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Shaykh Ahmad ibn Yahya
an-Najmee
His Name and
Lineage
He is our noble Shaykh, the
'Allaamah, the Muhaddith, the Faqeeh,
the present Muftee of the district of
Jaazaan and the carrier of the Flag of the
Sunnah
and hadeeth in it -
Shaykh Ahmad Ibn Yahyaa Ibn Muhammad Ibn
Shabeer an-Najmee Aali Shabeer from Banee
Hummad, one of the well known tribes of the
district of Jaazaan.
His Birth
The Shaykh, may Allaah preserve
him, was born in the village of Najaamiyyah
on the 22nd of Shawaal of 1346H and was
raised in the house of his two righteous
parents - which have no equal in
comparison.
Due to this, his parents both made
a pledge to Allaah by him that they would
not burden him with any type of worldly
jobs, and Allaah made what they wished come
true.
They would both constantly keep
guard of their son to the point that they
would not even let him play amongst the
children. When he reached the age of
puberty, they entered him into the schools
of the village, where he learned to read
and write. He learned to recite the
Qur'aan in the national school before
the coming of the Shaykh 'Abdullaah
al-Qar'aawee, rahimahullaah, three
times, the last of which occurred in 1358H
when he remained there.
He first read the Qur'aan to
Shaykh 'Abdu Ibn Muhammad 'Aqeel
an-Najmee in 1355H. Then he read it to
Shaykh Yahyaa Faqeeh 'Abasee, who was
from Yemen and who had come to Najaamiyyah
and stayed there. Our Shaykh studied under
him in the year 1358H. But when Shaykh
'Abdullaah al-Qar'aawee arrived at
Najaamiyyah, there occurred a debate
between him and this teacher concerning the
issue of Allaah's Rising - for he was
'asharee. So Shaykh al-Qar'aawee
defeated him and he fled from the town
after that.
{And so
the roots of the people who did wrong were
cut off - all praise be to Allaah, the Lord
of the Worlds}, [Soorah
al-An'aam, Aayah
45]
His Educational
Upbringing
After their 'asharee teacher
left, the Shaykh, along with his two
paternal uncles, Hasan Ibn Muhammad
an-Najmee and Husayn Ibn Muhammad
an-Najmee, began to frequently attend
Shaykh al-Qar'aawee's classes for
some days in the city of Saamitah, but this
did not last. This was in the year 1359H.
In 1360, in the month of Safar
to be exact, our Shaykh joined the Madrasah
Salafiyyah and recited the Qur'aan,
this time under the order of Shaykh
'Abdullaah al-Qar'aawee (rahima-hullaah) to
Shaykh 'Uthmaan Ibn 'Uthmaan Hamlee
(rahima-hullaah).
This was such that he recited the entire
Qur'aan to him with tajweed and
memorised the books
"Tuhfatul-Atfaal",
"Hidaayatul-Mustafeed",
"Thalaathatul-Usool",
"al-'Arba'een
an-Nawawiyyah" and
"al-Hisaab." And he perfected the
discipline of handwriting.
He would sit in the study circle,
which Shaykh al-Qar'aawee had set up
there, until the time when the younger
students departed after the Salaat
az-Zhuhr. Then he would attend the
circle for the elder students, which Shaykh
'Abdullaah al-Qar'aawee was in
charge of personally teaching. So he would
sit in this class from after the Salaat
az-Zhuhr till the time of the Salaat
al-'Ishaa.. Then after praying ('Ishaa.), he
would return to his town of Najaamiyyah
with his two uncles (Hasan and
Husayn).
After four months, Shaykh
'Abdullaah al-Qar'aawee granted him
permission to to be part of his study
circle for elder students, which he taught
himself. So he read to the Shaykh the
following books: "ar-Raheebah"
concerning Laws of Inheritance,
"al-Aajroomiyyah" concening
Arabic Grammar, "Kitaab
at-Tawheed", "Buloogh
al-Maraam",
"al-Bayqooniyyah",
"Nukhbat-ul-Fikr" with its
explanation "Nuzhat-un-Nadhr",
"Mukhtasaraat fee Seerah",
"Tasreef al-Ghazee",
"al-'Awaamil fee an-Nahw",
"al-Waraqaat" concerning the
Principles of Fiqh, and
"al-'Aqeedah at-Tahaawiyyah"
with its explanation from Shaykh
'Abdullaah al-Qar'aawee - this was
before they had seen its explanation from
Ibn Abil-'Izz al-Hanafee. He also
studied parts of the book
"al-Alfiyyah" of Ibn Maalik and
"ad-Durar al-Bahiyyah" with its
explanation "ad-Daraaree
al-Madiyyah" concerning Fiqh -
both of which are written by
Ash-Shawkaanee, rahimahullaah. This goes as
well for other books - whether there was in
them those which they studied as an
assigned subject, like the previously
mentioned books or what they studied for
cultural education in some concise
treatises and small pamphlets or those
books, which they would reference when
researching such as Naylul-Awtaar, Zaad
al-Ma'aad, Noorul-Yaqeen, al-Muwatta
and al-Ummuhaat.
