ABU AD-DARDA’ al-Khazraji al-Ansari رضي الله عنه was a noble sahabi who was an authority on the Qur’an. He was renowned for his piety, abstinence and strict adherence to the religion. Faith in Allah and His Messenger ﷺ permeated his entire being. He was one of the few who collected the Qur’an as it was being revealed.
One morning, ‘Uwaymir ibn Malik al-Khazraji, also known as Abu al-Darda’ رضي الله عنه, woke up early and went to his personal idol, which he kept in the best spot of the house. He rubbed the idol with the most expensive perfume sold at his shop, and draped it with an exquisite silk cloak which had been gifted to him the day before by a trader returning from Yemen.
ABU HURAIRA ad-Dawsi al-Yamani رضي الله عنه was noble sahabi and a prolific narrator of ahadith, in spite of the short period of time of his contact with the Prophet ﷺ. He is revered by the folk of tasawwuf as one of the ahl as-suffa.
Abu Huraira رضي الله عنه became a Muslim at the hands of at-Tufail b. ‘Amr رضي الله عنه, the chieftain of the Daws tribe to which he belonged. The Daws lived in the region of Tihama which stretches along the coast of the Red Sea in southern Arabia.
When at-Tufail رضي الله عنه returned to his village after meeting with the Prophet ﷺ and becoming a Muslim in the early years of his mission, he was one of the first to respond to his call, unlike the majority of the Daws who remained stubborn in their old beliefs for a long time.
He is Abu Muhammad ‘Izz al-Din ibn ‘Abd al-‘Aziz ibn ‘Abd al-Salam ibn Abi al-Qasim al-Sulami. He was of Moroccan origin but born in Damascus. However, he later resided in Egypt and passed away there. He was Shafi’i in madhhab and is nicknamed “Sultan al-‘Ulama’”.
Historians have agreed that al-‘Izz passed away in Egypt in the year 660 AH (1260 CE). They are also in agreement that he was born in Damascus, Syria. However, they differed over whether the year of his passing was 577 AH (1181 CE) or 578 AH (1182 CE).
The books of history and hagiography do not record anything of note regarding the upbringing of al-‘Izz or his family, except what Ibn al-Subki narrates, that in the beginning of his life, he was extremely poor.
Al-Nawawi is the Imam, the unique hafiz and exemplar, the Sheikh of Islam, the emblem of the saints, Muhyi al-Din Abu Zakariyyah Yahya ibn Sharaf ibn Murri al-Huzami al-Harani al-Shafi’i. He is the author of many beneficial works.
Imam al-Nawawi was born in the month of Muharram in the year 631 AH (October 1233 CE) and moved to Damascus in the year 649 AH (1251-1252 CE). There, he stayed in the madrasah ‘al-Rawahiyah’ living off of bread. He memorized al-Tanbih in four and a half months and spent the rest of the year studying and memorizing a quarter of al-Muhadhdhab with his sheikh, al-Kamal ibn Ahmad. After that, he performed hajj with his father and stayed in Madinah a month and a half. However, he was sick the majority of the trip.
Shaykh Salih al-Ja’fari رَحِمَهُ الله hailed from the Dongola region in Sudan. He was born in 15 Jumada al-Thaniyah/24 June of the year 1328/1910. The sheikh conducted his preliminary studies in the famous Old Mosque situated in his native home country, where he managed to memorize the entire Qur’an by heart. The sheikh then journeyed to Egypt after deciding to conduct formal studies at al-Azhar University. During his time there, the sheikh was able to communicate with some of his existing family members who lived in Salmiyyah, a small town situated in the outskirts of Luxor.
Habib ‘Umar is a 39th-generation direct descendant of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, through Imam al-Husayn and ‘Ali Zayn al-’Abidin. Born in Tarim, in Yemen’s Hadramawt Valley, in 1383 AH (1963 CE), he has become one of the leading scholars, teachers, and renewers of the Islamic tradition in our time.
Habib ‘Umar’s family has been based in Yemen for 30 generations. He continues in the tradition of his father, his father’s father, and all his forefathers, who were all scholars, and knowers of Allah.
