Ali al-Qari

Nur al-Din Ali ibn Sultan Muhammad al-Qari al-Harawi, usually called Ali al-Qari ("the reciter") or Mulla Ali al-Qari, was a Sunni scholar of the Hanafi madhhab (one of the four main schools of Islamic law). His epithet al-Harawi marks his origin in Herat, in present-day western Afghanistan, where he received his early education. His birth year is not securely recorded in the sources, so he is placed only in the sixteenth century.

He later emigrated to Mecca, the centre of pilgrimage in the Hijaz, where he spent the rest of his life teaching and writing. Biographical tradition names several of his Meccan teachers, among them the noted jurist Ibn Hajar al-Haytami. He earned his living, it is reported, by copying out the Qur'an by hand and selling the copies — a trade fitting his name as a qari, a specialist in Qur'anic recitation (tajwid).

Al-Qari became one of the most prolific authors of his age, credited with works across hadith, law, creed, Qur'anic commentary, and tasawwuf (Sufism, Islamic mysticism). His best-known book is Mirqat al-Mafatih, a large commentary on the Mishkat al-Masabih, a widely used hadith collection; he also wrote a commentary on the creedal text al-Fiqh al-Akbar attributed to Abu Hanifa. In theology he is generally classed with the Maturidi school. He died in Mecca in 1014 AH (1605/06 CE) and was buried there.