A
BIOGRAPHY OF
ASH-SHAYKH
^ABDULLAH AL-HARARIYY
He is the great ^alim (Islamic scholar), an example of the
^ulama' (Islamic scholars), al-'Imam, al-Muhaddith, the
pious worshipper, ash-Shaykh Abu
^Abdir-Rahman, ^Abdullah Ibn Muhammad Ibn Yusuf,
al-Harariyy, ash-Shaybiyy, al-^Abdariyy, the Mufti of as-Sumal
(
He was born in Harar around 1339 A.H., or 1920 R.C. He grew up in a humble house loving al-^Ilm
(Islamic knowledge) and its people. He
memorized al-Qur'an by heart and tartil (reading correctly with
tajwid rules) when he was seven years old. He continued to scoop from the sea of
knowledge. He memorized numerous books
in various Islamic sciences. He gave ^Ilm al-Hadith a great
amount of attention. He memorized the
six books of al-Hadith (al-Bukhariyy, Muslim,
at-Tirmithiyy, Abu Dawud, Ibn Majah, An-Nasa'iyy)
and other books of al-Hadith with their isnad (names and
biographies of the chains of relators).
He was authorized by al-^ulama' to pass al-fatwa and to
relate al-Hadith when he was less than eighteen years old.
He was not satisified with taking knowledge only from
al-^ulama' of his own city. He
went to many places in al-Habashah and as-Sumal
seeking knowledge and its people. He had
many trips with hardships and difficulties, but he did not care about them;
whenever he heard about an ^alim he went to him, which is the habit of
the righteous Salaf (Muslim scholars of the first 300 Hijriyyah years).
His intelligence and wonderful memory helped him get in
depth in al-Fiqh ash-Shafi^iyy (Islamic knowledge following al-'Imam
ash-Shafi^iyy), and also the same in al-Fiqh al-Malikiyy, al-Hanafiyy,
and al-Hanbaliyy, so that he became a person at whom fingers point;
people would come to him from different places in al-Habashah and as-Sumal. He became the Mufti of as-Sumal
(the highest religious authority qualified to pass Islamic judgements).
He took al-Fiqh ash-Shafi^iyy and its Usul
(science of inferring rules and judgements) and an-Nahw (Arabic Grammar)
from al-^alim ash-Shaykh Muhammad ^Abdus-Salam
al-Harariyy, ash-Shaykh Muhammad ^Umar Jami^ al-Harariyy,
ash-Shaykh Muhammad Rashad al-Habashiyy, ash-Shaykh Ibrahim
Abil-Ghayth Al-Harariyy, ash-Shaykh Yunus al-Habashiyy, and
ash-Shaykh Muhammad Siraj al-Jabartiyy. From those ^ulama' (Islamic scholars)
he took many main texts such as Alfiyyat-uz-Zubad, at-Tanbih, al-Minhaj,
Alfiyyat-ubni-Malik, al-Luma^ by ash-Shiraziyy and other
main texts.
He took the sciences of the Arabic Language, especially from
the righteous Shaykh Ahmad al-Basir and ash-Shaykh Ahmad
ibn Muhammad al-Habashiyy and others. He read the Fiqh of the three Mathahib
and their Usul under ash-Shaykh Muhammad al-^Arabiyy al-Fasiyy,
and ash-Shaykh ^Abdur-Rahman al-Habashiyy. He took at-Tafsir
(science of explanation of al-Qur’an) from ash-Shaykh Sharif al-Habashiyy
in his town, Jummah.
He took al-Hadith and its sciences from many
teachers notably from al-Hafiz ash-Shaykh Abu Bakr Muhammad
Siraj al-Jabartiyy, the Mufti of al-Habashah, and
ash-Shaykh ^Abdur-Rahman ^Abdullah al-Habashiyy,
and others.
He met with the righteous Shaykh, al-Muhaddith, al-Qari'
(Reciter of al-Qur'an), Ahmad Ibn ^Abdil-Muttalib, the
Head of the Qurra' (plural of Qari') in al-Masjid-ul-Haram
in Makkah (he was appointed as the Imam and Shaykh of al-Masjid-ul-Haram
by as-Sultan ^Abdul-Hamid II, the last Muslim, Ottoman
Khalifah). From this Shaykh he
took the 14 ways of reciting al-Qur'an, as well as ^Ilm al-Hadith
and he also met ash-Shaykh, al-Qari', Dawud al-Jabartiyy.
He
started giving classes at a young age for the students who were maybe older
than he was; so he was both learning and teaching. He was superior in both al-Habashah
and as-Sumal to his peers in knowing the biographies of the
people of al-Hadith and their ranks, and memorizing the texts and
getting in depth in the sciences of as-Sunnah, language, Tafsir, and
others.
He did not leave any known Islamic science without mastering
it. He may talk about some knowledge or
science and a person may think that he specialized in that only. You would see him humbly listening to a Hadith
with his ear and his heart, although he knows better about it than the speaker
himself.
He went to Makkah and met its ^ulama' such as
ash-Shaykh, al-^Alim, as-Sayyid, ^Alawiyy al-Malikiyy, and
ash-Shaykh Amin al-Kutubiyy. He
attended circles by ash-Shaykh Muhammad al-^Arabiyy at-Tabban. He contacted ash-Shaykh ^Abdul-Ghafur
an-Naqshabandiyy and took at-Tariqah an-Naqshabandiyyah from him .
