Abū ‘Abd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Shihāb ad-Dīn Jalāl ad-Dīn al-Maḥallī (Arabic: جلال الدين أبو عبد الله محمد بن شهاب الدين أحمد بن كمال الدين محمد بن إبراهيم بن أحمد بن هاشم العباسي الأنصاري المحلّي; c. 1389–1459 CE); aka was an Egyptian renowned mufassir and a leading specialist in the principles of the law in Shafi'i jurisprudence. He authored numerous and lengthy works on various branches of Islamic Studies, among which the most important two are Tafsir al-Jalalayn and Kanz al-Raghibin, an explanation of Al-Nawawi's Minhaj al-Talibin, a classical manual on Islamic Law according to Shafi'i fiqh.

His Tafsir Tafsir al-Jalalayn is considered one of the most famous and popular interpretations of the Qur'an. The mission of preparing the Tafsir was initiated by Jalal ad-Din al-Maḥalli in 1459 and completed after his death by his pupil Jalal ad-Din as-Suyuti in 1505, thus its name, which means "Tafsir of the two Jalals". It is recognised as one of the most popular exegeses of the Qur'an today, due to its simple style and its conciseness, as it is only one volume in length. The work has been translated into many languages including English, French, Bengali, Urdu, Persian, Malay/Indonesian, Turkish, and Japanese. There are two English translations.

Biography

Al-Maḥallī was born in Cairo, 791AH (1389 CE), in the month Shawwal according to his own notes. His attribution “al-Maḥallī” refers to al-Maḥallah al-Kubrá in the province of al-Gharbiyyah, Egypt. He was also named the Al-Taftazani of the Arabs according to Ibn al-Imad al-Hanbali, most likely due to Al-Maḥallī's mastery of many different sciences, concise scholarly works, and exceptional intelligence. He grew up in Cairo and excelled in the different Islamic sciences, learning from scholars. While teaching at al-Barqūqiyyah and al-Muʾayyadiyyah, he was offered a position as Chief Judge, but he declined it to continue teaching.

More specifically, he studied fiqh, uṣūl, and naḥw with al-Shams al-Barmawī. He also studied fiqh under al-Bayjūrī, al-Jalāl al-Bulqīnī, and al-Walī al-ʿIrāqī.

He learned uṣūl with al-ʿIzz b. Jamāʿah, and further studied Arabic grammar with his teachers al-Shihāb al-ʿajīmī and al-Shams al-Shaṭnūfī.

He studied inheritence law and arithmetic with Nāṣir al-Dīn b. Anas al-Miṣrī al-Ḥanafī.

He closely accompanied al-Basāṭī and studied Quranic exegesis (tafsīr) and Islamic theology (uṣūl al-dīn), and greatly benefited from his company.

He studied with many numerous other scholars at the time, in the fields of ḥadīth, logic, dialectics, rhetoric, and prose, among other things. He also attended the lessons of Niẓam al-Ṣayramī, al-Majd al-Barmawī, Aḥmad al-Maghrāwī, al-Walī al-ʿIrāqī, and took aḥadīth from al-Sharaf b. al-Kuwayk, Ibn al-Jazari, and more.

It was commonly said about him that his intellect could pierce rock from how sharp it was, to the point he himself would say "my understanding can accept no fallacies" . In the same vein, he was unable to memorize large amounts of text. He had once tried to memorize a few excerpts from a few books, and then he was over taken by an intense fever.

Al-Maḥallī passed away on the 1st of Muharram 864AH (28 October 1459 CE), reaching the age of 70.