In 1362H, Shaykh 'Abdullaah,
rahimahullaah, distributed portions of the
Ummahaat (hadeeth Books) he
had present in his library to his students,
which consisted of Saheeh al-Bukhaaree,
Sunan Abee Dawood, Sunan an-Nasaa.ee,
Muwatta of Imaam Maalik. So they (his elder
students) began to read these books to him,
but they did not complete them because they
had to depart due to a drought.
In 1364H, they returned and read
them to him. so then Shaykh 'Abdullaah
gave him the ijaazah (religious
authorisation) to report from al-Ummahaat
As-Sitt.
In 1369H, he studied under Shaykh
Ibraheem Ibn Muhammad al-'Amoodee,
rahimahullaah, the Judge of Saamitah at
that time, two books - "Islaah
al-Mujtami'a" and the book of
Shaykh 'Abd-ur-Rahmaan Ibn Sa'adee,
(rahima-hullaah) on
Fiqh,
which is organized in the form of question
and answer, entitled: "al-Irshaad ilaa
Ma'rifat-il-Ahkaam."
He also studied under Shaykh
'Alee Ibn Ash-Shaykh Ziyaad As-Somalee
at the order of Shaykh 'Abdullaah
al-Qar'aawee, the subject of Grammar,
studying the book "al-'Awaamil
fin-Nahwi Mi.ah", as well as other
books on Grammar and Morphology.
In 1384H, he attended the study
circles of the Shaykh, the Imaam, the
'Allaamah, the Muftee of the Saudi
Lands, Shaykh Muhammad Ibn Ibraaheem Aal
ash-Shaykh, rahimahullaah, for the
length of close to two months. In these
circles, he taught Tafseer Ibn Jareer
At-Tabaree with the recitation of
'Abdul-'Azeez Ash-Shalhoob, with
regard to the subject of tafseer. Likewise,
in the same year, he attended the
gatherings of our Shaykh, the Imaam, the
'Allaamah, Shaykh 'Abdul-'Azeez
Ibn Baaz, rahimahullaah, for the length
of close to a month and a half. This class
was on Saheeh al-Bukhaaree and
occurred between the Maghrib and 'Ishaa.
prayers.
His Teachers
From what you have read it is
clear that his teachers, in order,
include:
1. Shaykh Ibraaheem Ibn Muhammad
al-'Amoodee - the judge of Saamitah in
his time
2. Shaykh Haafidh Ibn Ahmad
al-Hakamee - (rahima-hullaah)
3. The Shaykh, the 'Allaamah, the
Caller, the Reformer (mujaddid) of the
southern part of the kingdom of Saudi
Arabia, 'Abdullaah al-Qar'aawee -
(rahima-hullaah)
4. Shaykh 'Abdu Ibn Muhammad
'Aqeel an-Najmee
5. Shaykh 'Uthmaan Ibn 'Uthmaan
al-Hamlee
6. Shaykh 'Alee Ibn Ash-Shaykh
'Uthmaan Ziyaad As-Somalee
7. The Imaam, the 'Allaamah, the
former Muftee of the lands of Saudi Arabia,
Shaykh Muhammad Ibn
Ibraaheem Aal ash-Shaykh - (rahima-hullaah)
8. Shaykh Yahyaa Faqeeh 'Abasee
al-Yemenee
His Students
Our Shaykh, may Allaah preserve
him, has many many students. For whoever
spent the amount of time that he spent in
teaching, which is almost half a century,
then you can just imagine how many his
students will be. And if we were to list
their number, then that would require a
large book in itself. So I will only
mention a short example of them, by which
one can go by in determining his other
students. So from among his students
are:
1. Our Shaykh, the 'Allaamah,
the Muhaddith, the Defender of the Sunnah, Rabee' Ibn Haadee
al-Madkhalee
2. Our Shaykh, the 'Allaamah, the
Faqeeh, Zayd Ibn Muhammad Haadee
al-Madkhalee
3. Our Shaykh, the Noble Scholar,
'Alee Ibn Naasir al-Faqeehee
It is sufficient to just mention
these three names here. And this is due to
the widespread fame they have in the
circles and gatherings of knowledge, so no
one can blame us for doing so.
