Background
Tāj al-Dīn al-Subkī was born in Cairo in 727/1327 or 728/1328. He was first educated by his father, the celebrated scholar Taqi al-Din al-Subki.
Tāj al-Dīn al-Subkī was born in Cairo in 727/1327 or 728/1328. He was first educated by his father, the celebrated scholar Taqi al-Din al-Subki.
Here he studied under some of the leading scholars of his day such as the historian Dhahabi and the jurist Ibn al-Naqīb.
He was an expert on hadith and fiqh (jurisprudence) as well as a historian. When he was 11 years old he moved with his family to Damascus and it was principally in the Syrian capital that al-Subkī received his education. At the age of 18, he started teaching and in his late twenties he began to assist his father as chief judge of Damascus.
Soon after, he was formally authorised to take his father's position and for the rest of his life, he served as chief judge in the Syrian capital. He also held positions as Professor, Mufti, and Qadi, in Damascus and Cairo, where he was Khatib of the Umayyad Mosque. He died in 771/1370 at 44 years of age.