Abdul Razzaq al-Mahdi

Abdur Razzaq bin Ghalib al-Mahdi
Abdur Razzaq bin Ghalib al-Mahdi
عبد الرزاق بن غالب المهدي
Personal life
Born	1961 (age 62–63); Al-Salihiyah, Damascus, Syria
Religious life
Religion	Sunni Islam
Senior posting
Post	Religious cleric in Tahrir al-Sham (former); Specializes in Hadith;
Website	http://abderrazakalmahdi.com/ (offline)

Abdul Razzaq al-Mahdi (Arabic: عبد الزراق المهدي), is a Syrian Islamist cleric who is actively involved fighting in the Syrian Civil War against the Syrian government. He originates from Damascus's Al-Salihiyah district and was born in 1961.

Study and graduation

He began studying Islamic Sciences in 1977 in the al-Fathu’l Islami institution in Damascus, where his teachers included Abdur Razzaq al-Halabi, the mufti of Hanafis. He also studied under Abdul Qader Arnaout.

He briefly left Syria for Tunisia, where he preached and taught. After the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War he returned to Syria to support fighters opposing the government.

A fatwa allowing abandoned homes to be seized was withdrawn by Abdulrazzaq al Mahdi.^[2] A video was posted of Abdul Razzaq al Mahdi pleading for Muslims to intervene against what he called were "cursed Shiite rafidha" in December 2016 during the Battle of Aleppo.^[3]

After the death of Muhammad Surur, Abdul Razzaq al-Mahdi released condolences upon him and commented on his impact.^[4] Al Mahdi posted a video calling for unity under the leadership of Islamic clerics.^[5]

In an article published in the 19th edition of the Turkistan Islamic Party's magazine "Islamic Turkistan", Abdurazak al Mahdi praised Sultan Satuq Bughra Khan's conversion to Islam and Qutayba bin Muslim's conquest.^[6]

Abdullah al Muhaysini, Hani al Siba'ee, Abu Qatada, and Abdurazak al Mahdi were all featured in a Turkistan Islamic Party video.^[7]

The Turkistan Islamic Party in Syria released "Blessed Are the Strangers #6" featuring a speech by Hasan Mahsum, as well as by Army of Conquest leader Abdullah al-Muhaysini and fellow Abdul Razzaq al Mahdi.^[8]

Doğu Türkistan Bülteni Haber Ajansı reported that the Turkistan Islamic Party was praised by Abu Qatada along with Abdul Razzaq al Mahdi, Maqdisi, Muhaysini and Zawahiri.^[9]

Abdul Razzaq al-Mahdi and Abdullah al-Muhaysini asked Muslims with money to aid the cause of the Uyghur Turkistan Islamic Party and praised the Uyghur foreign fighters for their role in the Syrian Civil War fighting against the Syrian government.^[10]^[11]

Muhaysini, Abu Taher Al Hamawi, and Abdelrazzak Mehdi worked on the formation of the group Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham.^[12] They are members of the group and appeared in its founding declaration.^[13]^[14] However some months later on 8 March 2017 Abdul Razzaq al-Mahdi announced his split from the group in his official Telegram channel as he had not been able to hinder some injustices and did thus not wish to take share in the responsibility. This came in the wake of the Rebel infighting in South Idlib and Northern Hama between Tahrir al-Sham and Liwa al-Aqsa, an ISIS affiliate left over from the late Jund al-Aqsa movement after its fusion. Liwa al-Aqsa had been accused of harassing other groups and kidnapping people as they considered most groups to be apostates, which emanated from their extreme views in takfir. Since his split from the group, al-Mahdi continues his Islamic preaching activities independently and hosts some programs along with answering jurisprudential (relating fiqh - the permissibility or prohibition of actions) questions of his followers online through Telegram.

Abdul Razzaq al-Mahdi along with Nabil Al-Awadi, Tariq Abdelhaleem, and Hani al-Sibai, in addition to others like Adnan al-Aroor, Abd Al-Aziz Al-Fawzan, Mohamad al-Arefe, Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais, Abdul-Aziz ibn Abdullah Al Shaykh and others were included on a death list by ISIS.^[15]

Works

Activities of the Abdul Razzaq al-Mahdı in revising books were concentrated on the subject of Hadith, particularly the fields of Takhrij (researching variants of the hadith), Tashih (authentifying hadiths) and Tadyif (classifying to be “weak”).

