Muṣṭafā b. Saʿd al-Ruhaybānī

Muṣṭafā b. Saʿd b. ʿAbduh al-Ḥanbalī, known as al-Suyūṭī, al-Ruhaybānī

Birth and Background

Shaykh Muṣṭafā b. Saʿd b. ʿAbduh al-Ḥanbalī was born in Rabīʿ al-Anwar, 1164 AH (≈ 1751 CE). He is known as al-Ruhaybānī due to his birth in the village of al-Ruhaybah, and as al-Suyūṭī due to his family’s ancestral connection to Asyūṭ in Upper Egypt. He later became known as al-Dimashqī after settling permanently in Damascus.

Such multiple attributions were common among scholars of the Ottoman period, reflecting family movement between Egypt, the Hijaz, and Greater Syria in pursuit of learning, teaching, and religious service.

Early Development and Education

Shaykh al-Ruhaybānī was raised in a household and environment shaped by Ḥanbalī legal scholarship and religious discipline. From an early age, he devoted himself to the study of Islamic law, legal methodology, and applied juristic reasoning, gaining distinction for his precision and clarity.

His education spanned several scholarly centers. He studied under leading scholars of Damascus, while also benefiting from teachers from Egypt, Mecca, Anatolia, and Iraq. This wide exposure grounded him firmly in the transmitted Hanbali tradition while giving him familiarity with broader scholarly discourse across the Ottoman world.

Scholarly Lineage and Transmission

One of Shaykh al-Ruhaybānī’s defining features was his position within a continuous and well-documented chain of Hanbali transmission, particularly the lineage of the Muftis of the Hanbalis in Damascus. The chain recorded in the biographical sources proceeds as follows:

Shaykh Muṣṭafā al-Ruhaybānī learned from Shaykh Aḥmad al-Baʿlī, who learned from Abū al-Mawāhib al-Ḥanbalī, the Mufti of the Hanbalis in Damascus. He learned from his father Shaykh ʿAbd al-Bāqī al-Ḥanbalī, also Mufti of Damascus, who learned from Shaykh Aḥmad b. ʿAlī al-Wafāʾī, Mufti of the Hanbalis in Damascus.

He learned from Qāḍī Burhān al-Dīn Ibrāhīm b. ʿUmar b. Mufliḥ, Mufti of the Hanbalis in Damascus, who learned from his father Najm al-Dīn ʿUmar b. Ibrāhīm b. Mufliḥ, who learned from Qāḍī Burhān al-Dīn Ibrāhīm b. Muḥammad b. ʿAbd Allāh b. Mufliḥ, who learned from his father Sharaf al-Dīn ʿAbd Allāh b. Muḥammad b. Mufliḥ.

He learned from Shihāb al-Dīn Aḥmad b. Taymiyyah, who learned from Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. Aḥmad, known as Fakhr Ibn al-Bukhārī, who learned from Abū ʿAlī Ḥanbal b. ʿAbd Allāh al-Raṣāfī, who learned from Abū al-Qāsim Hibat Allāh b. Muḥammad al-Shaybānī, who learned from Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī b. Muḥammad al-Tamīmī, known as Ibn al-Madhhab.

He learned from Aḥmad b. Jaʿfar al-Qaṭīʿī, who learned from ʿAbd Allāh b. Imām Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal, who learned from his father Imām Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal, who learned from Sufyān b. ʿUyaynah, who learned from ʿAmr b. Dīnār, who learned from ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿAbbās, who learned from the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ, who received revelation from Jibrīl, from the Lord of Might and Majesty.

This chain reflects not only scholarly transmission, but the continuity of doctrine, legal method, and religious authority that defined the Hanbali school across centuries.

Teaching Career and Public Service

After settling in Damascus, Shaykh al-Ruhaybānī became one of the city’s foremost Hanbali authorities. Due to his legal mastery and sound judgment, he was appointed:

• Mufti of the Hanbalis in Damascus in 1212 AH

• Publicly established in that role by 1215 AH

• Supervisor of the Umayyad Mosque in 1222 AH

These positions placed him at the center of Damascus’s religious life, overseeing legal verdicts, guiding worshippers, and safeguarding one of Islam’s most important mosques.

Historical Context

Shaykh al-Ruhaybānī lived during the late Ottoman period, a time marked by political strain, economic pressure, and growing challenges to traditional religious authority. While reformist trends and legal confusion began to emerge in parts of the Muslim world, Damascus remained a strong center of Sunni scholarship, especially for the Hanbali school.

Within this setting, Shaykh al-Ruhaybānī served as a stabilizing figure, preserving legal clarity, transmitted methodology, and scholarly discipline during a time of transition.

Major Works

Shaykh al-Ruhaybānī authored several important works, including:

Maṭālib Ūlī al-Nuhā fī Sharḥ Ghāyat al-Muntahā

• A six-volume commentary on Ghāyat al-Muntahā

• One of the most important late Hanbali legal references

• Known for careful treatment of differing narrations and opinions

Tuḥfat al-ʿIbād fīmā fī al-Yawm wa al-Laylah min al-Awrād

• A devotional work compiled from six foundational sources

Taḥrīrāt wa Fatāwā

• A collection of legal responses and refinements

• Estimated to amount to approximately one volume

Scholarly Standing

Later scholars described him as “the foremost scholar of his time among the learned”, praising his balance of depth, clarity, and adherence to transmitted authority.

Passing and Burial

Shaykh Muṣṭafā al-Ruhaybānī passed away in Damascus at dawn on Friday, the 13th of Rabīʿ al-Thānī, 1243 AH (≈ 1827 CE). He was buried in Marj al-Daḥdāḥ Cemetery, where his grave remains known and visible.

Legacy

Shaykh al-Ruhaybānī stands as one of the final major representatives of classical Hanbali jurisprudence in Damascus before the upheavals of modernity. Through his teaching, legal service, and especially his enduring works, he preserved the coherence and authority of the Hanbali school for generations that followed.

May Allāh have mercy on him and reward him for his service to knowledge and the religion.