List of Islamic studies scholars

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See also: List of Muslim scholars

Islamic studies scholars or simply Islamic scholars are both Muslim and non-Muslim scholars who work in one or more fields of Islamic studies. "Islamic studies" an umbrella term for all Islam-related studies, related to both Islamization of knowledge and an extrinsic study of Islam, Islamic culture, history and society.

The entries in the list are accompanied by their date of birth, branch of Islam, country of birth, field of study, famous works and short description.

1 Muslim scholars
2 Converts to Islam
3 Controversial
4 Orientalists/Non-Muslims
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] Muslim scholars

Muslim scholars are either born in a Muslim families, or converted to Islam. For a list of scholars specialized in:

Islamic history, see list of Islamic historians
Islamic philosophy, see list of Islamic philosophers
Islamic jurisprudence, see list of Islamic Jurists
Abu Bakr, first Sunni Caliph after the prophet
Omar Bin Khattab, second sunni Caliph after the prophet
Othman Bin Affan, third sunni Caliph after the prophet
Ali ibn Abu Talib - 599, fourth Caliph, and first Shi'a Imam, cousin and son-in law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad
al-Husayn ibn 'Ali - Son of Ali ibn Abi Taalib
Ibn Abbas - 619, Arab
Abdullah ibn Masoud - d. 652
Zayd ibn Thabit - pre-610

[edit] Sunni Muslim

Hassan al-Basri - (642 - 728 or 737)
Abu Hanifa an-Nu'man - 699
Ahmad ibn Hanbal - 780, Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal
Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī 780 Khwarizm - 850
Malik ibn Anas - 715, Al-Muwatta
Abu 'Abd Allah ash-Shafi'i - 767
Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Isma'eel al-Bukhari - 810, Sunni, Persian, Hadith, Sahih Bukhari Most trusted hadith collector in Sunni Islam
Imam Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj - 810, Sahih Muslim, , Persian
Abu Dawud as-Sidjistani, 817 (Basra) - 888, Sunan Abu Dawud, Persian, Hadith compiler
Al-Tirmidhi - 824, Jami at-Tirmidhi
Al-Nasa'i - 829 Hadith collection , Persian
Ibn Majah - 824 Persia Sunan ibn Majah
at-Tabarani - al-Mu'jam al-Kabeer
Ibn Qutaybah - (828-889)
Ibn Hisham - (d. 834)
ibn Jarir at-Tabari - 838, Sunni, Persian, multiple fields, Tarikh al-Tabari/Tafsir al-Tabari
Al-Ghazali - (1058-1111) Persian theologian and philosopher
Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, (1149–1209) Persian
Al-Nawawi - (1233-1278) Sharh Sahih Muslim, Riyadh as-Saaliheen, 40 Hadith Nawawi
ash-Shawkani
Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani - (1372-1449) Muhaddith author of al-Fath al-Baari and Bulugh al-Maram
Al-Qurtubi - d. 1273 Tafsir al-Qurtubi Andalusian
Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah - (1292-1350) Za'ad al-Ma'ad
al-Haafidh ibn Kathir - (1301-1373) Tafsir ibn Kathir
Al-Tahawi - (853-933) Egypt Aqeedah at-Tahawiyyah
Sibt ibn al-Jawzi - d. 1257
Ibn Hazm - 994 (Cordoba) – 1064, Andalusian philosopher
Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi - (1001 - 1072)
al-Hafidh ibn Rajab al-Hanbali - (1335-1392) Damascus
Al-Dhahabi - (1274-1348) Talkhis al-Mustadrak
Ibn Qudamah al-Maqdisi - (1147-1223) al-Mughni
Abd ar-Rahman ibn Naasir as-Saa'di - (1889-1956)
Shams-ul-haq Azeemabadi -1857 -1911, India, Author of Awn-ul-Mabood Sharh Sunan Abi Dawood
Hakim al-Nishaburi - 1014, Persian, Mustadrak al-Hakim
Al-Mawardi - 1058, Arab
Ali ibn Tahir al-Sulami - 1106
Ali ibn al-Athir - 1160, The Complete History
Abul Fida Ismail Ibn Hamwi, 1273, Sunni Shafii (?), Syria, multiple fields, Tarikh Abul Fida
Ali ibn Abu Bakr al-Haythami - 13??, Majma al-Zawa'id
Ibn Khaldun - 1332, Historian
as-Suyuti - 1471, History of the Caliphs
Abdulhakim Arvasi - 1867
Badiuzzaman Said Nursi - 1877, Kurdish Turkish Islamic Scholar
Yaqub ibn Ishaq al-Kindi - 801, Arab, multiple fields
Ismail Al-Faruqi - 1921, Sunni, Palestina, philosopher
Ahmed Rida Khan- 1856
Muhammad Metwally Al Shaarawy - (1911-1998)
Yusuf al-Qaradawi - 1926
Imam Iskender Ali MIHR - 1933-Current
Al-Sheik Abdulmajeed Al-Zindini (Jammat Al-Iman In Yemen)
Fethullah Gulen - 1938, Turkish, Islamic Scholar
Abdullah Yusuf Azzam - 1941
Nasr Hamid Abu Zaid - 1943,
Khurshid Ahmad - 1932
Syed Abdullah Shah Naqshbandi - 1872-1964 Sunni Muhaddith of Deccan India
Ibn Hajar Al-Haythami - 909 AH Al-Sawa'iq al-Muhriqah
al-Muhadith Muhammad Nassir ad-Deen Al-Albani - (1914-1999)
Muhammad Yusuf Khandlawi - (1917 – 1965) India Sunni
Al-Juwayni - Fara'id al-Simtayn
Ahmed Deedat - (1918 - 2005)
Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri (1951)
Rashid Rida - (1865-1935) Syrian
Muhammad Rafi Usmani
Muhammad Taqi Usmani
Tawfique Chowdhury
Anwar Al Awlaki , Yemen
Huseyin Hilmi Isik (1911-2001) - Author of Seadet-i Ebediyye or the Endless Bliss
Omar Khayyám - 1048, Persia
Al-Khwarizmi - 800?, Persia
Amin Ahsan Islahi (1904–1997) - Author of Tadabbur-i-Qur’an
Nizam al-Mulk - (1018 – 1092) Persian Siyasatnama
Sheikh Muhammad Taqiuddin al-Nabhani
Shah waliullah
Imam Ahmed Raza Khan
Grand Mufti of India Maulana Mustafa Raza Khan
Rashid shaz Islamic thinker -- author of Idrak
Maulana Shah Ahmad Noorani, Pakistan
Syed Shah Turab-ul-Haq Qadri, Pakistan
Maulana Qasim Nanutvi founder of Deoband Madrasa