His Aptitude and
Intelligence, may Allaah grant him
success
The Shaykh possesses a very high
level of intelligence. The following is a
story that indicates the intelligence and
good memory he had since childhood:
The uncle, Shaykh 'Umar Ibn
Ahmad Jardee al-Madkhalee said:
"When Shaykh Ahmad would attend
classes at the Madrasah Salafiyyahin
Saamitah, along with his two uncles, Hasan
an-Najmee and Husayn an-Najmee, during 1359
when he was 13, he would listen to the
classes that Shaykh 'Abdullaah
al-Qar'aawee gave to his elder students
and he would memorise them." I
say: This is what caused Shaykh
'Abdullaah al-Qar'aawee to let
Shaykh Ahmad join his adult classes, which
he would take charge of teaching himself.
This was because of what the Shaykh
(al-Qar'aawee) saw of his superiority,
quickness in memorising and
intelligence.
His Works
Our Shaykh, may Allaah preserve
him, worked as a teacher in the schools of
his Shaykh, 'Abdullaah
al-Qar'aawee, as a volunteer. And when
the pay positions began, he was assigned
the duty of a teacher in his town of
Najaamiyyah. This was in 1367H. Then in
1372H, he transferred to being Imaam and
teacher in the town of Abu Subaylah in
Baalhurrath.
On 1/1/1374H, when the educational
institute in Saamitah was opened, he was
assigned the position of a teacher in it
until the year 1384H. He resigned from this
position with the hopes of getting the
opportunity to teach in the Islaamic
University of Madeenah, so he traveled
there. However, certain circumstances took
place which didn't allow that to occur,
so he returned back to his district and
Allaah decreed for him to be appointed the
position of religious admonisher and guide
for the Ministry of Justice of the District
of Jaazaan. So he took the role of
admonishing and advising in the best of
manners.
On 1/7/1387H, he returned to being
a teacher at the educational institute in
the city of Jaazaan at his request. Then at
the beginning of the school year of 1389H,
he returned to teaching at the institute of
Saamitah. He remained there as a teacher
until he retired in 1/7/1410H.
Since that time up until the time
that I am writing these lines, he has kept
himself busy teaching in his home, in his
local masjid
and in other masaajid of the
district, holding weekly classes as well as
taking on the role of providing fataawa (for
questions).
In doing all of this, he has acted
in accordance with the final advice of his
teacher, which was to remain constant in
teaching and in taking care of the
students, especially the foreign ones among
them who left their families (to study). He
had remarkable patience in accomplishing
this, so we ask Allaah that He reward him
on our behalf.
He also abided by his teacher,
Shaykh al-Qar'aawee's final advice
by continuing in his studies and in
researching and learning from others. This
is especially with regard to the sciences
and principles of hadeeth and Fiqh,
for it was such that he surpassed his
colleagues and had a powerful command in
that matter. May Allaah bless his life and
knowledge and benefit us with his
efforts.
His Books of
Knowledge
Our Shaykh, may Allaah preserve
him, has written many books, some of which
have been printed and some which have not.
We ask Allaah that He facilitate the
publishing of those books so that the
benefit from them can be attained. From his
books are:
1. Awdahul-Ishaarah fir-Radd
'alaa man abaaha al-Mamnoo' min
az-Ziyaarah
2. Ta.seesul-Ahkaam Sharh
'Umdatul-Ahkaam - only a very, very
small portion of it was printed.
3. Tanzeehush-Sharee'ah 'an
Ibaahatil-Aghaanee al-Khalee'ah
4. Risaalatul-Irshaad ilaa Bayaanil-Haqq
fee Hukmil-Jihaad
5. Risaalatun fee Hukmil-Jahr
bil-Basmalah
6. Fat.hur-Rabb al-Wadood fil-Fataawaa
war-Rudood
7. al-Mawrid al-Adh'b az-Zilaal feemaa
intaqada 'alaa ba'adil-manaahij
ad-da'wiyyah min al-'Aqaa'id
wal-'A'amaal.
And there are other beneficial
books, which he has presented for the
Muslims, may Allaah reward him with the
best of rewards and benefit Islaam and the
Muslims through him. And may the peace and
blessings of Allaah be on our prophet,
Muhammad, his family and Companions,
Ameen.
..........
Translated by: Ismail
Alercon
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