Jalaluddin Al-Suyuti (Arabic: جلال الدين السيوطي‎) (c. 1445–1505 AD) also known as Ibn al-Kutub (son of books) was an Egyptian writer, religious scholar, juristic expert and teacher whose works deal with a wide variety of subjects in Islamic theology. He was precocious and was already a teacher in 1462. In 1486, he was appointed to a chair in the mosque of Baybars in Cairo. He adhered to the Shafi'i Madhab and is one of the latter-day authorities of the Shafi'i School, considered to be one of the Ashabun-Nazzar (Assessors) whose degree of Ijtihad is agreed upon.

Biography[link]

Name, lineage and birth[link]

His full name was Abu al-Fadl 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Bakr, Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti. Al-Suyuti is an ascription to a town in Upper Egypt called Asyut. One of his grandfathers built a school there and donated money to it. His father, Al-Kamaal, was born there in Asyut, so that is why Jalàl al-Din ascribes himself to that town. Both his grandfathers were men of leadership and prestige and his father was a Jurist of the Shafi'i Madhhab, as Al-Suyuti stated in Husn-ul-Muhaadarah. When his father died, Al-Kamaal Ibn Al-Hamaam, a Hanafi jurist, was one of the people that his father left Al-Suyuti entrusted to.

He was born in the month of Rajab 849H [1445 AD] in Cairo (Egypt), and was raised as an orphan after his father died while he was only 5 years old. He memorized the entire Qur'an when he was barely eight. Then he went on to memorize Al-Umdah and Minhaaj Al-Fiqh wal-Usool and Alfiyyah Ibn Malik. He began to engross himself in religious knowledge starting from 864H, at the age of 15.

Education[link]

He took knowledge of Fiqh and Arabic grammar from a large number of teachers. He studied the laws of inheritance at the hands of the great scholar, who was the most knowledgeable in this subject during his time, Shaikh Shihaab-ud-Deen Al-Shaar Masaahee, who lived to a very old age. He studied his explanation of Al-Majmoo under him.

He accompanied 'Ilm al-Din al-Balqini studying Fiqh under him until he died. Ilm-ud-Deen Al-Balqeenee, authorized him to teach and give fatwa in 876H. Likewise, he accompanied Shaikh Sharaf-ud-Deen Al-Manaawee and benefited from him in the fields of Fiqh and Tafsir.

Al-Suyuti moved on to study under Al-Manawee after the death of Ilm-ud-Deen Al-Balqeenee in 878H. Ironically, Sharaf Al-Deen Al-Manaawee was the grandfather of Abdur-Ra'oof Al-Manaawee, the scholar who wrote the work Faid-ul-Qadeer, which was an explanation of As-Suyuti's Al-Jaami'-us-Sagheer.

He studied the sciences of Hadith and the Arabic language under the Imam, Taqee-ud-Deen Al-Shumnee Al-Hanafi, who wrote some eulogies for him. He also attended the gatherings of the great scholar, Al-Kaafeejee, for the length of fourteen years and learned from him the subjects of Tafsir, Usul al-fiqh, and Ma'aanee. And he received ijazah, religious authorization, from him. He also benefited from the classes of Saif-ud-Deen Al-Hanafi on Tafsir and Balaghah, eloquence.

The number of teachers from whom he received ijazah, religious authorization, studied under and heard from reaches one hundred and fifty shaykhs, as has been compiled by both himself and his student after him, Al-Dawudi, who arranged them in alphabetical order.

In his book Husn-ul-Muhaadarah, Al-Suyuti gives the number of teachers who narrated to him from those he heard from and those who gave him the ijazah, saying: "As for my teachers who narrated to me, whom I heard from and who gave me the religious authorization, ijazah, then they are many. I have mentioned them in the lexicon I have compiled about them, and I counted them to number about 150."

As-Suyuti traveled to Sham, Hijaz, Yemen, India and Morocco, and settled down towards the end of his life in his homeland of Egypt.

Death[link]

Al-Suyuti withdrew from the people and remained in his house, busying himself with knowledge, research and writing until he caught a sickness that lasted for seven days, ending in his death. This happened in Jumada al-awwal, 911 AH.

Career[link]

Al-Suyuti held various positions in his lifetime such as that of teacher of the Arabic language in 866H, he was authorized to give fatwa in 876H and he taught and dictated hadith at the University of Ibn Tuloon.

He was a prolific writer, and a well-known author of the latter times. He has left behind at least a book in every branch of Islamic science that include both short monographs of few pages and tomes spanning volumes. Some of his books are also first of their kind – and standards for those that were written after. Many of his books are published; they are easily and widely available.

The first book he wrote was Sharh Al-Isti'aadha wal-Basmalah in 866H, when he was seventeen years old.