[edit] Shi'a Muslim

See also: List of Ayatollahs

See also: List of Grand Ayatollahs

See also: List of Shia Islamic scholars

[edit] Shi'a Imams

[edit] Shi'a classic scholars

Abi Mekhnaf -Historian, died in 157 AH, 774 AD - Kufi
Muhammad Ya'qub Kulainy - 950, Sufficing fundaments (Usul al-Kafi)
Mohammad ibn Ali (ibn-e Babuyeh) or (Shaikh Saduq) 927/928 - (306 -381 A.H.)
Sheikh al-Mufid
'Ash-Sharif ar-Radi - 970, compiler of the Peak of Eloquence (Nahj al-Balagha)
al-Sharif al-Murtada
Sheik Tusi - He wrote Tahdhibu 'l-Ahkam and al-Istibsar
Ahmad ibn A'tham- Shia historian
Nasir al-Din Tusi - 1201, Persia, multiple fields, Zij-i ilkhani, one of the founders of Trigonometry.
Mulla Sadra - 1571, Shi'a, Persia, philosophy, Transcendent Theosophy, the greatest philosopher Persia has ever produced
Mir Damad - 16?? or 17??, Shia, Persia, philosophy, Taqwim al-Iman, founder of the Isfahan School
Allama Majlesi, 1689, Shia twelver, Iran, Oceans of Light (Bihar ul Anwar)

[edit] Shi'a contemporary scholars

Grand Ayatollah al-Shirazi - 1892, Shia twelver, Iran
Allameh Tabatabaei - 1892, Shia twelver, Iran, multiple fields, Tafsir al-Mizan
Allamah Rasheed Turabi 1908 - 1973
Ruhollah Khomeini - 1900, Shia twelver, Iran, the political and spiritual leader of the 1979 Islamic Revolution
Seyyed Hossein Nasr - 1933, Shia twelver, Iran, philosophy,
Musa al-Sadr - Abducted in 1978
Morteza Motahhari - 1979 Iran
Husain Mohammad Jafri - Shia, Pakistan, The Origins and Early Development of Shi`a Islam
Ali al-Sistani - Shia twelver, Iran-Iraq
Shaykh Ahmad-i-Ahsa'i - Shia
Sayed Muhsin al-Hakim
Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim
Grand Ayatollah Borujerdi
Mohammad Salih al-Mazandarani - Shahr Usul al-Kafi
Muhammad al-Tijani
Ali Shariati
Haji Karim Khan of Kirman [1]
Siyyid Kázim Rashtí
Professor Abdul Hakeem

