Dr. Afifi al-Akiti | |
---|---|
محمد عفيفي العکيتي | |
![]() Al-Akiti at Oxford | |
Personal | |
Born | 17 June 1976 |
Religion | Islam |
Nationality | Malaysian |
Era | Modern |
Jurisprudence | Shafi'i |
Creed | Ashari Sunni |
Main interest(s) | Theology |
Notable work(s) | Defending the Transgressed by Censuring the Reckless against the Killing of Civilians et al. |
Alma mater | Queen's University Belfast (BA) Worcester College, Oxford (MSt, DPhil) |
Muslim leader | |
Awards | Clarendon Scholarship |
Muhammad Afifi al-Akiti (born 1976), also known as Shaykh Afifi, [1] [2] is the KFAS Fellow in Islamic Studies at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies. [3] He is also the Islamic Centre Lecturer in Islamic Studies at the Faculty of Theology, University of Oxford, [4] and is a Fellow of Worcester College, Oxford. He is the first Malay to be appointed to such a position in this university. [5] Elsewhere, he is a visiting professor of Universiti Teknologi MARA in Malaysia. He has also received widespread media recognition across the globe. [6]
In 2010, Afifi al-Akiti was appointed Privy Councillor to the State of Perak, Malaysia, by the Crown Prince of Perak, Raja Dr Nazrin Shah. [7] [8]
Afifi al-Akiti is listed in The 500 Most Influential Muslims since 2010. [9] [10] [11] [12] In 2009, along with Professor Muhammad Abdel Haleem and the IIIT, Afifi al-Akiti was shortlisted for the Annual UK Muslim Awards, in one of its 15 coveted Awards for Excellence, the Allama Iqbal Award for Creativity in Islamic Thought. [13] In 2011, Afifi al-Akiti was awarded the Darjah Paduka Mahkota Perak (PMP), the Malaysian equivalent to the British CBE. [14] [15] In 2012, he was the sole recipient of the Darjah Dato' Paduka Cura Si-Manja Kini (DPCM) in that year's Sultan of Perak Birthday Honours List, which carries the Malaysian title of Dato'. [16] [17]
Afifi al-Akiti, who comes from Malaysia, is trained as a theologian and philologist in both the Islamic and Western traditions: educated originally at the feet of the ulema of the Muslim world, he subsequently received a First Class degree in Scholastic philosophy and the History of science from the Queen's University Belfast, where he was awarded various scholarships to read for his Masters and Doctoral degrees at Oxford University. His areas of expertise are Islamic theology, philosophy and science. [18]
Afifi al-Akiti completed his DPhil in Medieval Arabic Philosophy from Oxford University as a Clarendon Scholar in 2008. His thesis identifies and systematically considers for the first time a group of philosophical writings, called the Madnun corpus, attributed to Islam's greatest theologian, al-Ghazali (d. 505/1111). His discoveries are based on a survey of nearly 50 medieval Arabic manuscripts. Besides acquainting scholars with this remarkable new body of source material, his three-volume study also presents a critical edition of the most advanced and technical work of this corpus, the manual on metaphysics and natural philosophy called the Major Madnun. [19] [20]
On 23 July 2005, just days after the London bombings, Afifi al-Akiti wrote Defending the Transgressed by Censuring the Reckless against the Killing of Civilians (Arabic: Mudafi' al-Mazlum bi-Radd al-Muhamil 'ala Qital Man La Yuqatil), the foreword of which was described by Gibril Haddad as a "fatwa" or a "response by a qualified Muslim scholar against the killing of civilians". [21] Furthermore:
Upon reading Shaykh Afifi's fatwa do not be surprised to find that you have probably never before seen such clarity of thought and expression together with breadth of knowledge of Islamic Law applied (by a non-native speaker) to define key Islamic concepts pertaining to the conduct of war and its jurisprudence, its arena and boundaries, suicide bombing, the reckless targeting of civilians, and more. [21]
This work was first published freely available on the Internet. [2] [22] [23] It was written in response to a statement issued by the radical group al-Muhajiroun, which refers to the 9/11 hijackers as the "Magnificent 19", and claims that while Muslims who live in the West are not allowed to wage war against the government, Muslims who live elsewhere do not face the same prohibition. [24] In fact, the leader of al-Muhajiroun, Omar Bakri Muhammad, even argues that the British government had broken a supposed "covenant of security" with its Muslim citizens when it embarked on its anti-terror crackdown by introducing anti-terror legislation and indefinite detention of terror suspects. British Muslims therefore had every right to consider themselves at war with the government, he claims. [25] Countering this argument, Afifi al-Akiti says that Omar Bakri has no authority to issue such a war directive as only a Muslim government could issue one. If a Muslim were to carry out such an attack, he would be a murderer and not a martyr or hero. [26]
