Ian Dallas was born in Scotland in 1930 of aHighland family. He was a descendant of the literary critic and writerE. S. Dallas. He traveled extensively to Greece, France and Italy.[3]
As-Suficonverted to Islam in 1967 inFes, Morocco asAbdalqadir, witnessed by Abdalkarim Daudi, the Imam Khatib of the Qarawiyyin Mosque, and Alal al-Fasi. He then joined theDarqawi order as a student ofMuhammad ibn al-Habib.[12] He travelled to Morocco and Algeria with hisShaykh and was further instructed in Sufism bySidi Hamud ibn al-Bashir of Blida and Sidi Fudul al-Huwarias-Sufi of Fes.[3]
Abdalqadir as-Sufi advocated adherence to theMaliki school ofIslamic law, which he considered the original legal school of Islam, the tradition of the people ofMedina[13] as recorded byMalik ibn Anas, since he considered this the primal formulation of Islamic society and a necessity for the re-establishment of Islam in the current age.[14]
Abdalqadir was responsible for the establishment of the Ihsan Mosque inNorwich,Norfolk, England,[15] and the Jumu'a Mosque ofCape Town.[16]
Abdalqadir as-Sufi taught thatsuicide terrorism is forbidden underIslamic law, that itspsychological pattern stems fromnihilism,[17] and that it "draws attention away from the fact thatcapitalism has failed." He stated that Britain was on "the edge of terminal decline" and that onlyBritain's Muslim population could "revitalise this ancient realm".[18] He wrote extensively on the importance of monarchy and personal rule.[19] He regarded the face veil (orniqab) ofMuslim women as un-Islamic,[20] describing it as an "evilHinduisation of women".[21]
In 2006, he issued afatwa, following a visit and speech given byPopeBenedict XVI in Germany. In hisFatwa Concerning the Deliberations of Pope Benedict XVI in Germany, he stated that "in my opinion, Pope Benedict XVI is guilty ofinsulting the Messenger of Allah".[22] He was an earlymentor of American Sufi scholar,Hamza Yusuf.[23]
In February 2014 he distanced himself from thedinar and dirham movement, saying, "So, I now dis-associate myself from all activity involving the Islamic gold dinar and silver dirham".[24] The other major condition of a correctZakat, he argued, is the existence of personal rule, or Amirate, since Zakat is, by Qur'anic injunction, accepted rulings and established practice, taken by the leader, not given as a voluntarysadaqa.[25]
Kufr – An IslamicCritique, (Diwan Press, 1982, ASIN: B0007C6U32)
Root Islamic Education,[30] written on the school of the people of Madinah under the leadership of Imam Malik (Madinah Press, June 1993,ISBN978-1-874216-05-6)
The Sign of the Sword, an examination on the judgements onjihād in the light of classical works offiqh, particularlyal-Qawanin al-fiqhiyyah of Ibn Juzayy al-Kalbi, relating it to the contemporary situation and the global dominance of world banking and usury finance. (Diwan Press, 1984,ISBN978-1-871207-26-2)
The Return of theKhalifate, a historical work on theOttomans, their demise and its causes and an exposition of a route to the recovery of the khalifate (Madinah Press, 1996,ISBN978-1-874216-21-6)
Letter to an Arab Muslim (Editorial Kutubia Mayorqa, 2001,ISBN84-930515-9-4)
Sultaniyya[32] is a modern statement on leadership in Islam. Abdalqadir surveys Islam under the chapter headings Deen, Dawla (polity), Waqf, Trade, the Sultan – personal rule – and Tasawwuf. (Madinah Press, Cape Town, 2002, OCLC: 50875888)
Commentary on Surat al-Waqi’a (Madinah Press, 2004,ISBN0-620-31921-6)
The Seals of Wisdom[35] by Muhyiddin ibn al-Arabi translated by Aisha Bewley (Madinah Press, Cape Town 2005,ISBN978-0-9651209-3-7)
Sufis and Sufism: A Defence[36] by 'Abdu'l-Hayy al-'Amrawi and Abdu'l-Karim Murad translated by Aisha Bewley (Madinah Press, Cape Town 2004,ISBN0-620-31920-8)
A Madinan View: on theSunnah, courtesy, wisdom, battles and history by Ibn Abi Zayd al-Qayrawani translated by Abdassamad Clarke (Ta-Ha Publishers Ltd, London 1999,ISBN1-897940-84-X)
^This rebuttal by two prominent ulema of the Qarawiyyin Mosque in Fes was written in response to the slander against Sayyid Muhammad 'Alawi al-Maliki al-Makki in a book called Kitab al-Hiwar,