Prof.Waheed Akhtar: (1934-1996)'

[edit] Sufi

Rabi'a al-Adawiya, aka Rabia Basri, 8th century, Basra, Persia [2]
Attar, Persia
Abusaeid Abolkheir, Persia
Junayd Baghdadi
Bayazid Bastami, Persia
Mansur Al-Hallaj, Persia
Abdul Qadir Jilani - Sunni Hanbali
Najmeddin Kubra, Persia
Dhu Nun al-Masri, 9th century, Nubia, Egypt
Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi - 1207, Persia, founder of the order of the derwishes
Al-Sakhawi, 831— 902
Nasreddin - 10?? -13??, Persia
Saadi - Persia
Al-Farabi - 870, Persian, multiple fields, Kitab al-Musiqa, one of the greatest scientists and philosophers of his time
Jami - 1414, Persian, multiple fields, Diwanha-i Sehganeh, the greatest Persian poet in the 15th century
Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas
Muhammad Ilyas - 1885
Justice Shaykh Muhammad Karam Shah al-Azhari - 1918-1998, Bhera, Pakistan
Shaykh Muhammad Imdad Hussain Pirzada
Shaykh Faiz-ul-Aqtab Siddiqi England
Hazrat Mujadid Abdul Wahab Siddiqi(1942-1994)England

[edit] Mutazilite

Wasil ibn Ata - 700, founder of the Mutazilite school of Islamic thought (Arab theology)
Abd al-Jabbar of Baghdad and Rayy ,325 AH/935 CE - 415 AH/1025 CE
Abu’l Husayn al-Basri died 478 AH/1085 CE, disciple then opponent of al-Jabbar, set out qualifications for a muslim scholar
Ibn Abu al-Hadid -Peak of Eloquence with comments
Zamakhshari - 1074, Persian
Masudi
Al-Jahiz - 776, Arab
Al-Jubba'i - 9??, Persian

[edit] Denomination Unknown

Mohammad Ibn Abd-al-Haq Ibn Sab’in, Spain
A. E. Souaiaia , University of Iowa , USA
Muhammad Iqbal, Pakistan
Javed Ahmed Ghamidi (1951—) - Author of Mizan

[edit] Converts to Islam

Roger Garaudy
Jeffrey Lang
Hamza Yusuf
Sherman Jackson
Yahya Michot
Marmaduke Pickthall -1875, England, The meaning of the Holy Qur'an
Michael Wolfe
Nuh Keller
Frithjof Schuon
Timothy Winter
Bilal Philips
Yusuf Estes
Zaid Shakir - American
Thomas McElwain
Gary Miller (Abdul-Ahad Omar) - Former Christian Missionary who embraced Islam
Abdul Ahad Davud
Muhammad Asad (Leopold Weiss born in July 1900 in the city of Lviv, now in Ukraine, died 1992) was a Jew who converted to Islam.
Martin Lings

[edit] Controversial

This is a list of scholars of present and past that are not recognized as Muslims by the mainstream but profess to be Muslims as part of groups and small sects that deviate from the mainstream.

Ibn al-Rawandi - 8??
Abd-Allah ibn Ibadh
Rashad Khalifa - proclaimed himself to be the Messenger of the Covenant of 3:81
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad 1835-1908 - proclaimed to be the Promised Reformer (Mahdi) and the Messiah

