Muhammad al-Amin al-Harari
- Died
- 1441 AH
- Born in
- -
Muhammad al-Amin al-Harari (1348–1441 AH / 1930–2019 CE) was an Ethiopian-born Islamic scholar of Quranic exegesis, hadith, and Shafi'i jurisprudence who settled in Mecca and authored extensive multi-volume commentaries on the Quran and the canonical hadith collections .
Lineage and early life
He was Muhammad al-Amin ibn Abd Allah ibn Yusuf ibn Hasan, with the kunya Abu Yasin . Ethnically from the Oromo people (al-Urami), his tribal lineage traced back to Ali ibn Qal'o ibn Hunbanna ibn Urmo (al-Alawi) . He was born on a Friday afternoon in late Dhu al-Hijjah 1348 AH in the village of Buwaytah, situated in the district of Karri within the Harar region of Ethiopia .
Having lost his mother in early childhood, he was raised as an orphan by his father, who placed him under the tutelage of a Quran teacher at the age of four . He completed the memorization of the Quran by the age of six, after which his father directed him to schools of theology and jurisprudence . In his early training, he studied Ash'ari theological primers that were customary in Ethiopia at the time, alongside standard manuals of Shafi'i jurisprudence, such as al-Minhaj by al-Nawawi and al-Manhaj by Zakariyya al-Ansari, studying under numerous scholars across the region . In theological doctrine, he adhered to the Salafi creed, while maintaining Shafi'i legal affiliation .
Resistance and migration to Mecca
In Ethiopia, he established the Oromo Islamic Front (al-Jabha al-Islamiyya al-Urumiyya) in his home region to oppose the communist regime . Following armed clashes, communist forces besieged him and plotted his assassination, but he escaped and emigrated to Saudi Arabia in 1398 AH (1978 CE) .
Upon his arrival and the regularization of his residency, he settled in Mecca, living near the Sacred Mosque in al-Misfalah (Harat al-Rushd) and later in the al-Zahir district . From the beginning of 1400 AH, he taught in the advanced division of Dar al-Hadith al-Khayriyyah, where he served as an instructor for over thirty years . With permission from the General Presidency for the Affairs of the Two Holy Mosques, he also delivered nightly lessons in al-Masjid al-Haram for approximately eight years before stepping back to devote his time to writing .
Scholarly contribution and reception
Al-Harari was known for his comprehensive multi-volume commentaries that synthesized traditional interpretation, legal deduction, narrator analysis, and detailed grammatical parsing . Among his major writings is Hadaiq al-Ruh wal-Rayhan fi Rawabi Ulum al-Quran ("Gardens of Spirit and Basil in the Hills of Quranic Sciences"), an encyclopedic thirty-two-volume commentary on the Quran . In the field of hadith, he authored al-Kawkab al-Wahhaj wal-Rawd al-Bahhaj fi Sharh Sahih Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj ("The Blazing Star and Splendid Meadow in Explaining Sahih Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj"), spanning twenty-six volumes, as well as Murshid Dhawi al-Hija wal-Haja ila Sunan Ibn Majah ("Guide for the Discerning to Sunan Ibn Majah") in twenty-six volumes . Contemporary scholars praised his exegetical work as an extraordinary achievement in its synthesis of grammatical analysis, rhetorical nuances, and the transmission of early authorities' views .
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List of Works
al-Kawkab al-Wahhaj Sharh Sahih Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj is an extensive multi-volume commentary on Sahih Muslim. Conceived as an encyclopedic work on hadith sciences, it synthesizes the explanations and insights of earlier commentators while examining linguistic nuances, grammatical parsing, narrators' biographies, jurisprudential rulings, and the reconciliation of hadith texts.
Murshid Dhawi al-Hija wa al-Haja ila Sunan Ibn Majah is a twenty-six-volume commentary on the hadith collection Sunan Ibn Majah. The work provides an extensive examination of each tradition, addressing grammatical syntax, linguistic definitions, narrator biographies, hadith grading, jurisprudence, and doctrinal commentary.
Tafsir Hadaiq al-Ruh wal-Rayhan fi Rawabi Ulum al-Quran is an encyclopedic contemporary commentary on the Quran. It brings together traditional interpretations alongside comprehensive linguistic, legal, and rhetorical analyses across the entirety of the Quranic text, integrating variant readings, morphology, rhetoric, and grammatical parsing.