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Muhammad Abu Zahra | |
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محمد أبو زهرة | |
| Personal life | |
| Born | (1898-03-29)29 March 1898 |
| Died | 1974(1974-00-00) (aged 75–76) |
| Nationality | Egyptian |
| Alma mater | Dār al-ʿUlūm |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Islam |
| Denomination | Sunnī |
| Jurisprudence | Hanafi |
| Creed | Maturidi |
Muhammad Abu Zahra (Arabic:محمد أبو زهرة; 1898–1974) was an Egyptian publicintellectual and an influentialHanafi jurist.[1] He occupied a number of positions; he was a lecturer ofIslamic law atAl-Azhar University and a professor atCairo University. He was also a member of the Islamic Research Academy. His works includeAbu Hanifa,Malik andal-Shafi'i.[2]
Abu Zahra was born on March 29, 1898, inEl-Mahalla El-Kubra, the second largest city in theNile Delta.[3] In 1913, he completed high school and enrolled in the Ahmadi Madrasa inTanta. In 1916, he scored highest on the entry examination for the judiciary institute in theGharbia Governorate despite being several years younger and less experienced than his colleagues.[3] Having been rooted in traditional Azharite education, and never having studied in Europe or in Egyptian Westernized schools, Abu Zahra has been criticized byOrientalists as having a superficial grasp of Western methods.[4]
He taught atal-Azhar's faculty oftheology and later, as Professor of Islamic law atCairo University.[3] Between 1933 and 1942, he taught courses on the history of religions, denominations and sects at Azhar, during which time his lectures oncomparative religion andChristianity were given, though the latter were not published until 1965.[4]
His books include biographies ofAbū Ḥanīfa,Malik ibn Anas,Al-Shafi'i,Ahmad ibn Hanbal,Zayd ibn Ali,Ali ibn al-Husayn Zayn al-'Abidin,Ja'far as-Sadiq,Dawud al-Zahiri,Ibn Hazm andIbn Taymiyyah, as well as works on personal status, endowments (waqf), property, and crime and punishment in Islamic law.[5][page needed]
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Based onAbu'l-Faraj ibn al-Jawzi's criticism ofAthari-Hanbalis, Muhammad Abu Zahra deduced thatSalafiaqidah is located somewhere betweenta'tili andtashbih.[6]
RegardingWahhabism, Abu Zahra said: "The Wahhabis exaggerated [and bowdlerized] Ibn Taymiyya's positions ... The Wahhabis did not restrain themselves to proselytism only, but resorted to warmongering against whoever disagreed with them on the grounds that they were fighting innovation (bid`a), and innovations are an evil that must be fought.... Whenever they were able to seize a town or city they would come to the tombs and turn them into ruins and destruction ... and they would destroy whatever mosques were with the tombs also.... Their brutality did not stop there but they also came to whatever graves were visible and destroyed them also. And when the ruler of the Hijaz regions caved in to them they destroyed all the graves of the Companions and razed them to the ground.... In fact, it has been noticed that the Ulema of the Wahhabis consider their own opinions correct and not possibly wrong, while they consider the opinions of others wrong and not possibly correct. More than that, they consider what others than themselves do in the way of erecting tombs and circumambulating them, as near to idolatry.... In this respect they are near the Khawarij who used to declare those who dissented with them apostate and fight them as we already mentioned."[7]
| Part ofa series on Ahmadiyya |
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Distinct views |
Days of remembrance |
Miscellaneous |
According to Muhammad Abu Zahra,Ghulam Ahmad deviated from the mainstreamaqidah of Islam due to his distinct views which is not shared by any otherSchools of Islamic theology. First of all,Ghulam claimed that he found the grave ofJesus which is not accepted by any other Islamic school of divinity. In addition,Ghulam Ahmad conceded that the soul and the power ofMessiahincarnated to his body due to his discovery ofJesus's grave. Because of this reason, his words are indisputable andabsolute(Haqq). Moreover,Ahmad declared that he was authorized byAllah(Jalla Jalaalahoo) to make any revisions and modernization ofDīn, since he is theMahdi. Furthermore,Ghulam does not give permission to Ahmadi-Women to get married with the otherMuslim-Men of non-AhmadiMuslim sects. This is clearly admission of theMuslims of the othermadhhabs as Non-Muslims. Therefore, it is a justification that non-Ahmadis are being considered as Non-Muslims (according to the theological discourse developed) byMirza Ghulam Ahmad.[8]
Abu Zahra wrote over a dozen books,[9] amongst them:[10]
