- Muhammad al-Yaqoubi
Ash-Shaykh as-Sayyid Muhammad b. Ibrahim al-Ya`qubi al-Hasani al-Idrisi is a well-known scholar from Syria.
Infobox_Person
name = Shaykh Muhammad
birth_place =Syria
occupation =Islamic scholar
title =Shaykh
religion =Sunni Islam Hanafi Maliki
website = http://imamghazaliinstitute.org
footnotes =Biography
Born in Damascus in 1962, Shaykh Muhammad descends from a family whose lineage goes back to the Prophet, salla Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam, through his grandson Sayyiduna al-Hasan, radiya Allahu 'anhu. His ancestors also include some of the greatest scholars of Syria. His father, Shaykh Ibrahim al-Ya'qoubi (d. 1985/1406 H.), was one of the greatest scholars Syria saw in the past 50 years.As a little boy, Shaykh Muhammad crawled in the Grand Umayyad Mosque and the Darwishiyya Mosque, where his father was an instructor for 40 years, and sat in the laps of some of the greatest scholars. Under his father's tutelage, Shaykh Muhammad followed a solid traditional curriculum since the age of four, studying the major classical works on the various disciplines of the Shari'ah as well as the instrumental disciplines. He received ijazas in Hadith from several of the most prominent scholars in Syria.
Shaykh Muhammad pursued his academic studies at the University of Damascus, Faculty of Shari'ah. He also received a degree in Arabic literature in 1987 and completed a two-year study of philosophy at the Arab University of Beirut. In 1991, Shaykh Muhammad joined the PhD program of linguistics at Gothenburg University in Sweden, Department of Oriental Studies, where he also worked as a researcher and a teacher of classical Arabic literature. He worked in Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah in Kuwait in 1990 as Research Editor and later as Assistant Director for Research and Studies.
In Sweden, Shaykh Muhammad served the Muslim community of Gothenburg as Imam, where he struggled for the establishment of Islam in the country. In 1999, the Swedish Islamic society in Stockholm chose him as the Mufti of Sweden. Besides working in Syria and Sweden, Shaykh Muhammad participated in conferences, delivered lectures, and gave Friday speeches in the Middle East, Europe, Canada, and the United States. Shaykh Muhammad taught his first class at the age of eleven in Qura'an and Tajweed, delivered his first public speeches at the age of twelve, and gave his first Friday khutba at the age of fourteen and a half.
Shaykh Muhammad has three children and currently resides in Damascus, Syria.
Lineage
Shaykh Muhammad descends from a scholarly family whoselineage goes back to the Prophet
Muhammad , salla Allahu 'alayhi sallam, throughhis grandson Sayyiduna al-Hasan, radiya Allahu 'anhu. He is also related to Mawlay Idris al-Anwar who built the city ofFes . Mawlay Idris' lineageis as follows: he is the son of Mawlay Idris the Great; who is the son ofSayyiduna Abdullah al-Kamil; who is the son of Sayyiduna al-Hasan, theSecond; who is the son of Sayyiduna al-Hasan, radiya Allah 'anhu; who isthe grandson of the Prophet, salla Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam.Shaykh Muhammad al-Ya’qoubi’s ancestors also include some of the most renownedscholars of Syria: Shaykh Sharif al-Ya’qoubi (d. 1943/1362 AH) was hisfather’s uncle, and Shaykh Muhammad ‘Arabi al-Ya’qoubi (d. 1965/1384 AH)was his father’s maternal uncle; both were the Malikite Imams of theOmayyad mosque. Shaykh Siddiq al-Ya’qoubi (d. 1889/1307 AH) was hispaternal great-grandfather, and Shaykh Isma’il al-Ya’qoubi (d. 1960/1380AH), a great Wali known for his miracles, was his own grandfather. Hisfather, Shaykh Ibrahim al-Ya’qoubi (d. 1985/1406 AH), has been proclaimed one of thegreatest scholars
Syria has seen in the past 50 years; he was also the Imam andteacher of theUmayyad Mosque .Education and Career
In the summer of
1973 , at the age of eleven, Shaykh Muhammad al-Yaqoubi started teaching at the Darwishiyya Mosque where he taught a regularQur'an andTajweed class. He began giving public speeches inRamadan in the same mosque at the age of twelve. At the age of fourteen and a half, he started delivering Friday speeches. He wrote his first published article when he was seventeen years old in al-Majalla al-'Arabiyya inRiyadh ,KSA and published his first book when he was twenty three. At the age of twenty, some of his FridayKhutba s were broadcast live on Syrian radio stations.Shaykh Muhammad studied traditional Islamic Sciences under his father. For over twenty years, he studied over 500 works in the sciences of
