Al-Leith ibn Sa'd

Born to an Egyptian family of Persian descent in Qalqashanda, Al-Leith ibn Sa'd studied in Medina before establishing the premier school of legal thought in Fustat. Imam al-Shafi'i famously remarked: 'Al-Leith was a greater jurist than Malik, but his disciples did not preserve his school.'

As the wealthiest merchant in Egypt, he possessed immense income from agriculture and Nile trade, yet never paid the annual zakat because he gave away his entire wealth every year to widows, students, and traveling scholars. His domed shrine in the Qarafa of Cairo remains a site of perpetual veneration.