Shihab al-Din al-Qarafi
Shihāb al-Dīn Abu ’l-Abbās Aḥmad ibn Abi ’l-ʿAlāʾ Idrīs ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Yallīn al-Ṣanhājī al-Ṣaʿīdī al-Bahfashīmī al-Būshī al-Bahnasī al-Miṣrī al-Mālikī () (also known as simply known as Shihāb al-Dīn al-Qarāfī or al-Qarāfī, 1228–1285), was a Maliki jurist and legal theoretician of Sanhaja Berber origin who lived in Ayyubid and Mamluk Egypt. Biography. He was born in Bahfashīm, a village in the province of Bahnasa in 1228. This village belonged to the district of Būsh, a town just a few  miles to the north of Beni Suef. He apparently grew up in al-Qarafa in Old Cairo, whence his sobriquet of al-Qarafi. Of Berber origin, from the Sanhaja tribe. He is considered by many to be the greatest Maliki legal theoretician of the 13th century; his writings and influence on Islamic legal theory ("uṣūl al-fiqh") spread throughout the Muslim world. His insistence on the limits of law underscores the importance of non-legal (not to be confused with illegal) considerations in determining the proper course of action, with significant implications for legal reform in the modern Islamic world . His views on the common good ("maslahah") and custom provide means to accommodate the space-time differential between modern and premodern realities. Works. The most important of his many works are "Al-dhakhirah" (The Stored Treasure), "Al-furuq" (Differences), "Nafais al usul" (Gems of Legal Theory), and "Kitab al-ihkam fi tamyiz al-fatawa an al-ahkam wa tasarrufat al-qadi wal-imam" (The Book of Perfecting the Distinction Between Legal Opinions, Judicial Decisions, and the Discretionary Actions of the Judge and the Caliph). His work "Al-dhakhirah" is one of the most important works in the Maliki madhhab, spanning  several volumes, where the imam explains fiqh with evidences from usul al-fiqh in detail and has a strong personality in the way he presents the school.