Muhammad Abu Shahba
- Died
- 1403 AH
- Born in
- -
Muhammad Abu Shahba (d. 1403 AH / 1982–1983 CE) was an Egyptian scholar of Quranic and Hadith sciences who served as a professor at al-Azhar University and Umm al-Qura University .
Biography and Academic Career
His full name was Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Suwaylim Abu Shahba, and he used the kunyas Abu al-Sadat and Abu 'Umar . He pursued higher Islamic studies at al-Azhar, where he obtained the advanced professorial credential (al-'Alamiyya min Darajat Ustadh) and specialized in both the Quran and the Prophetic Sunna .
Abu Shahba taught hadith, hadith terminology, and the prophetic biography (al-sira al-nabawiyya) at university faculties in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, holding professorships at al-Azhar University and Umm al-Qura University in Mecca .
Scholarly Contributions
Abu Shahba's scholarship focused on defending classical Islamic texts against modern polemics and purging Quranic exegesis and hadith collections of fabricated or unverified reports .
In Muharram 1391 AH (March 1971 CE), at the request of Abd al-Halim Mahmud, then Secretary-General of the Islamic Research Academy at al-Azhar, he authored al-Isra'iliyyat wa-l-Mawdu'at fi Kutub al-Tafsir ("Extrabiblical Narratives and Fabrications in Books of Exegesis"), analyzing unverified Judeo-Christian traditions (isra'iliyyat) and spurious narrations transmitted in classical commentaries . In hadith defense, he wrote Difa' 'an al-Sunna wa Radd Shubuhat al-Mustashriqin wa-l-Kuttab al-Mu'asirin ("Defense of the Sunnah and Refutation of Doubts of Orientalists and Contemporary Writers"), systematically answering criticisms directed against early narrators and the preservation of the Prophetic tradition . His manual al-Madkhal li-Dirasat al-Quran al-Karim ("Introduction to the Study of the Noble Quran") treated classical Quranic sciences while addressing modern critiques concerning the Quranic text and its transmission .
Death
Abu Shahba died in 1403 AH (1982–1983 CE) .
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List of Works
This work of hadith defense and polemical scholarship is dedicated to establishing the authority of the Prophetic Sunna and refuting modern critiques directed against hadith literature and its early narrators.
This two-volume study of the life of the Prophet Muhammad examines the prophetic biography through the dual lens of the Quran and the Sunnah, providing an educational foundation for moral instruction and practical emulation.
This critical study of exegesis examines Judeo-Christian traditions (isra'iliyyat) and fabricated reports (mawdu'at) found across classical tafsir literature, alerting readers to unreliable narratives transmitted without explicit refutation.
This treatise on Quranic sciences provides a foundational introductory manual for graduate students and researchers, integrating classical treatments of the discipline with contemporary critical engagement and defense of the Quranic text.
This comprehensive single-volume manual on hadith terminology and sciences covers the history of transmission, classifications of reports, evaluation of narrators, and the study of fabrication in a balanced intermediate format.