Imam As-Suyuti

Imam as-Suyuti: The Facts in Eight Lines

• Full name: Jalal ad-Din Abderrahman ibn Abi Bakr ibn Muhammad al-Khuwayri as-Suyuti (جلال الدين السيوطي). The name comes from Asyut, in Upper Egypt, where his family was from.
• Birth: On the evening of Sunday, the 1st of Rajab 849 AH, corresponding to October 1445, in Cairo.
• Childhood: He lost his father at the age of six. He memorized the Quran before the age of eight, followed by several foundational texts on grammar, fiqh, and Islamic principles.
• Education: He studied under one teacher at a time until that teacher’s death. His primary teacher was Muhyi ad-Din al-Kafiji, with whom he studied for fourteen years.
• Early Writings: He began writing around the age of seventeen and never stopped.
• Retirement: Around the age of forty, he withdrew from public teaching and official duties, refused the favors of the sultans, and devoted himself to writing in his home on the island of Rawda.
• Works: According to bibliographers, he produced approximately six hundred titles, ranging from major multi-volume works to epistles of just a few pages.
• Death: on the 19th of Jumada al-Ula 911, corresponding to October 17, 1505, in Cairo, at the age of sixty-one.

Six hundred titles, and what that means for you

This figure is the first thing one remembers about him, and it deserves our attention—not to admire it, but to understand what it implies when we buy his books.

As-Suyuti lived under thirteen Mamluk sultans, in a Cairo that was then a refuge for scholars and the center of literary production in the Muslim world. He had access to libraries, manuscripts, and scribes. His method consisted less in producing something new than in gathering, organizing, and summarizing what already existed: one bibliographer describes him as the author of nearly six hundred works, including the “Great Book” and the “Short Epistle.”

This last point is crucial. A considerable portion of these six hundred titles are brief treatises—sometimes ten or twenty pages long—devoted to a single topic. They were printed separately, each with its own cover, and sold as books. A buyer who does not check the page count may receive a booklet priced like a full-length volume and assume there is an error. This is not an error; it is the nature of the work.

Our rule is simple: on each product page for an as-Suyuti title, the actual page count is clearly displayed. A thirty-page text is a thirty-page text, and you know this before you order.

The Jalalayn is a collaborative work

His most widely circulated work is not entirely his own, and this is stated in the title.

Jalal ad-Din al-Mahalli, another scholar from Cairo, had undertaken a very concise commentary on the Quran. He had completed the second half—from Surah al-Kahf to the end, plus the Fatiha—when he died in 864. As-Suyuti, then in his twenties, composed the first half in the same style, and the work was compiled under the names of the two Jalals: تفسير الجلالين.

The result is the shortest tafsir in existence, often barely longer than the Qur’anic text itself. It does not discuss, compare, or quote: it provides word-for-word commentary in the margins. This is what led to its being printed in the margins of millions of mushafs and adopted in curricula around the world as the first commentary to be studied. And it is also what makes it insufficient on its own: it explains what a word means, not why or according to whom.

His Works

تفسير الجلالين

The concise commentary on the Qur’an, completed by as-Suyuti based on the work of al-Mahalli. Compact format, often printed in the margins of the mushaf. The first tafsir in all curricula.

الدر المنثور في التفسير بالمأثور

His major tafsir based on transmitted traditions, in several volumes: for each verse, it compiles the reported sayings of the Prophet ﷺ, the Companions, and their successors, without adding any personal opinion. A reference work, not intended for continuous reading.

Al-Itiqan fi ‘Ulum al-Qur’an

His comprehensive treatise on the sciences of the Qur’an, conceived as an introduction to a tafsir he did not complete. Five centuries later, it remains the standard work in the field.

Al-Jami’ al-Saghir

His collection of brief hadiths arranged in alphabetical order by the first word, with sources cited. It was on this collection that Sheikh al-Albani based his two-volume classification, one for accepted hadiths and the other for rejected ones.

Tadrib al-Rawi

His commentary on Imam an-Nawawi’s *Taqrib* in the science of hadith. One of the most widely studied textbooks on terminology.

تاريخ الخلفاء

His history of the caliphs, from the early successors to his own time. A narrative work, more accessible than his technical treatises.

Hasan al-Mahadara fi Akhbar Misr wa al-Qahira

His history of Egypt and Cairo, in which he also provides insights into his own life and work.

Al-Ashbah wa al-Nazair

His treatise on legal maxims of the Shafi'i school. A reference text for those studying this branch of fiqh.

Al-Hawi li-l-Fatāwa

A two-volume collection of his legal rulings and letters addressing various issues.

In addition, there are dozens of works on language and grammar, including *Al-Muzhir* and his didactic poems, biographical collections, and hundreds of short epistles on specific topics.

What one reads in his works, and what one seeks there

Here is a distinction that will help you avoid a bad purchase.

As-Suyuti is, above all, a compiler. His strength lies not in personal opinion but in compilation: he read what no one else had gathered, and he organized it. Therefore, one does not read him to find out what he thinks; one consults him to find out where something is located. The Durr al-Manthūr, the Jāmi‘ al-Saghir, and the Itqān are research tools. They are of immense service to those who know how to use them, but remain silent to those who open them expecting a lecture.

A few of his works are exceptions to this rule. His history of the caliphs reads like a narrative. His short epistles address a single issue from beginning to end. And the Jalalayn is read—but with the Quran open beside it, not on its own.

Buy Imam as-Suyuti’s books in Arabic

All books sold by My Maktaba are in Arabic, in their original editions, and all are brand new. For this author, two pieces of information are key to making a purchase decision and are listed on each product page: the actual page count—to distinguish an epistle from a treatise—and the number of volumes.

For a first read, start with *Tarikh al-Khulafa’*. It’s a narrative text, organized by reign, written in a simpler, chronicle-style language than that of the treatises. The *Jalalayn* should come next, to accompany your reading of the Quran, one or two verses at a time. The major reference works, *Durr al-Manthūr* and *Itqān*, are library-level purchases best reserved for when you actually need them.