Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn ‘Abd al-Raḥmān al-Sakhāwī (Arabic: شمس الدين محمد بن عبدالرحمن السخاوي, 1428/831 AH – 1497/902 AH) was a reputable Shafi‘i Muslim hadith scholar and historian who was born in Cairo.
Al-Sakhawi refers to the village of Sakha in Egypt, where his relatives belonged.
He was a prolific writer that excelled in the knowledge of hadith, tafsir, literature, and history.
For example, in Egypt he recorded the marital history of 500 women, the largest sample on marriage in the Middle Ages, and found that at least a third of all women in the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt and the Bilad al-Sham married more than once, with many marrying three or more times.
[3] His proficiency in hadith has its influences trace back heavily on his Shaykh al-Hafiz, ibn Hajar al-`Asqalani.