The biography of al-ʿallāmah al-ʿAshmāwī author of al-Muqaddimah al-ʿAshmāwiyyah Compiled by H. Verstaen He is the ʿallāmah, the imam, the faqīh (jurist), the zāhid (ascete), the expert, the shaykh ʿAbd al- Barī b. Ahmad b. ʿAbd al-Ghanī b. ʿAtīq ibn al-Shaykh Saʿīd ibn al-Shaykh H asan Abu al-Naja al- ʿAshmawī al-Qahirī al-Rifaʿī al-Azharī al-Malikī (al-Misrī). Al-ḥāfiẓ, the historian, al-Sakhawī 1 mentioned his name and lineage like this in his book al-Ḍaw al-Lāmʿi 2 and he commented on that with his saying: “And he is from those who heard from me in Cairo.” Al-ʿallamah al-Saftī 3 said: al-ʿAshmawī refers to a village with the name ʿAshma from the governate (aʿmāl) of al-Manu fiyyah of the Egyptian society. It is very fertile. And it was said that some of the Companions supplicated for it with barakah. And his saying “al-Rifaʿī” refers to Shaykh Ahmad b. al-Rifaʿī Abu al-ʿAbbas, one of the poles of taṣawwuf, who passed away in 578 AH. 4 The historian Fu’ad Sarkīs 5 mentioned him and said: Shaykh ʿAbd al-Barī al-Rifaʿī al-ʿAshmawī, he was from the sons of the 10 th century. 6 This was mentioned by the author 7 of al-Khaṭaṭ al- Jadīdah (14/51) 8 , (but) his biography didn’t help/benefit at all. Al-ʿAshmāwiyyah is his (work) and it is an introduction to the acts of worship according to the school (madhhab) of Malik. 9 1 The well-known Egyptan muḥaddith and Shāfʿī scholar. He studied with Ibn Hajr al-ʿAsqalānī (d. 852 AH). He passed away in 902 AH/1496 CE. 2 This is a book (full ttle: al-Ḍaw al-Lāmʿi li Ahl al-Qarn al-Tāsʿi) with biographies of the famous men in his tme, the ninth-century Hijri. It was published. 3 He passed away in 1294 AH. His name was Yūsuf b. Ismāʿīl b. Saʿīd and he was a Mālikī scholar. He wrote a ḥāshiyah, a super-commentary on al-ʿAshmāwiyyah. 4 It means he was a Rifāʿī by ṭarīqah in taṣawwuf. 5 I think this is a mistake and that the one who compiled this biography mixed up this name with the well- known scholar Fu’ād Sezgin. The mix-up is with the scholar called Yūsuf Sarkīs, who wrote Muʿjam al-Maṭbūʿāt al-ʿArabiyyah wa al-Muʿribah. 6 It was also said he was from the eleventh century Hijrī (See the editon of the text by shaykh Maḥmud ʿAbd al- Rāziq Muḥammad al-Mālikī, published by Dār ul-Ṣāliḥ, Cairo 2020). 7 In Arabic it actually says ‘ṣāḥib’, which means companion, and possessor among other meanings. 8 This is a reference to the historical work on Egypt al-Khaṭaṭ al-Tawfqiyyah al-Jadīdah (5 vols.) by ʿAlī Mubārak. 9 For a beautful manuscript of the text, see here: htps://open.bu.edu/handle/2144/38991