Mahmud Sibawayh al-Badawi
- Died
- 1415 AH
- Born in
- -
Mahmud Sibawayh al-Badawi (1349–1415 AH / 1931–1995 CE) was an Egyptian Quranic reciter (muqri'), memorizer (hafiz), and scholar of Quranic recitations (qira'at) who headed the Department of Recitations at the Islamic University of Madinah.
Early Life and Education
Mahmud ibn Sibawayh ibn Ahmad ibn Ali ibn Ayyub ibn Fudah al-Khabir al-Badawi, also known by the kunya Abu Ahmad, was born on Friday, 5 Ramadan 1349 AH (23 January 1931 CE) in the village of Ibnhas, located in the Quesna district of Monufia Governorate, Egypt. He memorized the Quran and studied tajwid in his home village under Muhammad ibn Ibrahim Madi, completing the memorization at the age of nine. He subsequently recited the Quran in the various canonical readings through the transmissions of al-Shatibiyyah, al-Durrah, and Ibn al-Jazari's al-Nashr and its Tayyibah under several scholars. He was granted an ijaza in the Ten Recitations by Ahmad ibn Abd al-Aziz al-Zayyat, then the highest-ranking Egyptian reciter in isnad, and studied under prominent teachers including Abd al-Fattah Abd al-Ghani al-Qadi, Amir al-Sayyid Uthman, and Ibrahim Shehata al-Samannudi.
Al-Badawi pursued his formal higher education at al-Azhar University in Cairo. He received a certification in tajwid from the Tajwid Division of the Faculty of Arabic Language in 1369 AH, followed by the Higher Certificate in Recitations from the same faculty's Department of Recitations in 1372 AH. He earned his advanced specialization in recitations and related Quranic disciplines in 1376 AH. He later attained the Higher License (al-Ijazah al-'Aliyah) in Islamic and Arabic studies from the Faculty of Sharia at al-Azhar in 1388 AH, and completed a master's degree in Sharia-oriented governance (al-siyasah al-shar'iyyah) in 1394 AH.
Academic and Scholarly Career
Al-Badawi began his career teaching at institutions affiliated with al-Azhar. He then relocated to Baghdad, where he taught at the Islamic Institute and lectured at the College of Imam Abu Hanifa al-Nu'man. During his academic tenure, he authored al-Wajiz fi 'Ilm al-Tajwid (The Concise Guide to the Science of Tajwid), an introductory manual on recitation rules that was incorporated into the curriculum for students at the College of Imam Abu Hanifa al-Nu'man.
He later moved to Medina to join the faculty of the College of the Holy Quran and Islamic Studies at the Islamic University of Madinah. In 1401 AH, he also taught at the Higher Institute of Islamic Da'wah in Medina. He rose through the academic ranks at the Islamic University until he was appointed chairman of the Department of Recitations, serving in that role from 1406 to 1412 AH. He sat to transmit and teach Quranic recitation to numerous students, supervised the College of the Holy Quran's project for the audio recording of the ten mutawatir recitations, and served on both the Scholarly Committee for Reviewing the Medina Mus-haf and the Higher Advisory Board at the King Fahd Complex for the Printing of the Holy Quran.
Death
Al-Badawi remained an active faculty member at the College of the Holy Quran at the Islamic University of Madinah until his death in 1415 AH (1995 CE).
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List of Works
al-Wajiz fi Ilm al-Tajwid (The Concise Guide to the Science of Tajwid) is an introductory textbook on the rules and principles of Quranic recitation (tajwid). Compiled as a concise educational manual, it was designated as part of the formal curriculum for students at the College of Imam Abu Hanifa al-Nu'man in Baghdad.