Ibn Ímād writes: "Most of his works become world famous right in his lifetime. His ability to write was phenomenal. His student Dawudi says: "I was with the Shaykh Suyuti once, and he wrote three volumes on that day. He used to dictate annotations on ĥadīth, and answer my objections at the same time. He was the most knowledgeable scholar in his time of the ĥadīth and associated sciences, knowledge of the narrators including the uncommon ones, the text of the hadith matn, its chain of narrators isnad, the derivation of ruling from hadith. He has himself told me, that he had memorized Two Hundred Thousand hadith."[23]

Students[link]

The most famous of Al-Suyuti's students and it is possible to say the most outstanding student of As-Suyuti was the Imam, the historian, Al-Dawudi (died 945H) – author of the book Tabaqaat Al-Mufassireen and other works. Then there was his other student, the famous historian, Ibn Iyaas, author of the book Badaa'i-uz-Zuhoor (died 930H).

Some other of his students were the Imam, the Haafidh Ibn Tuloon Al-Hanafi (died 935H), author of the three Fahaaris, indexes as well as many other works and the Imam Al-Shi'raanee, author of the book Al-Tabaqaat (died 973H).

Works[link]

His books and treatises have been counted to number almost 500 works altogether. Suyuti listed 283 of his own works in Husn al-Muhađarah. Some of the more famous works he produced were:

• Tafsir al-Jalalayn (Arabic:تفسير الجلالين)
• Al-Jaami' al-Kabîr (Arabic: الجامع الكبير)
• Al-Jaami' al-Saghîr (Arabic: الجامع الصغير)
• Dur al-Manthur (Arabic: درالمنثور) in tafsir
• Alfiyyah al-Hadith ^[1]
• Tadrib al-Rawi (Arabic: تدريب الراوي) both in hadith terminology
• History of the Caliphs (Arabic:Tarikh al-khulafa)
• The Khalifas who took the right way (Arabic Al-Khulafah Ar-Rashidun)
• Tabaqat al-huffaz an appendix to al-Dhahabi's Tadhkirat al-huffaz
• Nuzhat al-julasāʼ fī ashʻār al-nisāʼ (Arabic: نزهة الجلساء في أشعار النساء‎)
• Khasaais-e-Kubra which mentions the miracles of Muhammad
• Al-Muzhir. (linguistics).

See also[link]

• Islamic scholars

References[link]

1. ^ "USC-MSA Compendium of Muslim Texts". Web.archive.org. 2008-01-02. Archived from the original on 2008-01-02. http://web.archive.org/web/20080102023930/http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/fundamentals/hadithsunnah/scienceofhadith/asa1.html. Retrieved 2010-03-18. 

External links[link]

Arabic Wikisource has original text related to this article: Al-Suyuti

• Dhanani, Alnoor (2007). "Suyūṭī: Abū al‐Faḍl ʿAbd al‐Raḥmān Jalāl al‐Dīn al‐Suyūṭī". In Thomas Hockey et al. The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. New York: Springer. pp. 1112–3. ISBN 978-0-387-31022-0. http://islamsci.mcgill.ca/RASI/BEA/Suyuti_BEA.htm.  (PDF version)
• http://www.freewebs.com/nooralemaan/
• http://www.sunniport.com/masabih/showthread.php?t=1842
• Imam Suyuti Biography and Works at SunniPort

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2011)

Hamza Yusuf
Hamza Yusuf at Doha Academy Education Conference in Qatar, 2010.
Born	Mark Hanson 1958 (age 53–54) Walla Walla, Washington, United States
Residence	Northern California, United States
Occupation	Islamic scholar
Religion	Sunni Islam[1][2]
Spouse	Liliana (Umm Yahya) Hanson
Website
Sandala.org

Hamza Yusuf Hanson is an American Islamic scholar^[3][4], and (with Zaid Shakir and Hatem Bazian) is co-founder of Zaytuna College in Berkeley, California, United States. He is a convert to Islam, and is one of the signatories of A Common Word Between Us and You, an open letter by Islamic scholars to Christian leaders, calling for peace and understanding. He has described the 9/11 attacks as "an act of 'mass murder, pure and simple'". Condemning the attacks, he has also stated "Islam was hijacked ... on that plane as an innocent victim".^[5] The Guardian newspaper in the United Kingdom reported that he "is arguably the west's most influential Islamic scholar" and added that "many Muslims find his views hard to stomach."^[6]

Biography[link]

