View source for Muhammad Abu Zahra

{{short description|Scholar of Islamic law}}
{{Expand Arabic|date=January 2016|topic=bio}}
{{Infobox religious biography
| religion           = [[Islam]]
| name               = Muhammad Abu Zahra
| native_name        = محمد أبو زهرة
| jurisprudence      = [[Hanafi]]
| denomination       = [[Sunnī]]
| creed              = [[Maturidi]]
| birth_date         = 29 March 1898
| birth_place        = [[El-Mahalla El-Kubra]]
| nationality        = Egyptian
| education          = 
| death_date         = 1974
| alma_mater         = [[Faculty of Dar Al-Uloom, Cairo University|Dār al-ʿUlūm]]
}}
'''Muhammad Abu Zahra''' ({{langx|ar|محمد أبو زهرة}}; 1898–1974) was an Egyptian public [[intellectual]] and an influential [[Hanafi]] jurist.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/etd/ucb/text/Ghias_berkeley_0028E_15427.pdf|title=Defining Shari'a: The Politics of Islamic Judicial Review|author=Shoaib A. Ghias|date=2015|publisher=University of California, Berkeley|page=75}}</ref> He occupied a number of positions; he was a lecturer of [[Islamic law]] at [[Al-Azhar University]] and a professor at [[Cairo University]]. He was also a member of the Islamic Research Academy. His works include [[Abu Hanifa]], [[Malik]] and [[al-Shafi'i]].<ref>Ralph H. Salmi, Cesar Adib Majul and George George Kilpatrick Tanham (1998). ''Islam and Conflict Resolution: Theories and Practices'', p. 90. [[Lanham, Maryland|Lanham]]: [[University Press of America]]. {{ISBN|9780761810964}}.</ref>

== Biography ==
Abu Zahra was born on March 29, 1898, in [[El-Mahalla El-Kubra]], the second largest city in the [[Nile Delta]].<ref name=news>[http://www.arabnews.com/node/216148 Scholar of renown: Muhammad Abu Zahrah]. Ed. Adil Salahi for [[Arab News]]. Published Wednesday, 14 November 2001; accessed Sunday 9 June 2013.</ref> In 1913, he completed high school and enrolled in the Ahmadi Madrasa in [[Tanta]]. In 1916, he scored highest on the entry examination for the judiciary institute in the [[Gharbia Governorate]] despite being several years younger and less experienced than his colleagues.<ref name=news/> Having been rooted in traditional Azharite education, and never having studied in Europe or in Egyptian Westernized schools, Abu Zahra has been criticized by [[Orientalists]] as having a superficial grasp of Western methods.<ref name=prof>Patrice Brodeur (1999), "Arabic Muslim Writings on Contemporary Religions Other Than Islam." Taken from ''Muslim Perceptions of Other Religions : A Historical Survey: A Historical Survey'', p. 244. Ed. Jacques Waardenburg. [[Oxford]]: [[Oxford University Press]]. {{ISBN|9780195355765}}.</ref>

He taught at [[al-Azhar]]'s faculty of [[theology]] and later, as Professor of Islamic law at [[Cairo University]].<ref name=news/> Between 1933 and 1942, he taught courses on the history of religions, denominations and sects at Azhar, during which time his lectures on [[comparative religion]] and [[Christianity]] were given, though the latter were not published until 1965.<ref name=prof/>

His books include biographies of [[Abū 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]] and [[Ibn Taymiyyah]], as well as works on personal status, endowments (''waqf''), property, and crime and punishment in Islamic law.<ref>[[John Esposito]] (2003), ''The Oxford Dictionary of Islam'', [[Oxford University Press]].</ref>{{page needed|date=November 2015}}

==  Views on Salafi movement and Salafi Theology ==
{{main|Salafi movement|Salafi Theology}}
{{salafi|collapsed=1}}
Based on [[Abu'l-Faraj ibn al-Jawzi]]'s criticism of ''[[Athari]]-[[Hanbalis]],'' Muhammad Abu Zahra deduced that ''Salafi [[aqidah]]'' is located somewhere between [[ta'tili]] and [[tashbih]].<ref name="Zahra1">Muhammad Abu Zahra, ''The history of [[Madhhabs]] and [[Schools of Islamic theology]] in [[Islam]]-Chapter on [[Wahhabi Movement]].''</ref>

