Throughout the centuries, the tradition of Islamic scholarship has nurtured countless eminent scholars. Among these luminaries stands Abdulkarim al-Mudarris (quddisa sirruhu), one of the most distinguished scholars of tafsir, hadith, fiqh, and kalam produced by the lands of Iraq. He was a figure who left an indelible mark not only through his profound intellectual accumulation but also through his exemplary character, his enduring works, and the generations of students he cultivated.
Birth and Early Years
Abdulkarim al-Mudarris was born in 1905 in the village of Darashish, located in the Halabja district of Iraq, into a family atmosphere steeped in learning. His childhood unfolded within an educational environment centered on the Quran and Islamic sciences. Displaying a prodigious aptitude, he completed the memorization of the Quran twice by the tender age of four, subsequently turning his attention to the sciences of recitation (qira’at) and the Arabic language.
His voracious appetite for knowledge caught the attention of the scholars in his vicinity, leading to his inclusion in circles of learning at a very young age. He ascended the pulpit to deliver sermons (khutbah) at the age of fourteen and began issuing legal verdicts (fatwas) by the age of twenty-four. The robust intellectual atmosphere of the region during that era played a pivotal role in shaping his character and scholarly personality.
The Intellectual Environment and His Cultivation
Al-Mudarris received a rigorous education in nearly every branch of the classical Islamic sciences. He immersed himself deeply in fields such as Hadith, Tafsir, logic, theology, philosophy, jurisprudence and its methodology (usul), prophetic biography (sirah), history, and Arabic philology. For many years, he studied at the feet of the era's leading scholars, adopting not only their intellectual discipline but also their moral conduct as his model.
He was particularly renowned for several traits: a retentive memory, a profound mastery of Arabic, the ability to elucidate jurisprudential matters with their evidentiary proofs, a high degree of erudition in the rational sciences (especially logic, theology, and philosophy) competence in Quranic sciences, powerful oratory, and being an exemplar in virtue just as he was in knowledge.
His career as a professor (mudarris), which began in Halabja, continued in Byara at the behest of his spiritual guide, Sheikh Alauddin of Tawila (may his secret be sanctified). Over the years, he delivered lectures in various cities across Iraq, training thousands of students in the madrasas. Because he spent over eighty years teaching Islamic sciences, he became known by the epithet "al-Mudarris" (The Teacher), a title that became synonymous with his name in scholarly circles.
Abdulkarim al-Mudarris was a meticulous scholar, strictly adherent to evidence and faithful to the traditional methodology of Islamic learning. One of the most distinct features setting him apart from others was his commitment to acting upon his knowledge (ilm and amal). He was not content with merely imparting lessons; he possessed a personality that admonished and guided through moral example.
After 1952, following tenures in Sulaymaniyah and Kirkuk, he settled in Baghdad. There, he assumed the professorship at the Madrasa of the Sheikh Abdul Qadir Gilani Mosque. Even after his official retirement, he continued his activities of teaching, issuing fatwas, and writing within the precincts of the Qadiriyya Sanctuary (Asitana).
His Works and Contributions to Knowledge
Throughout his life, Abdulkarim al-Mudarris authored works in a multitude of disciplines, including jurisprudence, exegesis, creed, biography, literature, linguistics, logic, wisdom, and biographical dictionaries (tabakat). The majority of his works are in Kurdish and Arabic, reflecting a concerted effort to document the intellectual heritage of Kurdish scholars upon the foundations of Shafi’i jurisprudence and Sunni madhab.
1. Kurdish Works His Kurdish writings generally focus on public education, moral guidance, teaching the essentials of Islam, and publishing versified works of Kurdish culture. Some of these include:
- Binahayah Bakhtawari (The Foundation of Happiness): A collection of 99 questions and answers regarding the fundamentals of religion and the lives of the Prophet and the four Rightly Guided Caliphs.
- Aawa Hayah (The Water of Life): Stories of the great prophets.
- Shar'iʿate Islam (The Law of Islam): A voluminous six-volume work on jurisprudence, drawn from foundational Shafi’i texts.
- Tafsirah Nami bo Kurʾane Piroz (The Nâmî Commentary on the Holy Quran): A significant seven-volume exegesis written in Kurdish, later summarized by the author himself.
2. Arabic Works His Arabic works were penned largely in the fields of linguistics (morphology, syntax, rhetoric), logic, jurisprudential fatwas, creed, biography, and biographical dictionaries, reflecting his engagement with madrasa sciences.
- Rasaʾilu’l-ʿi'rfan: A compilation of three treatises on morphology, syntax, semantics, and rhetoric.
- Rasaʾilu’r-rahmah: Consists of five treatises on logic and wisdom.
- Safwatu’l-leʾaali: A commentary on Al-Ghazali’s seminal work on legal theory, al-Mustasfa.
- Al-Wasilah fi Sharhi’l-Fadhilah: A commentary on a versified work by Mawlawi regarding theological issues.
- Jawahira’l-kalam fl'ʿaqaʾidi ahli’l-Islam: A work on the creed of the people of Islam, which also has a condensed summary.
- Isnadu’l-aʿlam ila hadrati sayyidi’l-anam: A study of transmission chains (isnad) covering the fundamentals of Islam, the Quran, the Companions, the school founders, and Sufi lineages, written in mixed prose and verse.
- ʿUlamaʾuna fî Khidmati’l-ʿilm wa’d-din (Our Scholars in the Service of Knowledge and Religion): A comprehensive and original biographical dictionary covering the lives of 605 Kurdish scholars and men of letters from early history to his own time.
3. Persian Works His Persian works are primarily in the fields of theological commentaries and refutations.
- Fawaʾidu’l-Fawaʾih: A commentary on the Persian theological poem by Abdurrahim Mawlawi.
- Risala-i Shimshirqari: A refutation directed against those who deny legal conformity (taqlid) and independent reasoning (ijtihad).
Character and Personal Attributes
According to his students and those who knew him, al-Mudarris was exceedingly humble; he never broke anyone’s heart and never lost his courtesy, even during heated academic debates. Sincerity (ikhlas) was the center of his life; he learned and taught knowledge solely for the sake of Allah. He would remind his students that knowledge was not an ornament to be worn, but a responsibility to be borne. His speech was imbued with wisdom, his demeanor free from anger, and his worship constant. This attitude, which harmonized knowledge with high morality, left a profound imprint on his disciples.
A Living Legacy
Abdulkarim al-Mudarris, with the works he left behind, the students he raised, and his exemplary personality, remains a vital link in the chain of the Islamic scholarly tradition. To understand him is not merely to know a scholar; it is to find a direction and a moral compass for oneself.
This esteemed man of knowledge and gnosis passed away on August 30, 2005, in Baghdad, and was laid to rest in the burial precinct of the Qadiriyya Sanctuary.
AUTHOR
Abdurrahman Hakan Pakiş
