Mahmud Shukri al-Alusi (

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

: محمود شكري الآلوسي, born 12 May 1856 – 8 May 1924) was an Iraqi Muslim scholar and historian who lived in

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

. A grandson of

Mahmud al-Alusi Abū al-Thanā’ Shihāb ad-Dīn Sayyid Maḥmūd ibn ‘Abd Allāh al-Ḥusaynī al-Ālūsī al-Baghdādī (‎; 10 December 1802 – 29 July 1854 CE) was an Iraqi Islamic scholar best known for writing ''Ruh al-Ma'ani'', an exeges ...

, he is known for being a religious reformer and one of the early advocates of the

Salafi The Salafi movement or Salafism () is a fundamentalist revival movement within Sunni Islam, originating in the late 19th century and influential in the Islamic world to this day. The name "''Salafiyya''" is a self-designation, claiming a retu ...

movement.

Muhammad Rashid Rida Sayyid Muhammad Rashīd Rida Al-Hussaini (; 1865 – 22 August 1935) was an Islamic scholar, reformer, theologian and revivalist. An early Salafist, Rida called for the revival of hadith studies and, as a theoretician of an Islamic state, cond ...

described him as “The supporter of the Sunnah, the suppressor of heresies, the sign of what has been transmitted and the discerner of those with reason, the living Islamic encyclopedia and the beacon of the Arabs.”

Biography

Mahmud Shukri al-Alusi was born on the 12th of May in the year 1856 in the Rusafa area of Baghdad. He was the son of Abdullah Bahauddin al-Alusi, who was in turn the son of

. Hence, Mahmud Shukri was the grandson of Mahmud al-Alusi. As an adult, Mahmud Shukri al-Alusi lived his life between teaching and writing, and he contributed to the creation and editing of the first newspaper in Baghdad, the Al-Zawra Newspaper. He also contributed to supplying articles and research for magazines such as the Al-Manar magazine. His rational and almost extremist tendencies regarding

Sufism Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...

and creed earned him the scorn of the

Ash'ari Ash'arism (; ) is a school of theology in Sunni Islam named after Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari, a Shāfiʿī jurist, reformer (''mujaddid''), and scholastic theologian, in the 9th–10th century. It established an orthodox guideline, based on ...

scholar Abu al-Huda al-Sayyadi who refuted him and requested Ahmed Abdel Wahab Pasha to send him into exile from Baghdad. In his exile, Mahmud Shukri al-Alusi was sent to

Mosul Mosul ( ; , , ; ; ; ) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of Nineveh Governorate. It is the second largest city in Iraq overall after the capital Baghdad. Situated on the banks of Tigris, the city encloses the ruins of the ...

, but the residents of Mosul, who felt sympathy for him, petitioned for him to be allowed to return to Baghdad. In

, he studied under the scholar Ibrahim bin Mustafa al-Mawsili. When the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

occupied Iraq in 1921, the British officials treated Mahmud Shukri al-Alusi nicely and invited him to be the main scholar giving out the

fatwa A fatwa (; ; ; ) is a legal ruling on a point of Islamic law (sharia) given by a qualified Islamic jurist ('' faqih'') in response to a question posed by a private individual, judge or government. A jurist issuing fatwas is called a ''mufti'', ...

(religious rulings and verdicts). Mahmud Shukri declined this offer and chose to continue his work as a teacher and scholar. Mahmud al-Alusi died on the 18th of May in 1924 from a chronic disease. He was buried in the Sheikh Ma'ruf Cemetery of Baghdad.

Views

Mahmud Shukri al-Alusi was an

Athari Atharism ( / , "of ''athar''") is a school of theology in Sunni Islam which developed from circles of the , a group that rejected rationalistic theology in favor of strict textualism in interpreting the Quran and the hadith. Adherents of Ath ...

in creed and a

Hanafi The Hanafi school or Hanafism is the oldest and largest Madhhab, school of Islamic jurisprudence out of the four schools within Sunni Islam. It developed from the teachings of the Faqīh, jurist and theologian Abu Hanifa (), who systemised the ...

in his jurisprudence, although he would sometimes identify with the

Shafi'i The Shafi'i school or Shafi'i Madhhab () or Shafi'i is one of the four major schools of fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), belonging to the Ahl al-Hadith tradition within Sunni Islam. It was founded by the Muslim scholar, jurist, and traditionis ...

school of thought. He was tolerant of

but he disliked those went extravagant in Sufism, such as Yusuf al-Nabhani. Mahmud Shukri even wrote a refutation against Yusuf al-Nabhani, known as Ghayat al-Amani fi al-Radd 'ala al-Nabhani. Despite his

-influenced beliefs, Mahmud Shukri al-Alusi opposed the

Wahhabi Wahhabism is an exonym for a Salafi revivalist movement within Sunni Islam named after the 18th-century Hanbali scholar Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab. It was initially established in the central Arabian region of Najd and later spread to other ...

movement. However, he defended them on creedal matters, and he even denied the violence of the Wahhabis in Arabia. He even called

Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb ibn Sulaymān al-Tamīmī (1703–1792) was a Sunni Muslim scholar, theologian, preacher, activist, religious leader, jurist, and reformer, who was from Najd in Arabian Peninsula and is considered as the eponymou ...

the title ''Shaykh al-Islam''.

Works

*Bulugh al-Arab fi ma'rifat ahwal al-Arab *Tarikh Najd *Ghayat al-Amani fi al-Radd 'ala al-Nabhani

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shukri al-Alusi, Mahmud 1856 births 1924 deaths Writers from Baghdad Iraqi Sunni Muslim scholars of Islam 19th-century Arab people 20th-century Arab people Hanafis Supporters of Ibn Arabi

Biography

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Works

See also

References