As a result of its huge online popularity, [23] Defending the Transgressed was subsequently published as a book by Aqsa Press (Birmingham) and Warda Publications (Hellenthal, Germany) in September 2005. A year later the Defending the Transgressed appeared (as second edition) in The State We Are In [27] – a collection containing contributions on the same topic by other notable Muslim scholars, including the likes of Hamza Yusuf and Abdallah Bin Bayyah. Its third edition is published in 2009 as part of the Oxford Amnesty Lectures (OAL) 2006 series, War Against Terror. [28]
So far, Defending the Transgressed has been translated into a number of languages including German, [29] [30] Spanish, [31] Albanian [32] and Swedish. [33]
Tun Abdullah bin Ahmad Badawi is a Malaysian politician who served as the fifth Prime Minister of Malaysia from 2003 to 2009. He was also the sixth president of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the largest political party in Malaysia, and led the governing Barisan Nasional (BN) parliamentary coalition. He is informally known as Pak Lah, Pak meaning 'Uncle' or 'Sir', while Lah is taken from his name 'Abdullah'. He was also a Member of Parliament (MP) for Kepala Batas for eight consecutive terms, from 1978 to 2013. During the later part of Abdullah's administration, his government faced criticism for economic policies and performance, including concerns about inflation and the rising cost of living.
Batu Gajah is the seat of Kinta District, Perak, Malaysia. It is administered by the Batu Gajah District Council, formerly known as Kinta West District Council.
Sunni and Shia are different sects among Muslims and the difference of opinions have resulted in many Fatwas, non-binding but authoritative legal opinion or learned interpretation issues pertaining to the Islamic law. Fatwas are based on the question and answer process found in the Quran, which seeks to enlighten on theological and philosophical issues, hadith, legal theory, duties, and the Sharia law. Sunni fatwas have been used to justify the persecution of Shia throughout their history.
Megat Junid bin Megat Ayub was a Malaysian politician and direct descendant of Megat Terawis, a Bendahara of Perak.
Samsudin bin Osman is a Malaysian former public servant who served the Malaysian Government from 1969 to 2006. His last office in the public service was Chief Secretary to the Government from 1 February 2001 to 2 September 2006. He is currently the President of the International Islamic University Malaysia, and Former Chairman of the Employees Provident Fund.
The Al-Ma'unah was a spiritual Islamist militant group based in Malaysia. The group was made famous by their audacious raid on 2 July 2000 on a camp of Malaysian Army Reserve (Mobilised) in the early hours of the morning and stealing weapons from the armoury. The group was later cornered in the village of Sauk, Kuala Kangsar, Perak and was involved in a stand-off the against the Malaysian Army and Royal Malaysian Police forces. The siege was ended when Malaysian security forces, including the army 22nd Grup Gerak Khas and police VAT 69 Pasukan Gerakan Khas, stormed the camp in Operation Dawn.
Dato' Seri Ir. Mohammad Nizar bin Jamaluddin is a Malaysian politician and engineer who has served as Member of the Perak State Executive Council (EXCO) in the Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Barisan Nasional (BN) state administrations under Menteris Besar Ahmad Faizal Azumu and Saarani Mohamad from May 2018 to the collapse of the PH state administration in March 2020 and again since November 2022 as well as Member of the Perak State Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Sungai Rapat since May 2018. He served as the 10th Menteri Besar of Perak from March 2008 to the collapse of the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) state administration in February 2009, MLA for Changkat Jering from May 2013 to May 2018, for Pasir Panjang from March 2008 to May 2013 and the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Bukit Gantang from April 2009 to May 2013. He is a member of the National Trust Party (AMANAH), a component party of the PH coalition and was a member of the Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), a former component party of the PR coalition. He is also presently the sole Perak AMANAH MLA.
