Imam Zakariyya al-Ansari زكريا بن محمد الأنصاري

Imam Zakariyya ibn Muhammad al-Ansari rahimahullah (823-926 AH / 1420-1520 CE) was the pre-eminent Shafi'i jurist of late Mamluk Egypt and served as chief mufti of the Shafi'i school in his era. He studied the science of hadith under the hafiz Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani and studied fiqh under al-Mahalli, reaching the highest levels in both disciplines. He composed standard reference works across the Shafi'i curriculum, including the Manhaj al-Tullab, the Sharh al-Bahja al-Wardiyya, and the celebrated Asna al-Matalib. Among his other major works are Fath al-Allam Sharh al-Ilam bi-Ahadith al-Ahkam, a commentary on hadith of legal rulings organized according to the chapters of Shafi'i fiqh, and Fath al-Rahman bi-Kashf ma Yaltabis fi al-Qur'an. He also wrote a commentary on the Risala fi't-Tawhid of Wali Raslan ad-Dimashqi. He lived to an extraordinarily advanced age.