Dr. al-Sayyad Muhammad

by Sheikh Fakhruddīn Owaisi al-Madani

Al-Sayyad Muhammad bin Alawi al-Maliki was without doubt one of the foremost traditional Islamic scholars of contemporary times, and among the most respected and loved scholars of the holy city of Makkah.

He was descendant of the Prophet, he was the Imam of Hadīth in our age, an authority of the madhāhib, a spiritual leader of the highest calibre, dā’ī to Allah, and unparalleled in his standing in the world of traditional Islamic scholarship.

Family:

The Maliki family has been one of the most respected families in Makkah and has produced great scholars, who have taught in the Haram of Makkah for centuries.His grandfather, al-Sayyid ‘Abbās al-Maliki was the Mufti and Qadi of Makkah and the Imām and Khatīb of the Haram.

Education & Travels:

Al-Sayyid Muhammad al-Hasan bin Alawi bin Abbas bin Abd-al-Aziz, was born in 1946, in the holy city of Makkah, in the famous al-Maliki al-Hasani sayyid family of traditional Ulama.  His father was his first and primary teacher with whom he also studied and mastered the various traditional Islamic sciences of Aqidah, Tafsir, Hadith, Fiqh, Usul, Mustalah, Nahw… at the hands of other great scholars of Makkah, as well as Madinah, all of whom granted him full ijāzah.
After finishing his traditional education in his hometown of Makkah, he studied at the esteemed al-Azhar University of Egypt where received his Ph.D. from the at the age of 25, making him the first and youngest Saudi to earn a Ph.D. from the Azhar. His thesis on Hadīth was rated excellent and highly praised by the eminent scholars of the al-Azhar at that time, such as Imam Abu-Zahrah.  He traveled extensively in North Africa, Egypt, Syria, Turkey, and the Indo-Pak sub-continent to learn from great scholars, meet the Friends of Allah, visit the mosques and institutions, and collect manuscripts and books.

Ijāzah’s:

The Shaykhs who granted the Sayyid their respective Ijazahs were great savants from all over the Islamic world. We would like to mention only a few here:

From Makkah:

Shaykh Muhammad Yahya Aman al-Makki, Shaykh Hasan Sa‘id al-Yamani, Al-Sayyid Muhammad Amin Kutbi,  Habib Hasan bin Muhammad Fad‘aq, Habib Abd-al-Qadir bin ‘Aydarus al-Bar
From Madinah:

Shaykh Hasan al-Sha‘ir, Shaykh al-Qurra al-Madani, Shaykh Diya-al-Din Ahmad al-Qadiri, ShaykhMuhammad al-Mustafa al-Alawi al-Shinqiti,  Shaykh Diya-al-Din Ahmad al Qadiri, Shaykh Ibrahim al-Khatani al-Bukhari,  Shaykh Abd-al-Ghafur al-Abbasi al Naqshbandi

From Hadramawt and Yemen:

Al-Habib Umar bin Ahmad bin Sumayt the Grand Imam of Hadramawt,  Shaykh al-Sayyid Muhammad Zabarah the Mufti of Yemen,  Shaykh al-Sayyid Ibrahim bin Aqeel al-Ba-Alawi the Mufti of Ta‘iz, Al-Imam al-Sayyid Ali bin Abd-al-Rahman al-Hibshi, Al-Habib Abd-Allah bin Alawi al-Attas, Al-Habib Ahmad Mashhur al-Haddad, Al-Habib Abd-al-Qadir al-Saqqaf
From Syria:

Shaykh Abu-al-Yasar ibn Abidin, Mufti of Syria, Shaykh Hasan Habannakah al Maydani, Shaykh al-Sayyid al-Sharif Muhammad al-Makki al-Kattani, Shaykh Muhammad Sa‘id al-Rifa‘i

FromEgypt:

Shaykh al-Sayyid Muhammad al-Hafiz al-Tijani, Imam of Hadith in Egypt, Shaykh Hasanayn Muhammad Makhluf, Mufti of Egypt, Shaykh Salih al-Ja‘fari, Imam of the Azhar, Shaykh Amin Mahmud Khattab al-Subki, Shaykh Dr.Abd-al-Halim Mahmud, Rector of al-Azhar
From Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Tunisia and Sudan:

