1295-1363 AH
He is Muhammad Al-Ahmadi ibn Ibrahim ibn Ibrahim Az-Zawahiri Al-Masri Al-Hanbali Al-Khalwati. Born in the year 1295 AH in the village of Kafr az-Zawahiri in the district of Asharqiyyah, he came from a house of knowledge and loved study and hard work a great deal.
He is one of the premier scholars of Egypt and one of the greatest of the recent past who is of the same caliber as Imam Mustafa Ash-Shatti, may Allah have mercy on him.
Upbringing and Learning
At an early age, the Imam memorised the Qur’an and was sent to start at Ma`had al-Ahmad in Tanta in northing Egypt and gained a great mastery of the sciences of Islam. His subjects of study centred around the memorisation of hadith and the study of their commentators along with the commentaries on the Qur’an.
When discussing his fiqh, he focused on Al-Muqni` and the summary known as Zad ul-Mustaqni` by Imam Musa al-Hajjawi (d. 968 AH), the great Palesinian Marja`. He was declared by his teachers as marja` in the year 1348 AH and began an ambitious programme of calling the people to a greater knowledge of Islam.
Later Life and Death
Busy with the work of helping others, feeding the poor with spiritual and physical food, the Imam collided with the fading monarchy of Faruq I and witnessed first hand the rise of the Egyptian military as a growing political class.
He watched as the British began to downside but new secular and communist forces start to discuss the secularization of the institutes, masjids, scholars and universities of higher learning for both layman and scholar alike.
He died in the year 1363 AH at 68 years of age, a life filled with family and sacrifice, children and working against avarice and vice. He left behind more than 200 rulings and some six large books covering topics ranging from secularism to cults and the rise of venereal diseases throughout the world as people from the United States and Europe began to travel more and infect women with rape or through prostitution.
We ask our Lord that He have mercy on the Imam and bless his works with wide diffusion among the people.
Meeraath 