“Abu Zahra”… 60s’ pole of religious renewal

Sheikh Muhammad Ahmed Mostafa, also known as Abu Zahra, was born in 1898 in Gharbia Governorate, Egypt. He memorized the Holy Quran and learned to read and write in Kuttab (elementary school).

He continued his studies at the College of Al-Ahmadi Al-Azhari in Ahmadi Mosque in Tanta; after three years, he was enrolled in a judiciary studies school in Cairo for eight years until he graduated with a degree in 1924.

He then joined Dar al-Ulum Institution and got its equivalency certificate in 1927, and then joined the teaching staff of the Faculty of Usul al-Din at al-Azhar. He also co-founded the Higher Institute of Islamic Studies.

The School of Religious Judiciary, initially founded by Mohammed Abduh (one of the key founding figures of Islamic Modernism), was the first nucleus of religious tajdid (renewal) and encountering extremist ideologies.

After Abduh died, Egyptian revolutionary Saad Zaghloul, who was minister of education at the time, adopted the idea of the school and revived it.

A number of scholars graduated from the school after being taught other subjects along with religious studies; the school trained moderate scholars who refined extremism and radicalism out of Islamic heritage and managed to enrich the religious, scientific and literary archive.

Abu Zahra was a graduate of this school; several Azhar clerics criticized him for invalidating some Ahadith sahihah (Authentic sayings attributed to the prophet Muhammad) that he saw unreasonable and illogical, the matte which got rejected by Hadith studies clerics who see that whatever is narrated on behalf of the prophet must be believed.

In his book “Khātam al-Nabiyyīn” (The last prophet), Abu Zahra says, “As we contemplate, we conclude that if Isra was a physical and spiritual journey, then Mi'raj would have been only spiritual, and that it is an honest vision, for the lack of proofs in the Quran that it occurred physically and spiritually.”

He also referred some stories and tales to back when mosques were filled with storytellers who would tell fairytales and stories that later became the reason behind the existence of many Isra'iliyyat (narratives originating from Jewish and Christian traditions) in tafsir (Quran interpretation) and Islamic history books.

He believed that these stories were narrated from a single point of view, making them biased and not objective.

Abu Zahra also believed Mu-‘allafatul-quluub (those whose hearts are inclined towards Islam) lacked from real faith, because they cared about nothing but money. “While a mujahid’s (a fighter for the sake of Allah and Islam) share of the loot he seized with his sword was four camels, Abu Sufyan’s (was the leader of the Quraysh tribe of Mecca) share would be 100 camels… these Mu-‘allafatul-quluub were acquisitive.”

Simplifying religious affairs:

During the 1972 Islamic Legislation Conference, Abu Zahra presumed that stoning is not of an Islamic origin, however, it is a Jewish practice that the prophet admitted and then prescribed by the Quran in Surah an-Nur.

Abu Zahra also worked at the Liwa Al-Islam magazine as the director of the Fatwa section, during then, Fatwas were so simple and away from radicalism and intricacy, as the Wahhabism doctrine started to spread through the Arab world.

Abu Zahra was considered a prominent Islamic modernist, this can be shown clearly in the Fatwas he issued during the time and the issues he addressed and discussed in a number of conferences; not to mention his books that focused on religion with simplicity, away from extremism.

He wrote thirty books, including ‘The last prophet’, ‘The biggest miracle: The Holy Quran’, ‘History of the Islamic doctrines’, ‘Punishment in the Islamic jurisprudence’, ‘Crime in the Islamic jurisprudence’, ‘Personal status’.

What Abu Zahra wrote or said was characterized by an objective vision towards religion; setting free from heritage and predecessors, relying on reason in applying the law and rejecting whatever is illogical or unreasonable.