Dr. Lo' Lo' binti Mohd Ghazali was a Malaysian politician. She served as the Member of Parliament for the Titiwangsa constituency in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 2008 until her death in 2011. Lo' Lo' was a career physician who was elected to the central committee of the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) in 2001.
Zambry bin Abdul Kadir is a Malaysian politician who has served as the Minister of Higher Education in the Unity Government administration under Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim since December 2023 and Senator since December 2022. He served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the PH administration under Prime Minister Anwar from December 2022 to December 2023, Non-independent and Non-executive Chairman of Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB) from August 2020 to December 2022, Leader of the Opposition of Perak briefly from July 2018 to August 2018, 11th Menteri Besar of Perak from February 2009 to May 2018, Member of the Perak State Executive Council (EXCO) in the Barisan Nasional (BN) state administration under former Menteri Besar Tajol Rosli Mohd Ghazali from March 2004 to the collapse of the BN state administration in March 2008 and Member of the Perak State Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Pangkor from March 2004 to November 2022. He is a member of the Supreme Council and Division Chief of Lumut of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), a component party of the BN coalition. He has also served as the Secretary-General of BN since June 2021.
Tun Muhammad Ghazali bin Shafie was a Malaysian politician and diplomat. He served under the administrations of four Prime Ministers, most notably as Minister of Home and Foreign Affairs from 1973 to 1984.
Arifin bin Zakaria is a Malaysian lawyer who served as the seventh Chief Justice of Malaysia, serving from 12 September 2011, succeeding Zaki Azmi, until 31 March 2017.
The following is the orders, decorations, and medals given by Sultan of Perak. When applicable, post-nominal letters and non-hereditary titles are indicated.
The Grand Mufti of Australia is a Sunni Muslim cleric, or Grand Mufti, chosen to represent and answer questions from the growing Muslim population. Nominated by the Australian National Imams Council (ANIC), the current Grand Mufti of Australia since 2018 is Ibrahim Abu Mohammed. Mohammed previously held the position from 2011–2018, and became Grand Mufti again after his successor, Abdel Aziem Al-Afifi died in office after a four-month tenure.
Abdullah bin Ayub was a Malaysian civil servant who served as the 6th Chief Secretary to the Government of Malaysia from 1 January 1979 to 30 November 1982.
Tun Ahmad Sarji bin Abdul Hamid was a Malaysian civil servant who served as the 9th Chief Secretary to the Government from 1990 to 1996.
Eusoffe Abdoolcader was a Malaysian judge of the Federal Court from 1974 to 1988. Eusoffe was a respected lawyer and Supreme Court judge, remembered by his peers and juniors as perhaps the greatest judge Malaysia had seen.
Saarani bin Mohamad is a Malaysian politician and teacher who has served as 14th Menteri Besar of Perak since December 2020 and Member of the Perak State Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Kota Tampan since March 2004. He served as Member of the Perak State Executive Council (EXCO) in the Barisan Nasional (BN) state administrations under former Menteris Besar Tajol Rosli Mohd Ghazali and Zambry Abdul Kadir from March 2004 to the collapse of the BN state administration in March 2008 and from February 2009 to another collapse in May 2018 and again in the Perikatan Nasional (PN) state administration under former Menteri Besar Ahmad Faizal Azumu briefly from March 2020 to the collapse of the PN administration in December 2020, Leader of the Opposition of Perak from August 2018 to March 2020 as well as the MLA for Lenggong from November 1999 to March 2004. He is a member of the Supreme Council and Division Chief of Lenggong of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), a component party of the BN coalition. He is also the State Chairman of BN and UMNO of Perak.
Ahmad Kamil bin Jaafar was a Malaysian politician and diplomat.
Harussani bin Zakaria was a Malaysian Islamic ulama who served as the eighth Mufti of Perak.
General (Rtd) Tan Sri Dato' Sri Mohd Ghazali bin Mohd Seth was the 7th Chief of Defence Forces of Malaysia.