Hamza Yusuf was born to two academics^[7] in Washington State and raised in Northern California. In 1977, he became Muslim and subsequently traveled to the Muslim world and studied for ten years in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, as well as North and West Africa.^[8] Hamza Yusuf spent four years studying in the United Arab Emirates and elsewhere in the Middle East. Later he traveled to West Africa and studied in Mauritania, Medina, Algeria, and Morocco under such scholars as Murabit al Haaj; Baya bin Salik, head of the Islamic court in Al-'Ain, United Arab Emirates; Muhammad Shaybani, Mufti of Abu Dhabi; Hamad al-Wali; and Muhammad al-Fatrati of Al Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt.^{[citation needed]} After more than a decade abroad, he returned to the United States and earned degrees in nursing from Imperial Valley College and religious studies at San José State University.^{[citation needed]}

Hamza Yusuf is a co-founder of Zaytuna College, located in Berkeley, California. He is an advisor to Stanford University's Program in Islamic Studies and the Center for Islamic Studies at Berkeley's Graduate Theological Union.^{[citation needed]} He also serves as a member of the board of advisors of George Russell's One Nation, a national philanthropic initiative that promotes pluralism and inclusion in America. In addition, he serves as vice-president for the Global Center for Guidance and Renewal, which was founded and is currently presided over by Abdallah Bin Bayyah, one of the top jurists and masters of Islamic sciences in the world.^{[citation needed]}

Hamza Yusuf has promoted Islamic sciences and classical teaching methodologies throughout the world. He has also been an advocate for social justice, peace, and conviviality among peoples and places. For several years, he has argued that the "them versus us" problem is fundamentally flawed, and, in R. D. Laing’s term, a “knot” that will destroy people if they do not extricate themselves from it.^{[citation needed]}

Hamza Yusuf has served as an advisor to many organizations, leaders, and heads of state.^{[citation needed]} He has been an innovator in modern Islamic education^{[citation needed]}, founding the highly imitated Deen Intensives, and with Ibrahim Osi-Efa, he started the first Rihla program in England, which has been running for over fifteen years. Dozens of young Muslims who were influenced by his call to reviving traditional Islamic studies in the West went to the Muslim lands in the nineties and early part of the current decade to study, many of who are now teachers in their own right.^{[citation needed]}

With Eissa Bougari, Hamza Yusuf initiated a media challenge to the Arab world that resulted in a highly successful cultural religious program that he hosted for three years and was one of the most watched programs in the Arab world during Ramadan.^{[citation needed]} Cambridge Media Studies stated that this program had a profound influence on subsequent religious programming in the Arab world. He has also been interviewed on BBC several times and was the subject of a BBC documentary segment The Faces of Islam, ushering in the new millennium, as it aired at 11:30 pm on December 31, 1999. Hamza Yusuf has been an outspoken critic of American foreign policy as well as Islamic extremist responses to those policies.^{[citation needed]}

He has drawn criticism from both the extreme right in the West and Muslim extremists in the East.^[9] He told The Guardian: "Many people in the west do not realise how oppressive some Muslim states are – both for men and for women. This is a cultural issue, not an Islamic one. I would rather live as a Muslim in the west than in most of the Muslim countries, because I think the way Muslims are allowed to live in the west is closer to the Muslim way. A lot of Muslim immigrants feel the same way, which is why they are here."^[10]

He and colleagues founded the Zaytuna Institute in 1996, which has established an international reputation^{[citation needed]} for presenting a classical picture of Islam in the West and which is dedicated to the revival of traditional study methods and the sciences of Islam. Hamza Yusuf currently resides in Northern California with his wife and five children.^{[citation needed]}

Hamza Yusuf has also authored several encyclopedia articles and research papers. His published books include The Burda (2003), Purification of the Heart (2004), The Content of Character (2004), The Creed of Imam al-Tahawi (2007), Agenda to Change our Condition (2007), and Walking on Water (2010). Forthcoming are The Prayer of the Oppressed, and The Helpful Guide.^{[citation needed]}

Hamza Yusuf is the first American lecturer to teach in Morocco's prestigious and oldest university, the University of Al-Karaouine in Fes.^[11] He is married and has five children, all boys.

Critical reception[link]

Jordan's Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre placed him on its list of the top 50 most influential Muslims in the world.^{[citation needed]} The magazine Egypt Today described him as a kind of theological rock star, "the Elvis Presley of western Muslims."^[12] Recently, Hamza Yusuf was ranked as "the Western world's most influential Islamic scholar" by The 500 Most Influential Muslims, edited by John Esposito and Ibrahim Kalin, (2009).^[13]

Publications[link]

Books Authored[link]

• The Burda The Burda (2003)
• Purification of the Heart: Signs, Symptoms and Cures of the Spiritual Diseases of the Heart (2004)
• The Content of Character (2004)
• The State We Are In: Identity, Terror, and the Law of Jihad (contributing Author) (2006)
• The Creed of Imam al-Tahawi The Creed of Imam Al-Tahawi (2007)
• Agenda to Change our Condition co-authored with Zaid Shakir (2007)
• Walk on Water: The wisdom of Jesus Walk on Water: The wisdom of Jesus (2010)
• Educating your Child in Modern Times