===  Views on the Wahhabi movement ===
{{main article|Wahhabi Movement|}}
Regarding [[Wahhabism]], 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."<ref>Muhammad Abu Zahra, ''Tarikh al-Madhahib al-Islamiyya'', pp. 235-38</ref>

== Views on Ahmadiyya Movement ==
{{main article|Ahmadiyya Movement}}
{{Ahmadiyya|collapsed=1}}

According to Muhammad Abu Zahra, ''Ghulam Ahmad'' deviated from the mainstream [[aqidah]] of Islam due to his distinct views which is not shared by any other [[Schools of Islamic theology]]. First of all, ''Ghulam'' claimed that he found the grave of [[Jesus]] which is not accepted by any other Islamic school of divinity. In addition, ''Ghulam Ahmad'' conceded that the soul and the power of [[Messiah]] [[incarnate]]d to his body due to his discovery of [[Jesus in Islam|Jesus]]'s grave. Because of this  reason, his words are indisputable and [[Absolute (philosophy)|absolute ''(Haqq)'']]. Moreover, ''Ahmad'' declared that he was authorized by [[God in Islam|Allah ''(Jalla Jalaalahoo)'']] to make any revisions and modernization of ''[[Dīn]],'' since he is the ''[[Mahdi]].'' Furthermore, ''Ghulam'' does not give permission to Ahmadi-Women to get married with the other [[Muslim]]-Men of non-Ahmadi [[Muslim sects]]. This is clearly admission of the [[Muslims]] of the other [[madhhabs]] as Non-Muslims. Therefore, it is a justification that non-Ahmadis are being considered as Non-Muslims (according to the theological discourse developed) by ''[[Mirza Ghulam Ahmad]].''<ref name="Zahra2">Muhammad Abu Zahra, ''The history of [[Madhhabs]] and [[Schools of Islamic theology]] in [[Islam]]-Chapter on [[Ahmadiyya movement]].</ref>

==Works==
Abu Zahra wrote over a dozen books,<ref name="jacb">{{cite book|last1 = A.C. Brown|first1 = Jonathan|author-link = Jonathan A.C. Brown|title = Misquoting Muhammad: The Challenge and Choices of Interpreting the Prophet's Legacy|date = 2014|publisher = [[Oneworld Publications]]|isbn = 978-1780744209|pages = [https://archive.org/details/misquotingmuhamm0000brow/page/156 156–7]|url-access = registration|url = https://archive.org/details/misquotingmuhamm0000brow/page/156}}</ref> amongst them:<ref name="Al-Dawoody1">{{cite book| author = Ahmed Al-Dawoody | date = 2011 |title = The Islamic Law of War: Justifications and Regulations| page=288 | publisher = Palgrave Macmillan | isbn=9780230111608}}</ref>
* ''Tarikh al-Madhahib al-Islamiyya'' (History of the Islamic Schools)
* ''al-'Alaqat al-Dawliyah fi al-Islam'' (International Relations in Islam)
* ''Zahrat al-Tafasir''.
* ''Al-Jarīmah wa al-‛Uqūbah fī al-Fiqh al-Islāmī''.
* ''Al-Mujtama‛ al-Insānī fī Zill al-Islām''. (Human Society in the Shade of Islam)
* ''Sīrah Khātam al-Nabiyyīn''. 
* ''Tanzīm al-Islām lil-Mujtama‛''.
* ''Ilm Usul al-Fiqh''.

==Notes==
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== External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20160304085452/http://www.iais.org.my/e/index.php/publications-sp-1447159098/architects-of-civilisation/580-muhammad-abu-zahra-updated-version.html Muhammad Abu Zahrah] International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies (IAIS) Malaysia
*[http://www.arabnews.com/node/216148 Scholar of renown: Muhammad Abu Zahrah] Arab News
*[http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/282701.Muhammad_Abu_Zahra Bibliography] at [[GoodReads]]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Abu Zahra, Muhammad}}
[[Category:Hanafis]]
[[Category:Asharis]]
[[Category:Maturidis]]
[[Category:Mujaddid]]
[[Category:20th-century Muslim theologians]]
[[Category:Sunni imams]]
[[Category:Sunni fiqh scholars]]
[[Category:Egyptian Muslim scholars of Islam]]
[[Category:Quranic exegesis scholars]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Al-Azhar University]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Cairo University]]
[[Category:People from El Mahalla El Kubra]]
[[Category:1898 births]]
[[Category:1974 deaths]]