[edit] Orientalists/Non-Muslims

John Damascene (c.676-749), Syrian monk, Peri Aireseon (Concerning Heresies), its chapter 100 being "Heresy of the Ishmailites".
Nicetas of Byzantium his 9th century polemic Anatrope tes para tou Arabos... (P.G., v.105) picks at the Qur'an chapter by chapter.
Robert of Ketton (1110-1160) English theologian, traveled to crusader states, settled in Toledo (Castilla); at 1139 urging of Peter the Venerable, Abbot of Cluny (France), translated the Qur'an into Latin, Lex Mahumet pseudoprophete (1143), it circulated only in manuscript copies until 1543. Often a tinted paraphrase, G. Sales said it "deserves not the name of translation" because of its inaccuracy.
Francesco d'Assisi (1182-1226), Italian saint, as peaceful missionary to Muslims, preached before Al-Kamil M. al-Malik, Kurdish Sultan of Egypt, in 1219 during the fifth crusade, his Regula non bullata (1221) chapter XVI "Those who are going among the Saracens and other unbelievers" counsels not to enter disputes, but rather humility.
Marcos de Toledo (fl.1193-1216) an improved though still wanting Latin translation of the Qur'an.
Ibn Kammuna (c.1215-c.1285) Jewish scholar of Bagdad, his fairminded though controversial Examination of the Inquiries into the Three Faiths [Tanqih al-abhat li-l-milal al-talat] (1280).
Alfonso X el Sabio (1221-1284), Castilla, his Scriptorium translated many Arabic works into Latin.
Raimundo Marti (12xx-c.1286) Castilla, Dominican friar, Summa contra errores Alcoranorum (1260), Pugio fidei adversus mauros et judaeos (c.1280); he refers to the Qur'an, Hadith, as well as al-Farabi, Ibn Sina (Avicenna), al-Gazali, Ibn Rushd.
Tomas d'Aquino (c.1225-1274) Italian Dominican, his Summa contra Gentiles (1261-64) includes criticism of the Aristotelianism of Ibn Rushd (Averroes).
Ramon Llull (1232-1316) Catalan author (Spain), theologian, proponent of the "Ars Magna", fluent in Arabic, three times missionary to Tunis, Llibre del Gentile e dels tres Savis (1274-76) in which a pagan hears Jewish, Christian, and Muslim views by a reasoning over their mutual virtues with exquisite courtesy shown, rather than by attack and defense.
Riccoldo di Monte Croce (1243-1320) Italian Dominican, missionary during 1290s centered in Bagdad, his Propugnaculum Fidei soon translated into Greek, later into German by Martin Luther.
Nicolaus Cusanus (1401-1464) German Cardinal, at cusp of renaissance, Cribratio Alcori, De pace fidei.
Theodor Bibliander (Buchmann) (1506-1564), Swiss (Zurich) theologian, in 1543 published in Basle the Lex Mahumet pseudoprophete of 1143.
Alonso del Castillo (152x-c.1607), Spain, formative work in Arabic archives and inscriptions (his father once a Morisco of Granada).
Abraham Hinckelmann (1652-1692), edited an Arabic text of the Qur'an, later published in Hamburg, Germany, in 1694.
Ludovivo Maracci (16xx-17xx) Italian priest, Latin translation of the Qur'an Alcorani textus universus (Padua 1698).
Simon Ochley (16xx-17xx) England, History of the Saracens (1718).
George Sale (1697-1736), English lawyer, using Hinckelmann and Maracci, translated and annotated a well regarded The Koran (1734); a member of the Society for Promotion of Christian Knowledge, for whom he proofread the Arabic New Testament (S.P.C.K. 1726).
Jose Antionio Conde (1765-1820), posthumous Historia de la dominacion de los arabes en Espana (Madrid, 1820-1821), a pioneer work.
Charles Mills (1788-1826) England History of Mohammedanism (1818).
Garcin de Tassy (1794-1878) France, L'Islamisme d'apre le Coran (Paris 1874).
A. P. Caussin de Perceval (1795-1871) Essai sur l'histoire des Arabes avant l'Islamisme (Paris 1847-1849).
Gustav Flugel (1802-1870), Germany, Al-Qoran: Corani textus Arabicus (Leipzig 1834) for academics.
Gustav Weil (1808-1889) Jewish German, Mohammed der Prophet (Stuttgart 1843).
Pascual de Gayangos y Arce (1809-1897), Spanish Arabist, translated al-Maqqari (d.1632) into English as History of the Mohammedan Dynasties of Spain (1840, 1843).
Aloys Sprenger (1813-1893) Austria, Das Leben und die Lehre des Mohammad (2nd edition, 3 volumes, Berlin 1869).
William Muir (1819-1905), Scotland, official in India, The Life of Mohamet (London, 1861).
Reinhart Dozy (1820-1883) Netherlands, Histoire des Musulmans d'Espagne (Leiden, 1861).
Ludolf Krehl (1825-1901) Beitrage zur Muhammedanischen Dogmatik (Leipzig 1885).
Alfred von Kremer (1828-1889) Geschichte de herrschenden Ideen des Islams (Leipzig 1868).