Tafsir

Tafsiru’l Qurani’l Azim by Ibn Kathir, 5 volumes
Tafsiru’l Qurtubi, al-Jami’ li’l-Ahkami’l Quran, 10 volumes
Tafsiru’sh Shawkani, Fathu’l Qadir; 5 volumes
Ahkamu’l Quran by Ibn al-Arabi; 4 volumes
Tafsiru’l Baghawi; 5 volumes
Tafsiru’l Kashaf by Zamahshari; 5 volumes, including an Appendix
al-Bahru’l Muhit by Abu Hayyan; 8 volumes
at-Tashīl by Ibn Juzayy; 2 volumes
Adwau’l Bayan by al Shanqiti
Fathul Bayan by Sadiq Hasan Khan

Islamic sciences

at-Tamhid by Ibn Abdilbarr
Fathul Qadir by Ibn Humām; 5 volumes [Hanafi fiqh]
al-Lubāb; 3 volumes [Hanafi fiqh]
al-Uddah Sharhul 'Umdah
ar-Rawdul Murabba’
Bidāyatul Mujtahid by Ibn Rushd (Averroes)
al-I’tisam by al-Shātibi
Fathul Majid
Shariah by Ajuri
Tarikhul Madina by Ibn an-Najjar
Zadul Ma’ad by Ibn Qayyim
Talbisu Iblis by Ibn Jawzi
Mukthasar Zadul Ma’ād and Mukhtasar as-Sīrah by Muhammad ibn Abdulwahhab

Miscellaneous

Kitabu'l Adhkar by an-Nawawī
ar-Rihlatu fi talabil hadith by al-Khatīb al-Baghdadi
al-Khatim by al-Bayhaqī with an introduction
Muwatta; 4 volumes revision with a lengthy and detailed takhrij of the hadiths, especially those concerning balaaghah, mursal ones and mawquf hadiths considered marfu' along with a beneficent commentary. It has not been printed later.

References

^ Lister, Charles (6 March 2017). "cleric Abdulrazzaq al-Mehdi has announced his defection from HTS due to its recent "aggressions" against Ahrar al-Sham" – via Twitter.^{[non-primary source needed]}
^ Hassan, Hassan (15 April 2016). "Ahrar al-Sham's Shkh Abdulrazzaq al-Mahdi retracts his fatwa that permitted taking "abandoned homes & was abuses" – via Twitter.^{[non-primary source needed]}
^ Emotional plea from Sheik Abdul Razzaq Al Mahdi from Syria. #aleppo نامەیەکی کاریگەر لەلایەن شێخ عب. 15 December 2016.
^ Hassan, Hassan (2 December 2016). "Interesting take by #Syria jihadist Sheikh Abdulrazzaq al-Mahdi on the legacy of Muhammad Surur (e.g. Safar al-Hawali, Nasser al-Omar et al)pic.twitter.com/hJF9jeSDav". @hxhassan (in Arabic).^{[non-primary source needed]}
^ Unity under the leadership of the scholars الشيخ عبد الرزاق المهدي - الوحدة تحت قيادة العلماء. 25 April 2016. Archived from the original on 4 February 2017.
^ عبد الرزاق المهدي الدمشقي (April 2016). "ساندوا الشعب التركستاني" (PDF). تركستان الإسلامية. No. العدد 19. p. 31. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 September 2016.
^ Zelin, Aaron Y. (15 August 2016). "New video message from Ḥizb al-Islāmī al-Turkistānī in Bilād al-Shām: "Congratulations of the Shaykhs on the Occasion of Ramaḍān"". Jihadology.net.
^ Zelin, Aaron Y. (1 January 2017). "New video message from Ḥizb al-Islāmī al-Turkistānī in Bilād al-Shām: "Blessed Are the Strangers #6"". Jihadology.
^ "Şeyh Ebu Katade'den Türkistan İslam Cemaati Mücahitlerine Övgü Dolu Sözler". Doğu Türkistan Bülteni Haber Ajansı. 2 November 2016. Archived from the original on 2 February 2017.
^ "Turkestan Islamic Party (TIP) Video Features Al-Muhaysini And Mahdi Commending Uyghur Fighters, Urging Muslim Businessmen To Support, Publicize Their Plight In East Turkestan". MEMRI. 5 January 2017.
^ "New video message from Ḥizb al-Islāmī al-Turkistānī in Bilād al-Shām: "Dr. 'Abd Allah bin Muḥammad al-Muḥaysinī: Message To Those Who Migrated From Turkistān"". Jihadology. 15 January 2017.
^ Al-Tamimi, Aymenn J. (29 January 2017). "#Syria: One might understand the reasoning here, but fact is U.S. reasonably won't see Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham this way, so strikes continuepic.twitter.com/bzdy4rDo9I". @ajaltamimi.^{[non-primary source needed]}
^ Joscelyn, Thomas (28 January 2017). "Six jihadi scholars have joined Tahrir al Sham, including Abdullah al Muhaysini (a Saudi designated by US gov't as al Qaeda):pic.twitter.com/IaiGXMVFaA" – via Twitter.^{[non-primary source needed]}
^ "SYRIA Jihadi Scholars Join Newly-Formed Tahrir Al-Sham, Among Them Abdullah Al Muhaysani, Abdel Razaq Mahdi, Abu Yusuf" (in Arabic). 28 January 2017 – via Twitter.^{[non-primary source needed]}
^ "ISIS Launches Campaign Calling To Kill Prominent Islamic Clerics Such As Yousuf Al-Qaradawi, Saudi Mufti 'Abd Al-'Aziz Aal Al-Sheikh, Former Egyptian Chief Mufti 'Ali Gum'a". MEMRI. 14 February 2017.