Afterwards, he went to al-Madinah and contacted its
^ulama'. He took al-Hadith
from ash-Shaykh Muhammad Ibn Muhammad as-Siddiqiyy
al-Bakriyy. He stayed by and in ^Arif
Hikmat and al-Mahmudiyyah libraries going through the
manuscripts. He stayed in al-Madinah
close to the Prophet's Mosque for about a year.
He received permission to teach from many ^ulama'.
He then went to
He was also praised by ash-Shaykh ^Uthman Siraj-ud-Din,
the descendant of ash-Shaykh ^
He took permission for at-Tariqah
ar-Rifa^iyyah from ash-Shaykh ^Abdur-Rahman as-Sibsibiyy,
and ash-Shaykh Tahir al-Kayyaliyy, and permission in at-Tariqah
al-Qadiriyyah from ash-Shaykh Ahmad al-^Irbiniyy, may Allah
have mercy upon them.
Ash-Shaykh ^Abdullah came to Beirut in 1950 R.C. and
he was the guest of the famous shuyukh like ash-Shaykh, al-Qadi
Muhyid-Din al-^Ajuz and ash-Shaykh, al-Mustashar Muhammad
ash-Sharif and ash-Shaykh ^Abdul-Wahhab al-Butariyy,
the imam of Jami^ al-Basta al-Fawqa, ash-Shaykh Ahmad
Iskandaraniyy, the Imam and Mu'aththin in Jami^ Burj Abi
Haydar and they learned and benefited from him. Then he met with ash-Shaykh Tawfiq
al-Hibriyy, may Allah have mercy on him, and at his residence he used to
meet the important people in
Ash-Shaykh ^Abdullah's primary goal was (and is) to spread
the correct belief of Ahl-us-Sunnah wal-Jama^ah, a task which has been
occupying most of his time. He fought
the atheists and the people of al-bida^ (prohibited innovations) to extinguish
their fitan (misguidings). This did not
leave much time for writing books, he left quite a few
writings, however:
1. An explanation of Alfiyyat-ul-^Iraqiyy in the
Science of al-Hadith.
2. A poem in at-Tawhid (Islamic
Belief) of about sixty lines.
3. As-Sirat-ul-Mustaqim
in at-Tawhid, published.
4. Ad-Dalil-ul-Qawim
^alas-Sirat-il-Mustaqim in at-Tawhid,
published.
5. Mukhtasaru
^Abdillah-il-Harariyy, al-Kafilu bi ^Ilm-id-Din-id-Daruriyy,
published.
6. Bughyat-ut-Talib
7. At-Ta^aqqub-ul-Hathith
^ala man ta^ana fima sahha min-al-Hadith,
published. In this book, ash-Shaykh
^Abdullah refuted the claims of al-'Albaniyy against some Ahadith. The Muhaddith of the Morrocan area,
ash-Shaykh ^Abdullah al-Ghammariyy, said about the book “it is a
good and well written refutation”.
8.
Nusrat-ut-Ta^aqqub-il-Hathith ^ala man ta^ana
fima sahha min-al-Hadith, published.
9.
Al-Mawlid-ush-Sharif, published.
10.
Sharh-ul-^Aqidat-in-Nasafiyyah.
11.
Sharh-ul-^Aqidat-it-Tahawiyyah.
12.
Sharhu Alfiyyat-iz-Zubad in the Shafi^iyy
Fiqh.
13.
Sharhu Matni Abi Shuja^ in
the Shafi^iyy Fiqh.
14.
Sharh-us-Sirat-il-Mustaqim.
15.
Sharhu Matn-il-^Ashmawiyyah in the Malikiyy
Fiqh.
16.
Sharhu Mutammimat-il-'Ajurummiyyah
in an-Nahw.
17.
Sharh-ul-Bayquniyyah in the Science of al-Hadith.
18.
Sarih-ul-Bayan fir-raddi ^ala man Khalaf-al-Qur'an,
published.
Ash-Shaykh ^Abdullah al-Harariyy is very pious,
humble, and worshipful Muslim. He spends
his time teaching al-^Ilm and performing ath-thikr (mentioning sentences
containing the names of Allah) at the same time. He does not care about acquiring worldly
things. He has a good and pure
heart. He does not waste a moment
without teaching, performing thikr, reciting, admonishing, or guiding. He has the correct belief in Allah and
is holding on to al-Qur'an and as-Sunnah. He has a good memory and powerful and
brilliant proofs. He is wise, managing
things at the right time and place. He
refuses and renounces disobeying Allah very much . He has a high effort in bidding al-ma^ruf
and forbidding al-munkar (ordering with obedience and prohibiting the
disobedience) until the people of misguidance and prohibited innovations feared
and envied him. This did not lessen his
efforts to fight them, because Allah supports and defends the people who
believe in Him.
This was just a summary of his honorable biography. If we wanted to extend it, then the pen would
get tired and the pages would overflow, but what we mention is enough by which
you would know about him, just like the title of the book indicates the contents
of the book.
wal-hamdu-lillah
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