Shaykh Imadudeen Abu Hijleh welcomes the presence of the UK Branch of the World Association for Al-Azhar Graduates (WAAG UK)
On Saturday 17 September 2016, the scholarly author Shaykh Imadudeen Abu Hijleh met with Shaykh Muhammad Imdad Hussain Pirzada. On his visit, he was accompanied by Allama Dr Masood Ahmad Ashrafi (USA). Shaykh Imadudeen is originally from Palestine and has lived in the United States for more than two decades. He is an author of numerous books related to Islamic Sciences and is a traditionally trained scholar. He holds numerous ijazahs with chains of transmissions in many religious sciences. He has lectured widely including at the MSA at Harvard in Cambridge, Massachusetts (USA) and the Manchester Community College in New Hampshire (USA).
Upon his arrival, Shaykh Imadudeen toured the Eaton Hall campus and was briefed on various projects undertaken by the institution. He welcomed and appreciated the close connection between Jamia Al-Karam and Al-Azhar University, especially the initiation of the UK Branch of the World Association for Al-Azhar Graduates.
Shaykh Imadudeen presented some of his written works and expressed how eager he was to meet with Shaykh Pirzada, for he had previously read the entire Arabic book ‘Imdad al-Fiqh fi’l-‘Ibadat’ written by Shaykh Pirzada. He commented on the importance of this book in being a bridge for modern students of Hanafi jurisprudence between the contemporary forms of juristic expression and the classical encyclopaedic works of Hanafi jurisprudence. Shaykh Pirzada further gifted numerous other books written by him as well as an unpublished section of the Arabic translation of his Qur’an commentary, the ‘Tafsir Imdad al-Karam’, which has been translated into Arabic at Al-Azhar University and is awaiting publication.
Shaykh Imdadudeen was further pleased as he expressed great admiration when he heard of the scholarly tradition of knowledge represented in the form of the teachers of Shaykh Pirzada’s teacher, the Zia-ul-Ummat Justice Shaykh Muhammad Karam Shah al-Azhari (ra). In particular, his two teachers at Al-Azhar University in the 1950s, namely the renowned Imam Muhammad Abu Zahrah and Dr Ahmad Zaki. Letters written by these teachers to their student were presented to Shaykh Imadudeen, upon which he commented that Imam Muhammad Abu Zahrah is an Imam of scholars of his age and Dr Ahmad Zaki can be considered the Sibawayh of Arabic linguistics of modern times.
