Muhammad 'Alawi al-Maliki

Al-Sayyid Muhammad al-Hasan bin ‘Alawi bin ‘Abbas bin ‘Abd al-‘Aziz (1944–2004), also known as Muhammad ibn Alawi al-Maliki, was one of the foremost traditional Sunni Islamic scholar of contemporary times from Saudi Arabia. He is considered to be the Mujaddid of 20th-21st century.

Life

Family background
The Maliki family is one of the most respected families in Mecca and has produced great scholars who taught in the Haram of Mecca for centuries. In fact, five of the Sayyid's ancestors have been the Maliki Imams of the Haram of Mecca. Muhammad ibn Alawi al-Maliki was born in Mecca. Due to the well-known nature of their family, they preferred to teach themselves in the Sacred Holy Mosque.

Education
With his father's instruction, he also studied and mastered the various traditional Islamic sciences of Aqidah, Tafsir, Hadith, Seerah, Fiqh, Usul, Mustalah, Nahw, etc. Scholars of Mecca, as well as Medina, all of whom granted him full Ijazah to teach these sciences to others. Some of the scholars from whom he obtained ijazahs and chains of transmission from include: His father, 'Alawi ibn 'Abbas al-Maliki al-Hasani, al-Habib Ahmad Mashhur Taha al-Haddad, Hasanain Makhlouf, Muhammad al-'Arabi al-Tabbani, Muhammad Hafidh al-Tijani, Amin Kutbi, Mustafa Raza Khan, and numerous others.

Career

Despite criticism of him, al-Maliki retained prominence. In an attempt to counter Wahabism in the early 1990s, the Government of Saudi Arabia began supporting practitioners of Sufism in the Hijaz region as a way to bolster religious support of the state; al-Maliki became the self-imposed leader of Hijazi Sufism under state sponsorship, with several thousand supporters.

Death
He died in 2004 and was buried in Mecca. After his death, Saudi dignitaries made condolence visits to his family. Crown Prince 'Abd Allah (the future king) was quoted as stating that al-Maliki "was faithful both to his religion and country" as one western journalist noted, "the rehabilitation of his legacy was almost complete."

Literary works
Al-Maliki has written on a variety of religious, legal, social and historical topics.

Selected works on various subjects

Aqidah

 Mafahim Yajib an Tusahhah (Conceptions That Need to Be Corrected)
Bidaah Menurut Ulama Salaf
On Celebrating the Birthday of Prophet

Seerah
 Muhammad the Best of Creation
Prophet's Night Journey and Heavenly ascent
 Al-Anwar al-Bahiyyah fi Isra wa M’iraj Khayr al-Bariyyah
 Al-Zakha’ir al-Muhammadiyyah 
Prophet in the Barzakh and the Hadith of Isra and Miraj

Miscellaneous
Salawat Quraniyyah
Meluruskan Kesalahpahaman
Dialah Allah

See also
 List of Sufis
 List of Ash'aris and Maturidis
 Sheikh Abubakr Ahmad
 Arab people
 Maliki
 Islam in Saudi Arabia

References

External links
 Extract from “Notions That Must Be Corrected” by Shaykh Muhammad b. Alawi al-Maliki al-Hasani
 Getting to know the Sufis by Stephen Schwartz, The Weekly Standard 
 
 Video of Shaykh Muhammad Ibn 'Alawî Al Mâlikî's funeral
 The Prophets in Barzakh and the Hadith of Isra and Miraj Followed by the Immense Merits of Al-Sham - Online book by Shaikh Muhammad
 The path ahead, Macleans.ca 
 Obituary by Shaykh Seraj Hendricks 
 Obituary by Shafiq Morton 
 Obituary on Islamica Magazine
 A defence of the Ash'ari school by Shaykh Muhammad ibn `Alawi al-Maliki

1944 births
2004 deaths
Asharis
Scholars of Sufism
Saudi Arabian Sufis
Maliki fiqh scholars
Al-Azhar University alumni
People from Mecca
Academic staff of Umm al-Qura University
Banu Idris
Shadhili order
Sunni Muslim scholars of Islam
Sunni imams
Sunni Sufis
20th-century Saudi Arabian people
Burials at Jannat al-Mu'alla
Mujaddid
Muslim reformers