1290-1351 AH
One of the Maraji` of Sham
Referred to as the high ranking scholar, the fiqh scholar, the excellent mujahid, the Shaikh, he is Yusuf ibn `Abdullah ibn `Awdah ibn `Abdullah ibn `Isa Sufan Al-Qaddumi An-Nabulsi.
The Shaikh was born in the year 1290 AH in the city of Nablus (near the hamlet of Kafr Qaddum) and raised in the home of his parents. Shaikh Yusuf took his first lessons with his father and the marja`, Shaikh `Abdullah Sufan Al-Qaddumi (d. 1331 AH), being taught to read and write and basic arithmetic.
Beginning his first and introductory sciences and some smaller texts, this prepared the way for what he would later become when he completed his studies. In the year 1307 AH, he had completed the entire memorisation and recital of the Qur’an according to the rules of tajwid from the transmission of Hafs ibn Abi Sulaiman Al-Kufi narrated from `Asim.
After this, he headed with other students to begin the madrasah programme at the Central Masjid As-Salahi in Nablus; while there he was immersed in fiqh, hadith, the science of tajwid, inheritance and Arabic. These lessons were started with his father – who was also a teacher there – and a near relative, Shaikh Musa Al-Qaddumi (d. 1335 AH).
In addition to this, there was also whatever lessons he took from his elder brother, the Shakh Mahmud Afandi Al-Qaddumi.
There were other teachers present who he learned from and started the long journey of going through hadith collections. The collections studied and mastered were from the following scholars: Al-Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawud, At-Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah, An-Nasa’ii and others.
Having started with the continuously narrated hadith first, he graduated to more complex discussion and commentaries. By the time he finished, he received an authorisation and permission to narrate chains of transmission from the six collections. After another few years, he was declared marja` by the marja` people of Nablus for the school of Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal.
After his marja`iyyah, Shaikh Yusuf Al-Qaddumi spend his time fighting in wars against the invading British and also the rise of the Zionism movement started by Theodore Herzl. The Second European Civil War also led to German spies and a presence in the Palestinian territories that disturbed the Shaikh.
This led to him fighting in a number of resistance movements. During this time, he was writing texts about developments and giving rulings that have been collected into ten small works. His father, Shaikh `Abdullah Sufan Al-Qaddumi, had his son write introductions to two of his books.
After a lifetime of service and fighting (physically and with words), Shaikh Yusuf Al-Qaddumi died in the year 1351 AH and was buried in the family crypt in Nablus.
Meeraath 