Shaykh al-Sayyid Abd-Allah bin al-Siddiq al-Ghimari, Imam of Hadith, Al-Sharif Idris al-Sanusi of Libya, Shaykh al-Tayyib al-Muhaji al-Jaza’iri, Shaykh al-Faruqi al-Rahhali al-Marrakashi
From the Indo-Pak subcontinent:

Shaykh Abu-al-Wafa al-Afghani al-Hanafi, Shaykh Abd-al-Mu‘id Khan Hyderabadi, al-Imam al’Arif Billah Mustafa Rida Khan al-Barelawi,  Mufti Muhammad Shafi’ al-Deobandi the Mufti of Pakistan, Mawlana Muhammad Zakariyyah al-Kandahlawi the Imam of Hadith, Sayyid Abu-al-Hasan Ali al-Nadawi
These were only the most famous of the scholars from whom our Shaykh has obtained ijāzahs as there are many others. In al-Sayyad Muhammad ‘Alawi, one would find the best of all these shaykhs from various backgrounds and inclinations.

Teaching

After returning from the Azhar however, the sayyad was appointed professor of Islamic studies at the Umm al-Qura University in Makkah, where he taught from 1970. In 1971, after his father’s death, the scholars of Makkah asked him to accept his father’s position as a teacher in the Haram, which he did. Thus, he sat on the Chair from which his family had taught for more than a century. He also taught in the Haram of Madinah occasionally. His lessons were often the largest attended lessons in the haramayn.

Thousands of students have benefited from his wisdom and many have become savants of Islamic knowledge and spirituality in their countries, particularly Indonesia, Pakistan, India, Malaysia, Egypt, Yemen, South Africa and Dubai.

His Writings:

The Sayyid was a prolific writer and has produced close to a hundred books. He has written on a variety of religious, legal, social and historical topics; including comprehensive works on ‘Aqidah, Tafsir, Hadith, Sirah, Usul, Fiqh, Tasawwuf and numerous miscellaneous works:

Fi Rihab al-Bayt al-Haram (History of Makkah), Al-Mustashriqun Bayn al-Insaf wa al-‘Asabiyyah (Study of Orientalism), Nazrat al-Islam ilā al-Riyādah (Sports in Islam),

Al-Qudwah al-Hasanah fi Manhaj al-Da‘wah ila Allah (Methodology of Da’wah), Mā Lā‘Aynun Ra’at (Description of Paradise),  Nizām al-Usrah fi al-Islam (Family in Islam),  Al-Muslimūn Bayn al-Wāqi‘ wa al-Tajribah (Contemporary Muslim World). Some of the Sayyad’s works have been translated into foreign languages, including English.

Institutions:

The Sayyad was also a keen propagator of true Islamic guidance and spirituality and has traveled all over Asia, Africa, Europe and America calling people to heed to the Words of Allah and His final Messenger (pbuh) In Southeast Asia especially, the Sayyad personally established and runs more than 70 Islamic institutions.

The Sayyad was also a proponent of true Shari‘ah-based Sufism, the tasawwuf of the great awliyā /saints of this ummah. He himself was a spiritual master of the highest calibre, linked to most of the great Spiritual Orders of Islam, through great shaykhs of the tariqahs / spiritual pathways.
He believed that reciting dhikr, alone and in congregation, is an integral part of a Muslim’s spiritual well-being. All his students are required to pray Tahajjud and read morning and evening awrād.
Finally, the Sayyad believed that Muslims must use their resources to uplift the state of the ummah, spiritual, socially and materially, and not waste their precious time in fighting over petty issues. He believed Muslims should not condemn each other on matters that have been differed upon by the ‘ulamā, and encouraged that they rather join hands on that which is agreed upon in combating be evil and corruption.

His Passing:

The Sayyad passed away at the age of 60, on Friday the 15th of Ramadān (as he had wished for dying in Ramadān) 2004, in a state of fasting in his house in Makkah. More than a quarter million people attended his funeral. The Sayyad was buried next to his Father, near the grave of his ancestor Sayyidah Khadījah at the Muala cemetery in Makkah.
Mahmoud Ahmad of Arab News wrote as part of his tribute to the great Shaykh:

“This late scholar had wide knowledge and was magnanimous, large-hearted and frank in presenting his views. He stood for truth without caring for criticism. He objected strongly when people, believing in fantasy, thought that they could defeat him through argument and curb his influence. I have seen him on many occasions, exuding confidence, never raising his voice. He left the hypocrites shivering with the clarity of his arguments and he silenced the sycophants with his humility.”