Abd al-Karim Bayara
- Died
- 1426 AH
- Born in
- -
Abd al-Karim Bayara (1323–1415 AH / 1905–1994 CE), also known as Abd al-Karim al-Mudarris, was an Iraqi Kurdish scholar and Sufi who served as a teacher and mufti in Iraqi Kurdistan and Baghdad.
Origin and Education
He was Abd al-Karim ibn Muhammad ibn Fattah ibn Sulayman ibn Mustafa ibn Muhammad al-Kurdi al-Shahrazuri. He was born in the village of Takya near the administrative center of Khormal, belonging to the Hawz Qadi tribe who resided in Sayyid Sadiq and surrounding areas. He completed the memorization of the Quran, studied in traditional schools, and progressed through local institutes. With the outbreak of World War I, he moved to Sulaymaniyya, residing first at the Malkandi Mosque and subsequently at the Mosque of Mulla Muhammad Amin al-Balikdari in the Sarshaqam quarter.
When famine emerged in Sulaymaniyya, he relocated to Hawraman and joined the school of the Durud Khanqah, then directed by Sheikh Ala al-Din ibn Sheikh Umar Fara'ani. He then settled in Bayara at the Abu Ubayda school under Mulla Muhammad Sa'id al-Ubaydi. Returning later to Sulaymaniyya to continue his studies at Khanqah Mawlana Khalid, he pursued Islamic jurisprudence, hadith, Quranic exegesis, logic, arithmetic, geometry, and the astrolabe, eventually receiving his scholarly license (ijaza) in 1343 AH (1924/1925 CE) at a ceremony attended by notable scholars.
Teaching and Career
Following his graduation, he moved with a group of students to the village of Narkasajar near Halabja, where he taught until 1348 AH. He was subsequently appointed as a teacher at the Khanqah school in Bayara, where he taught between 1348 and 1371 AH. He then taught at the Hajji Khan Mosque in the Malkandi quarter of Sulaymaniyya.
In 1374 AH, he relocated to Kirkuk and resided at the Takiyya of Hajji Jamil al-Talabani. Following the vacancy created at the school of Sheikh Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani in Baghdad by the death of the instructor Sheikh Muhammad al-Qizilji, he moved to Baghdad; there he was appointed imam of al-Ahmadi Mosque and teacher at the Mosque of Sheikh Ali. Students gathered around him from various regions, including Iraq, Turkey, Java, Algeria, and Morocco, and over fifty scholars graduated under his instruction.
In prophetic biography and poetry, he composed al-Qasida al-Wardiyya fi Sirat Khayr al-Bariyya ("The Rose Poem on the Biography of the Best of Creation").
Later Life and Death
He retired from official service in 1393 AH (1973/1974 CE), but remained stationed at the Mosque of Sheikh Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani, where he issued legal verdicts (fatwas) and led the daily noon (Zuhr) and afternoon (Asr) prayers from the teacher's chamber. He died in 1415 AH (1994 CE; another record places his death in 1426 AH).
Answer updated
List of Works
al-Qasida al-Wardiyya fi Sirat Khayr al-Bariyya is an Arabic didactic poem focused on the prophetic biography (sirah), virtues, and traits of the Prophet Muhammad.