External links

[1] Lister, Charles (6 March 2017). "cleric Abdulrazzaq al-Mehdi has announced his defection from HTS due to its recent "aggressions" against Ahrar al-Sham" – via Twitter.^{[non-primary source needed]}

[2] Hassan, Hassan (15 April 2016). "Ahrar al-Sham's Shkh Abdulrazzaq al-Mahdi retracts his fatwa that permitted taking "abandoned homes & was abuses" – via Twitter.^{[non-primary source needed]}

[3] Emotional plea from Sheik Abdul Razzaq Al Mahdi from Syria. #aleppo نامەیەکی کاریگەر لەلایەن شێخ عب. 15 December 2016.

[4] Hassan, Hassan (2 December 2016). "Interesting take by #Syria jihadist Sheikh Abdulrazzaq al-Mahdi on the legacy of Muhammad Surur (e.g. Safar al-Hawali, Nasser al-Omar et al)pic.twitter.com/hJF9jeSDav". @hxhassan (in Arabic).^{[non-primary source needed]}

[5] Unity under the leadership of the scholars الشيخ عبد الرزاق المهدي - الوحدة تحت قيادة العلماء. 25 April 2016. Archived from the original on 4 February 2017.

[6] عبد الرزاق المهدي الدمشقي (April 2016). "ساندوا الشعب التركستاني" (PDF). تركستان الإسلامية. No. العدد 19. p. 31. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 September 2016.

[7] Zelin, Aaron Y. (15 August 2016). "New video message from Ḥizb al-Islāmī al-Turkistānī in Bilād al-Shām: "Congratulations of the Shaykhs on the Occasion of Ramaḍān"". Jihadology.net.

[8] Zelin, Aaron Y. (1 January 2017). "New video message from Ḥizb al-Islāmī al-Turkistānī in Bilād al-Shām: "Blessed Are the Strangers #6"". Jihadology.

[9] "Şeyh Ebu Katade'den Türkistan İslam Cemaati Mücahitlerine Övgü Dolu Sözler". Doğu Türkistan Bülteni Haber Ajansı. 2 November 2016. Archived from the original on 2 February 2017.

[10] "Turkestan Islamic Party (TIP) Video Features Al-Muhaysini And Mahdi Commending Uyghur Fighters, Urging Muslim Businessmen To Support, Publicize Their Plight In East Turkestan". MEMRI. 5 January 2017.

[11] "New video message from Ḥizb al-Islāmī al-Turkistānī in Bilād al-Shām: "Dr. 'Abd Allah bin Muḥammad al-Muḥaysinī: Message To Those Who Migrated From Turkistān"". Jihadology. 15 January 2017.

[12] Al-Tamimi, Aymenn J. (29 January 2017). "#Syria: One might understand the reasoning here, but fact is U.S. reasonably won't see Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham this way, so strikes continuepic.twitter.com/bzdy4rDo9I". @ajaltamimi.^{[non-primary source needed]}

[13] Joscelyn, Thomas (28 January 2017). "Six jihadi scholars have joined Tahrir al Sham, including Abdullah al Muhaysini (a Saudi designated by US gov't as al Qaeda):pic.twitter.com/IaiGXMVFaA" – via Twitter.^{[non-primary source needed]}

[14] "SYRIA Jihadi Scholars Join Newly-Formed Tahrir Al-Sham, Among Them Abdullah Al Muhaysani, Abdel Razaq Mahdi, Abu Yusuf" (in Arabic). 28 January 2017 – via Twitter.^{[non-primary source needed]}

[15] "ISIS Launches Campaign Calling To Kill Prominent Islamic Clerics Such As Yousuf Al-Qaradawi, Saudi Mufti 'Abd Al-'Aziz Aal Al-Sheikh, Former Egyptian Chief Mufti 'Ali Gum'a". MEMRI. 14 February 2017.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]