in Al-Quds Al-Sharif under his sheikh, Ibrahim bin Abdul Rahman Al-Saadi Al-Khalili Al-Shafi’i, and with Burhan Al-Din Al-Ansari, known as Ibn Qawqab, a Shafi’i sheikh born in Hebron, from whom he learned the knowledge of hadith and jurisprudence, and obtained a special and general license from him.
Mujir al-Din also accompanied Ahmed bin Muhammad bin Omar al-Amri al-Dimashqi Shihab al-Din Aba al-Abbas, who was born in Jerusalem and ruled there on behalf of Shihab al-Din, the judge of Hebron. Mujir al-Din used to accompany him and attend his sessions and lessons in Al-Aqsa Mosque.
He also studied with the scholar Shams al-Din Abi Musaed al-Shafi’i, who was one of the notables of Jerusalem. He also learned from Sheikh Zain al-Din al-Halabi the hadith of the Prophet, especially Sahih al-Bukhari, and studied Arabic from the Egyptian judge Nour al-Din al-Maliki and taught the obligatory duties, hadith, and arithmetic.
Mujir al-Din moved to Cairo to complete his studies and remained there until 1484 AD. In it, he learned from many sheikhs and scholars, including Badr al-Din al-Saadi, one of the senior Hanbali scholars in Egypt at the time. He was the deputy ruler and the Mufti of the House of Justice, and he stayed with him and took from him the book al-Tashil for the Sciences of Revelation.
He also studied under Al-Qutb Al-Khudayri, the Shafi’i judge in Damascus, and attended the sessions of the historian Al-Sakhawi, one of the leading Egyptian scholars at the time, and Othman bin Muhammad Al-Tabnawi, one of the memorizers of the noble Prophet’s hadith.
Mujir al-Din also learned grammar and jurisprudence from Al-Jalal al-Bakri Abi al-Baqa in the Baybarsian Khanqah, and spent nearly 10 years in Egypt researching and studying the Qur’an, jurisprudence, and hadith.
Jobs and responsibilities
Governor of Ramla District in 1485 AD. He also took over the judiciary of Jerusalem, Hebron, and Nablus, then left Nablus after two years and continued the rest until the days of the Ottoman Empire, exactly in the year 1516 AD. Thus, he took over the judiciary of Jerusalem for 31 continuous years.
Writings and achievements
Mujir al-Din al-Alimi wrote several works on jurisprudence, interpretation, biographies of men, and history. Among his most famous books is “The Great Man in the History of Jerusalem and Hebron,” in which he dealt with the history of the city of Jerusalem from the beginning of creation until 1494 AD. He also dealt with the history of the city of Hebron. This book is considered an important historical document from 1468 to 1494 AD.
Among his other works:
- Two interpretations, the first is Fath al-Rahman with an interpretation of the Qur’an, and the second is the brief interpretation of the Qur’an.
- Al-Ithaf, which is an abbreviation for the Book of Justice.
- Correcting the absolute disagreement in the convincing.
- Media of notables of the Islamic State.
- The Ahmad approach in the biographies of the companions of Imam Ahmad.
- Al-Durr Al-Nadhid among the Companions of Imam Ahmad.
- History considered in news from the past.
- The visitor’s party and the resident’s and the traveler’s parties.
- Al-Badr Al-Munawwar in the biography of King Al-Muzaffar.
There is also a manuscript in the library of Mustafa Pasha in the Süleymaniye Library in Istanbul with the inscription: The History of Jerusalem by Mujir al-Din al-Alimi.
Death
Mujir al-Din al-Alimi died in Jerusalem in 1520 AD and was buried in the Maman Allah cemetery. There is also a shrine for him in the Kidron Valley near the Church of Gethsemane.