Theodore Noldeke (1836-1930) Germany, Das Leben Mohammeds (1863), Zur Grammatik de klassische Arabisch (1896), with F. Schwally Geschichte des Qorans (Leipzig, 1909-1919, 2 volumes).
Julius Wellhausen (1844-1918) Germany, Muhammed in Medina (Berlin 1882), Prolegomena zur Geschichte Israels (Berlin 1878, 1882).
Wm. Robertson Smith (1846-1894) Scotland, Lectures on the Religion of the Semites (London 1884), Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia (Cambridge 1885).
Italo Pizzi () L'Islamismo (Milan 1905).
Ignaz Goldziher (1850-1921), Hungary, Muhammedanische Studien (2 volumes, Halle 1889-1890); a Jew who admired Islam and felt fulfillment praying with Muslims. [Said to have converted to Sunnism eventually.]
David Samuel Margoliouth (1858-1940), England, Anglican, his father a Jewish convert, Mohammed and the Rise of Islam (London 1905, 1923), Relations between Arabs and Israelites prior to the Rise of Islam (1924), Table-talk of a Mesopotamian judge (London, 1921, 1922, 2 volumes).
Henri Lammens (1862-1937) Belgian (Flemish) Jesuit, a modern partisan, Fatima et ls filles de Mahomet (Rome 1912), L'Islam, croyances et institutions (Beirut 1926).
Carl Brockelmann (1868-1956) Germany Geschichte der arabischen Literatur (5 volumes, Weimar and Leiden, 1898-1942).
Leone Caetani (1869-1935) Italian nobleman, Annali dell'Islam (10 volumes, 1904-1926).
Miguel Asin Palacios (1871-1944) priest and professor, studied the mutuality of influence between Christianity and Islam, La escatologia musulmana en la Divina Comedia (Madrid, 1923), El Mistico Murciano Abenarabi (Madrid, 1925-26), El Islam cristianizado (Madrid, 1931); some purists on either side taking offense.
Louis Massignon (1883-1962) France, influenced Catholic-Islmic understanding per Vatican II (1962-1965), a married priest (Orthodox, using an Arabic rite), Essai sur les orgines du lexique technique de la mystique musulmane (Paris 1922, 2nd ed. 1954), Passion de Husayn Ibn Mansur Hallaj (Paris 1973).
Tor Andrae (1885-1947) Sweden, comparative religion, Mohammed Sein Leben und Sein Glaube (Goettingen 1932).
Philip Khuri Hitti (1886-1978) Lebanon, formative re Arabic studies in the U.S.A., History of Syria, including Lebanon and Palestine (1957).
Okawa Shumei (1886-1957) Japanese author, tried for war crimes after World War II, translated the Qur'an into Japanese (1950).
Geo Widengren (1907-19xx) Sweden, comparative religion, Muhammad, The Apostle of God, and His Ascension (Uppsala 1955).
William Montgomery Watt]] (1909-2006) Scottish Episcopal priest, Arabist,Muhammed at Mecca (Oxford 1953), Muhammed at Medina (Oxford, 1956)
Toshihiko Izutsu (1914-1993) Japan, Ethico-Religious Concepts in the Qur'an (1959, 1966), Sufism and Taoism (Berkeley 1984).
Maxime Rodinson (1915-2004) French marxist, Mahomet (Paris 1961), Islam et capitalisme (Paris 1966), Israel et le refus arabe (Paris 1968).
Wilferd Madelung (1930->) Germany, The Succession to Muhammad (Cambridge Univ. 1997); studies on the Shia.
William Chittick (c.193x->) U.S.A., collaborations with S. H. Nasr and A. Tabatabaei in Iran; Sufi Path of Knowledge (1989) on Ibn Arabi; spouse of S. Murata.
Sachiko Murata (c.193x->), Japan, Tao of Islam. A sourcebook on gender relationships in Islamic thought (SUNY 1992); spouse of W. Chittick.
Karen Armstrong (1944->) English author, former nun, A History of God (New York, 1999), Muhammad, a Biography of the Prophet (San Francisco, 1993).
Cornell Fleischer - United States, Kanuni Suleyman Professor of Ottoman and Modern Turkish Studies
Gerald de Gaury - Rulers of Mecca
Betty Kelen - Muhammad, The Messenger of God
Francis E. Peters - Muhammad and the Origins of Islam
Báb - proclaimed prophethood, started a new religion and stated he abrogated Islam
Elijah Muhammad - Started the Nation of Islam movement and proclaimed prophethood
Fred M. Donner
Alfred Guillaume
Arthur John Arberry
Ehsan Yarshater (Bahá'í, with Iranian-Jewish family background)
Dr. Ian K. A. Howard
John L. Esposito - 1940, Editor-in-chief of The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World
Margaret Smith, author of Rabi'a the Mystic and her Fellow-Saints in Islam, 1928
John Woods, - United States Professor of Iranian and Central Asian History, and of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations
Malika Zeghal, author and professor of the anthropology and sociology of Islam
A. Holly Shissler, author and professor of Ottoman and Early Turkish Republican History, and of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations