Abdurrazzaq al-Mahdi

ِAbu Abdurrahman Abdurrazzaq al-Mahdi

He originates from Damascus’s Al-Salihiyah district and was born in 1961.

He started pursuing Islamic Sciences in 1977 in the al-Fathu’l Islami institution in Damascus, from great scholars of Damascus, most famous among them Abdur Razzaq al-Halabi, the mufti of Hanafis and one who collected mutawatir recitations. He read to him the whole Quran in the narration of Hafs and received an ijazah reaching to the prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. He also studied under Shaykh Adeeb al-Kallas and many other scholars.

The shaykh has a great love for hadith sciences and distinguishing them between sahih (authentic) and da’if (weak) since his commence of seeking knowledge. He studied hadith books and terminologies and has read the classical books, the works of later and contemporary scholars. His most eminent teacher is Shaykh Abdul Qader Arnaout, the hadith scholar of al-Sham. He studied under him Qawaid at-Tahdith by al-Qasimi. Frequenting him, he would sit and benefit from him. Shaykh al-Arnaout would praise him, and his sons are said to have a good relationship with him and recommend people to benefit from him.

When al-Mahdi graduated from the Islamic shar’i college, he started working in verifying religious books (tahqiq). He was appointed as an imam and preacher for several mosques in Damascus and its rural areas. He was coerced to pause preaching and studying more than once due to security reasons.

For a short period of time al-Mahdi had left Syria for Tunisia, were he engaged in preaching and teaching activities. After the commence of jihad in Syria, he returned to his country to support the mujahidin in their uprising. He responds to the question fighters and ordinary civilians, delivers sermons of advice and incitement to the mujahidin and locals and provides Shariah lessons. The shaykh intermittently hosts a program answering questions concerning Islamic rulings called “Fatawa min ardi al-Sham“.

Activities of the Abdul Razzaq al-Mahdi in revising books were concentrated on the subject of Hadith, particularly the fields of Takhrij (researching variants of the hadith), Tashih (authentifying hadiths) and Tadyif (classifying to be “weak”).

Tafsir

• Tafsiru’l Qurani’l Azim by Ibn Kathir, 5 volumes
• Tafsiru’l Qurtubi, al-Jami’ li’l-Ahkami’l Quran, 10 volumes
• Tafsiru’sh Shawkani, Fathu’l Qadir; 5 volumes
• Ahkamu’l Quran by Ibn al-Arabi; 4 volumes
• Tafsiru’l Baghawi; 5 volumes
• Tafsiru’l Kashaf by Zamahshari; 5 volumes, including an Appendix
• al-Bahru’l Muhit by Abu Hayyan; 8 volumes
• at-Tashīl by Ibn Juzayy; 2 volumes
• Adwau’l Bayan by al Shanqiti
• Fathul Bayan by Sadiq Hasan Khan

Islamic sciences

• at-Tamhid by Ibn Abdilbarr
• Fathul Qadir by Ibn Humām; 5 volumes [Hanafi fiqh]
• al-Lubāb; 3 volumes [Hanafi fiqh]
• al-Uddah Sharhul ‘Umdah
• ar-Rawdul Murabba’
• Bidāyatul Mujtahid by Ibn Rushd (Averroes)
• al-I’tisam by al-Shātibi
• Fathul Majid
• Shariah by Ajuri
• Tarikhul Madina by Ibn an-Najjar
• Zadul Ma’ad by Ibn Qayyim
• Talbisu Iblis by Ibn Jawzi
• Mukthasar Zadul Ma’ād and Mukhtasar as-Sīrah by Muhammad ibn Abdulwahhab

Miscellaneous

• Kitabu’l Adhkar by an-Nawawī
• ar-Rihlatu fi talabil hadith by al-Khatīb al-Baghdadi
• al-Khatim by al-Bayhaqī with an introduction
• Muwatta; 4 volumes revision with a lengthy and detailed takhrij of the hadiths, especially those concerning balaaghah, mursal ones and mawqufhadiths considered marfu’ along with a beneficent commentary. It has not been printed later.

 

adopted from the Wikipedia article to which I had contributed this part

Abdullah al-Muhaysini

He was born in the city of Buraidah, al-Qasim, to a known religious family. Attending elementary school here, he continued secondary school and college in Mecca, where he also graduated from the University of Umm al-Qura in the field of Islamic Jurisprudence. Later he studied Comparative Jurisprudence in the Al-Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh, writing a master treatise on the rule of war refugees according to Islam.

Muhaysini is married and has children.

His father Muhammad ibn Sulayman al-Mohaisany is a known Quran reciter and has served as the imam and preacher of a local mosque in Mecca. He has at least once been arrested by government authorities for his public prayers.

Abdullah al-Muhaysini arrived in Syria in 2013 after his uncle Omar Al-Muhaysini had previously been martyred there fighting the Syrian Arab Army. In an interview with IZRS he stated that his intention when departing towards Syria had been to resolve the internal conflicts between Syrian Opposition factions.

Since his arrival in Syria, Muhaysini actively served as a preacher and judge, delivering sermons in local mosques, issuing religious verdicts and counseling Islamic groups. In addition he has appeared on the front lines for a couple of time, inciting Syrian Opposition fighters and raising their morale. After the conquest of Idlib in 2015, he served as the official judge of the Army of Conquest for Idlib city. Working independently Muhaysini has good ties to a great range of Islamic factions in Syria, which enables him to intervene in conflicts and settle on resolutions.

 

adopted from the Wikipedia article to which I had contributed this part