Qur'an ,Hadith ,Jurisprudence , andLogic . His father, gave him full authority to narrateHadith , to teach and to issuefatwas .Besides serving as a Friday speaker and instructor until 1990, Shaykh Muhammad pursued his academic studies at the
University of Damascus , Faculty of Shari'ah, where he frequented some lectures and benefited from several professors between 1982-1985. He also received a degree in Arabic literature in 1987 and completed a two-year study of philosophy at the Arab University ofBeirut . In 1991, Shaykh Muhammad joined the PhD program oflinguistics atGothenburg University inSweden , Department of Oriental Studies, where he also worked as a researcher and a teacher of classical Arabic literature until 1996.He also worked in Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah in
Kuwait in 1990 as Research Editor, and, between 1998-1999, as Assistant Director for Research and Studies, a position he was awarded due to his keen interest in the studies of ancient Arabic manuscripts and paleography. He eventually resigned to devote his time to the Sacred Knowledge and to serve its students in teaching and writing.While in school, Shaykh Muhammad studied French as a second language. It was in 1988 that he began learning the basics of English and German. At the age of 30, upon traveling to Sweden, he realized how vital is the English language in the work for Islam, so he moved to England at that time and completed the FCE, CAE, CCS, and CPE
Cambridge courses in English within a year before returning to Sweden where he continued his studies in Swedish.In Sweden, Shaykh Muhammad served the Muslim community of
Gothenburg asImam , where he struggled for the establishment of Islam in the country. His work there was documented in several newspaper articles and interviews; it included teaching Muslims, giving presentations about Islam, and engaging in multi-religious dialogues and debates on political and social issues, such as European-Islamic dialogue, atheism, etc.. Shaykh Muhammad was hosted by all of the major Swedish universities and Institutions and was co-founder of theNordic Center for Inter-Religious Dialogue (NCID) in Gothenburg. He represented Swedish Muslims in several international conferences until he returned to Syria towards the end of 1996. In 1999, theSwedish Islamic Society inStockholm (SIS) chose him as the Mufti of Sweden, forwarding to him the burning issues of fiqh that concern Swedish Muslims. In the year 2000, SIS elected him as a permanent founding member of the Swedish Islamic Academy in Stockholm in recognition of his work in Sweden to which he continues to commit through lectures and classes during his visits toScandinavia .Amongst the scholars who gave him
ijaza were the Malikite Mufti of Syria Sayyid Makki al-Kittani, the Hanafite Mufti Muhammad Abul-Yusr 'Abideen, Muhammad Salih al-Khateeb, Ali al-Boudaylimi, Zayn al-'Abideen at-Tounisi, 'Abdul'Aziz 'Uyun as-Soud, and Muhammad Wafa al-Qassaab.Teachers
*Shaykh Ibrahim al-Ya'qoubi (d. 1985/1406 AH)
*Sayyid Makki al-Kittani, the Malikite Mufti of Syria
*Shaykh Muhammad Abul-Yusr 'Abideen, the previous Mufti of Syria
*Shaykh Ali al-Boudaylimi of Tlemcen, the great Murshid
*Shaykh Zayn al-'Abideen at-Tounisi
*Shaykh 'Abdul'Aziz 'Uyun as-Soud
*Shaykh Muhammad Wafa al-Qassaaband
*Shaykh Abdur-Rahman ash-Shaghouri of DamascusStudents
* Shaykh Munawwar Ateeq Rizwi
* Dr. Gibril F. Haddad
* Shaykh Hamza Yusuf
* Dr. Husain Abdul Sattar
* Shaykh Faisal Abdur-Razzakee also
*
Muhammad Karam Shah al-Azhari
*Muhammad Imdad Hussain Pirzada
*Nuh Ha Mim Keller
*Hamza Yusuf
*Muhammad Imdad Hussain Pirzada
*Muhammad Tahir ul-Qadri
*Gibril Haddad
*Zameer Sattaur
*Zaid Shakir External links
* [http://www.halaltube.com/category/muhammad-al-yaqoubi Muhammad al-Yaqoubi audio and video lectures]
* [http://hamzajennings.com/?page_id=629 Shaykh Muhammad al-Yaqoubi mp3's]
* [http://www.SacredKnowledge.co.uk Sacred Knowledge]
* [http://www.flickr.com/photos/javedkhan/sets/72157600182255035/ Pictures from the Shama'il Course]Media
* [http://www.alhambraproductions.com/shopping/index.php?id=142 Shaykh as-Sayyid Muhammad al-Yaqoubi Media]
* [http://www.zaytuna.org/audio/AdviceToSeekers.mp3 Advice to the Seekers] MP3 lecture with Shaykh Hamza Yusuf Hanson and Shaykh as-Sayyid Muhammad Yaqoubi offering advice on seeking religious knowledge.
* [http://www.zaytuna.org/video/slide_shows/summervisit/SlideShow_Med.mov Slideshow of a summer 2005 visit to Zaytuna]
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