Nuh Ha Mim Keller | |
---|---|
Title | Shaykh |
Personal | |
Born | 1954 (age 69–70) [1] |
Religion | Islam |
Era | Modern era |
Region | Jordan |
Denomination | Sunni Islam |
Jurisprudence | Shafi'i |
Creed | Ash'ari |
Main interest(s) | Sharia, Hadith, Tafsir, Sufism |
Tariqa | Shadhili |
Nuh Ha Mim Keller (born 1954) is an American Islamic scholar, teacher and author who lives in Amman. He is a translator of a number of Islamic books. [2]
Keller studied philosophy and Arabic at the University of Chicago and the University of California, Los Angeles. Keller converted to Islam from Roman Catholicism in 1977. [3] He has cited Islamic philosopher Seyyed Hossein Nasr's writings as one of the reasons for his conversion to Islam. [4] : 198
He then began a prolonged study of the Islamic sciences with prominent scholars in Syria and Jordan and was authorized as a shaykh in 1996. [3]
He joined the Shadhili Sufi order, becoming a disciple of the Sufi poet Sheikh ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Shaghouri of Damascus (from whom he received his authorization) from 1982 until his death in 2004. [5]
His English translation of Umdat al-Salik, Reliance of the Traveller , (Sunna Books, 1991) is a Shafi'i manual of Shariah. [6] [7] It is the first Islamic legal work in a European language to receive the certification of Al-Azhar University. [3] [8]
Keller released a translation of the Quran titled The Quran Beheld in 2022 which strives to provide readers with a unique sense of the high eloquence and beauty of the Quran while also maintaining the linguistic and rhetorical accuracy. [9] [ non-primary source needed ] In the translator's own words, "Seven key areas of meaning" were "neglected by previous translations. Such gaps result in crucial elements of the Quran’s themes, logic, arguments, message, and meanings being lost. The Quran Beheld thus uncovers matters of Arabic meaning in the Quran for the first time in English." [10] [ non-primary source needed ]
Keller has also written numerous articles and was a regular contributor to Islamica Magazine and the website masud.co.uk. [11]
Currently, Keller lives in Amman, Jordan, [12] where he established a zawiya (seminary) in the early 2000s. At its height, the community attending the institution is believed to have amounted to around 60 families. However, following Keller's ordering the closure of a community school in light of an internal abuse investigation, the size of the community shrank to around 20 families, according to former members. [13]
He is married to Besa Krasniqi, a scholar who is the daughter of Mazhar Krasniqi. [14]
Sufism is a mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic purification, spirituality, ritualism, and asceticism.
Umdat as-Salik wa 'Uddat an-Nasik is a classical manual of fiqh for the Shafi'i school of Islamic jurisprudence. The author of the main text is 14th-century scholar Shihabuddin Abu al-'Abbas Ahmad ibn an-Naqib al-Misri. Al-Misri based his work on the previous Shafi'i works of Imam Nawawi and Imam Abu Ishaq as-Shirazi, following the order of Shirazi's al-Muhadhdhab and the conclusions of Nawawi's Minhaj at-Talibin.
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Abū 'Abdullah Muḥammad ibn Sulaymān ibn Abū Bakr al-Jazūli al-Simlālī, often known as Imam al-Jazuli or Sheikh Jazuli, was a Moroccan Sufi Saint. He is best known for compiling the Dala'il al-Khayrat, an extremely popular Muslim prayer book. This book is usually divided into 7 sections for each day of the week. Al-Jazuli is one of the seven saints of Marrakesh and is buried in his mausoleum inside the city.
Abū ʿAbdullāh Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Abī Bakr al-Anṣārī al-Qurṭubī was an Andalusian Sunni Muslim polymath, Maliki jurisconsult, mufassir, muhaddith and an expert in the Arabic language. He was taught by prominent scholars of Córdoba, Spain and he is well known for his classical commentary of the Quran named Tafsir al-Qurtubi.
Ahmad al-Alawi, in full Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad ibn Muṣṭafā ibn ʿAlīwa, known as al-ʿAlāwī al-Mustaghānimī, was an Algerian Sufi Sheikh who founded his own Sufi order, called the Alawiyya.
Radd al-Muhtār 'ala al-Durr al-Mukhtār is a book on Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) by 18th century Islamic scholar, Ibn 'Abidin, whose title translates to "Guiding the Baffled to The Exquisite Pearl".
Al-Mursi Abu'l-'Abbas was a saint from Al-Andalus during the Nasrid period and who later in his life moved to Alexandria in Egypt. His complete name is Shahab al-Din Abu'l-'Abbas Ahmad ibn 'Umar ibn Mohammad al-Ansari al-Mursi. Al-Mursi Abul-'Abbas, as he is now commonly called, is one of the four master saints of Egypt, the other three being Ahmad al-Badawi, al-Dessouqi and al-Haggag. His legacy and reverence in Egypt were such that Mursi became a common name in the country.
Sayyid ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muṣṭafā ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Zayn al-ʿAbidīn al-Shāghūrī al-Ḥusaynī was a Syrian Sufi master of the Hashimi-Darqawi branch of the Shadhili tariqa, as well as poet, textile worker, and trade unionist.
Abd al-Wahhab al-Sha'rani was a highly influential Egyptian scholar. He was an eminent jurist, traditionist, historian, mystic and theologian. He was one of the Islamic revivalists and scholastic saints of the sixteenth century. He is credited for reviving Islam and is one of the most prolific writers of the early Egyptian-Ottoman period. His legal, spiritual, and theological writings are still widely read in the Muslim world today. He is regarded as "one of the last original thinkers in Islam." He was the founder of an Egyptian order of Sufism, eponymously known as Šaʿrāwiyyah. The order gradually declined after Shaʿrani's death, although it remained active until the 19th century.
This page lists the rulings and applications of the various topics in Sharia law.
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