Books with Foreword or note[link]

• Instruction of the Student: The Method of Learning
• The Prophetic Invocations By Mostafa Al-Badawi

Book Edited with Zaid Shakir[link]

• Submission Faith and Beauty Submission Faith and Beauty, The Religion of Islam by Joseph Lumbard (2009)

Papers[link]

• Caesarean Moon Births Part 1
• Caesarean Moon Births Part 2
• Climbing Mount Purgatorio
• Religion, Violence, and the Modern World
• Generous Tolerance in Islam and its Effects on the Life of a Muslim
• Chess in the Light of the Jurist
• Who are the Disbelievers?

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Hamza Yusuf

Websites[link]

• Sandala.org – Official website of Hamza Yusuf
• Zaytuna.org – Zaytuna College
• Sheikhhamza.com – Contains list of books recommended by Hamza Yusuf and a biography

See also[link]

• Zaytuna College
• Zaid Shakir

Suhaib Webb
File:Suhaibwebb3.jpg
Born	William Webb (1972-06-29) June 29, 1972 (age 39) Oklahoma  United States
Occupation	Imam
Title	Imam
Religion	Islam
Website
http://www.suhaibwebb.com

Suhaib Webb is a contemporary American-Muslim educator, activist, and lecturer.^[1] He is currently the imam of the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center (ISBCC), the largest mosque in the New England area.

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

He was born William Webb in 1972 in Oklahoma to a Christian family, including a grandfather who served as a preacher.^[2] At age 14, he lost interest in religion going through a self-described spiritual crisis. He also began engaging in delinquency by joining a local gang, was involved in a drive by shooting, and became a successful local Hip-Hop DJ and producer,^[3] making records with various artists.

Education[link]

After converting to Islam in 1992, Webb left his career as a DJ and studied at the University of Central Oklahoma, where he graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Education. He also studied privately under a Senegalese Sheikh, learning enough Islam and Arabic to become a community leader in Oklahoma City, where he was hired as Imam at The Islamic Society of Greater Oklahoma City.^[4] He simultaneously started teaching at Mercy School, an Islamic K-12 school in Oklahoma City.

From 2004-2010, Suhaib Webb studied at the world’s preeminent Islamic institution of learning, Al-Azhar University, in the College of Shari`ah, in Cairo. During this time, after several years of studying the Arabic Language and the Islamic legal tradition, including maliki law, he also served as the head of the English Translation Department at Dar al-Ifta al-Misriyyah.^{[5][dead link]}

Career[link]

Apart from his studies, he frequently lectures in the United States and Malaysia, and records public lecture series on Islam and contemporary Muslim matters. After graduating from Al-Azhar, he moved to Silicon Valley in the San Francisco Bay area, where he hosted the weekly "Real Talk" call-in radio show.^[6] On December 1, 2011, Webb was inaugurated as the Imam of the Islamic Society of Boston's Cultural Center (ISBCC)^[7], the largest Islamic center in New England^[8].

Suhaib Webb is an active member of the Muslim American Society and its youth department and has been so for the last ten years. It is through the Muslim American Society's scholarship program that he was sent to Egypt to attain fluency in Arabic and focus on Islamic studies.^[9] Webb frequently hosts lectures and posts articles offering Islamic perspectives on modern-day issues such as community involvement and social relevance.^[10]

Reputation[link]

Some UK government officials were quoted in a 2004 edition of The Guardian describing Webb as a "moderate leader" along with the likes of Hamza Yusuf and Amr Khaled.^[11] Webb was named one of the 500 Most Influential Muslims in the World by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center in 2010.^[12] Webb's website, www.SuhaibWebb.com, was voted the best "Blog of the Year" by the 2009 Brass Crescent awards ^[13] and his tweets won him the vote of "Best Muslim Tweeter" of 2010.^[14]

Views & Accomplishments[link]

Webb joined a trip of imams to Auschwitz in 2010, followed by a public statement to condemning Holocaust-denial and anti-Semitism.^[15] He helped raise $20,000 for widows and children of firefighters killed in the 9/11 attack.^[16] He is a part of efforts to more effectively rebut militants and religious extremists ^[17][18] and is an advocate for grassroots Muslim activism to promote social change. He advocates for an American-style Islam, one that is true to the Quran and Islamic law but that reflects this country's customs and culture.^[19][20]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Suhaib Webb's Official Website
• Suhaib Webb on Twitter
• Suhaib Webb's Official Youtube Page
• Suhaib Webb Video and Audio lectures from Halal Tube
• Suhaib comments on his conversion to Islam
• Advice by Suhaib Webb to the Converts (Audio Lecture)