Abd al-Halim Mahmud
- Died
- 1397 AH
- Born in
- -
Abd al-Halim Mahmud (1328–1397 AH / 1910–1978 CE; also reported as dying in 1398 AH, with a variant birth year of 1907 CE) was an Egyptian Maliki scholar, Sufi thinker, and the Grand Sheikh of al-Azhar from 1973 to 1978 .
Early Life and Education
He was born in Izbat Abu Ahmad—a hamlet named after his grandfather, located on the eastern bank of the Ismaïlia Canal in the Bilbays district of the Sharqia Governorate in Egypt—which was later known as the village of al-Salam . His father, who studied at al-Azhar, sent him to the local village school (kuttāb), where he memorized the Quran by the age of thirteen .
In 1923, his father brought him to Cairo, where he entered al-Azhar . Two years later, he transferred to the newly opened religious institute in Zagazig, completing his secondary certificate in 1928 . He then pursued higher studies at al-Azhar and obtained the ‘ālimiyya degree . Subsequently, he traveled to France for doctoral studies; he defended his dissertation on June 8, 1940, and it was published in Paris in French .
Academic and Official Career
Upon returning from Paris, Mahmud was appointed as an instructor of psychology at the Faculty of Arabic Language . He later became a professor of philosophy at the Faculty of Usul al-Din and eventually rose to serve as the dean of the faculty .
Beyond Egypt, his expertise was commissioned by foreign institutions; he was secondment to Iraq to help organize its Ministry of Awqaf, its preaching and guidance departments, and its mosques, as well as to plan the religious curriculum across all educational stages in Iraq . He also represented al-Azhar at the international symposium on Abu Hamid al-Ghazali held in Damascus . He served as the Grand Sheikh of al-Azhar (al-Imām al-Akbar) from 1973 until his death .
Death
Mahmud died in 1978 CE (1397 AH; alternatively 1398 AH) . Prior to his death, he constructed a mosque in his home village of al-Salam in Bilbays and instructed in his will that he be buried inside it .
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List of Works
al-Sunna wa Makanatuha min al-Tashri‘ (The Sunnah and Its Status in Legislation) is a single-volume treatise that examines the legislative authority, preservation, and historical transmission of the Prophetic Sunnah. The work establishes the Sunnah as an authoritative source of Islamic law, belief, and morality alongside the Quran, while defending Hadith compilation and transmission methods against modern criticisms.