Abd al-Rahman Habannakah al-Maydani
- Died
- 1425 AH
- Born in
- Damascus
Abd al-Rahman Habannakah al-Maydani (1345–1425 AH / 1927–2004 CE) was a Syrian Islamic scholar, theologian, and author based in Damascus and later Saudi Arabia, recognized for his writings on Islamic thought, theology, Arabic rhetoric, and the refutation of contemporary secular ideologies .
Early Life and Education
Abd al-Rahman ibn Hasan Habannakah al-Maydani was born in 1345 AH (1927 CE) in the al-Maydan neighborhood of Damascus into a scholarly family originating from the Arab tribe of Bani Khalid, whose ancestral lands extend into the desert of Hama . He was raised and educated by his father, the Syrian scholar and activist Hasan Habannakah al-Maydani .
He studied at the Institute of Islamic Orientation (Ma‘had al-Tawjih al-Islami), a complimentary boarding institution established by his father in Damascus, where he trained alongside future Syrian scholars such as Muhammad Sa'id Ramadan al-Buti, Mustafa Sa'id al-Khinn, Husayn Khattab, and Mustafa al-Bugha . His father had him begin teaching at the institute at the age of fifteen, and following his graduation in 1367 AH (1947 CE), he was entrusted with teaching jurisprudence, legal theory, creed, logic, and rhetoric . In 1370 AH, he enrolled at al-Azhar in Cairo, obtaining an undergraduate degree in Islamic law and subsequently earning the ‘alamiyya degree alongside a teaching license specializing in education and psychology .
Career
Following his studies at al-Azhar, Habannakah al-Maydani returned to Damascus and taught in public and Sharia secondary schools, as well as at his father's institute . He served as the head of the Directorate of Sharia Education within the Syrian Ministry of Awqaf, in which capacity he founded several Sharia schools in Syrian provinces, including secondary schools for female students in Damascus and Aleppo . He also served as a member of the research committee at the Syrian Ministry of Education .
After 1967, he relocated to Saudi Arabia, where he joined the faculty of Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh . He subsequently moved to Umm al-Qura University in Mecca, where he served as a professor in the Faculty of Sharia for nearly thirty years .
Scholarly Contributions and Standing
Habannakah al-Maydani authored over thirty works spanning Islamic theology, Quranic exegesis, Arabic linguistics, ethics, and contemporary apologetics . He devoted a substantial portion of his intellectual output to analyzing and refuting modern ideological movements, Western orientalism, and dialectical materialism . Among his best-known polemical works are Ajnihat al-Makr al-Thalatha (The Three Wings of Deceit), examining missionary campaigns, Orientalism, and Western colonialism, and Sira‘ ma‘ al-Mulahida hatta al-‘Azm (Conflict with Atheists to the Bone) . In language studies, he produced al-Balagha al-Arabiya (Arabic Rhetoric), integrating classical rhetorical principles with literary analysis .
Because of his sustained intellectual engagement with contemporary currents and anti-religious philosophies, colleagues and biographers referred to him by the honorific epithet "the Father of [Studies on] Ideological Invasion and Islamic Culture" (Abu al-Ghazw al-Fikri wa-l-Thaqafah al-Islamiyyah) .
Death
Habannakah al-Maydani died in Damascus following an illness in the early morning of Wednesday, 25 Jumada al-Akhira 1425 AH (August 2004 CE) . Sources record his age at death as seventy-seven, while another account gives eighty years .
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List of Works
Ajnihat al-Makr al-Thalatha (The Three Wings of Deceit) is a contemporary Islamic study examining Christian missionary work, Orientalism, and Western colonialism as coordinated facets of an intellectual campaign against Islam and the Muslim world. Subtitled A Study, Analysis, and Guidance: A Comprehensive Methodological Study of Ideological Invasion, the work forms part of the series Aʿdaʾ al-Islam (Enemies of Islam).
al-Balagha al-Arabiya (Arabic Rhetoric) is a comprehensive modern treatise on Arabic rhetoric and stylistics. The work synthesizes classical rhetorical principles across the three foundational disciplines of semantics, figurative language, and rhetorical embellishment, adapting them for contemporary readers through literary analysis and textual applications to uncover the aesthetic beauty and inimitability of the Qur'an.
Kawashif Zuyuf fi al-Madhahib al-Fikriyyah al-Mu'asirah (Exposing the Counterfeits of Contemporary Intellectual Doctrines) is a critical treatise written to analyze and refute modern secular, materialist, and anti-religious ideologies from an Islamic perspective. It constitutes the sixth entry in the specialized series A'da' al-Islam (Enemies of Islam), addressing intellectual invasions and hostile ideological currents.
Siraa ma al-Mulahida hatta al-Azm (Conflict with Atheists to the Bone) is a polemical and theological book written to refute modern atheism, dialectical materialism, and secularist critiques of Islamic doctrine. Published in approximately five hundred pages, the work forms the second installment in the series A‘da’ al-Islam (Enemies of Islam).
al-Hadara al-Islamiyya: Ususuha wa-Wasailuha wa-Suwar min Tatbiqat al-Muslimin Laha wa-Lamahat min Tathiriha fi Sair al-Umam (Islamic Civilization: Its Foundations, Means, Pictures of Muslim Applications, and Glimpses of Its Influence on Other Nations) is a comprehensive treatise on Islamic civilizational theory and history that originated from university lectures.