Muhammad Ali al-Sayis
- Died
- 1396 AH
- Born in
- -
Muhammad Ali al-Sayis (1319–1396 AH / 1899–1976 CE) was an Egyptian Islamic scholar, jurist, and educator who served as dean of both the Faculty of Fundamentals of Religion and the Faculty of Islamic Sharia at Al-Azhar University .
Early Life and Education
Al-Sayis was born on 16 August 1899 CE (1319 AH) in the town of Motobas in the Kafr al-Shaykh governorate of Lower Egypt . He memorized the entire Quran by the age of nine and subsequently enrolled at al-Azhar . He pursued the traditional curriculum until he obtained the ʿĀlimiyya degree (later equated to a doctorate) in Dhu al-Qiʿdah 1345 AH (1927 CE) at the age of twenty-eight . In Dhu al-Hijjah 1350 AH (April 1932 CE), he earned a specialization in Sharia judiciary (Takhaṣṣuṣ al-Qaḍāʾ al-Sharʿī) .
Academic and Administrative Career
Al-Sayis began his career with an appointment in Asyut, before moving to Cairo as a lecturer in the Faculty of Fundamentals of Religion (Kulliyyat Uṣūl al-Dīn) . He was appointed dean of the Faculty of Fundamentals of Religion in 1954 for a term of three years, and subsequently served as dean of the Faculty of Islamic Sharia in 1957 for two years . On 1 March 1959, he was placed on early retirement before reaching the statutory age because of his opposition to proposed reforms to the educational system at al-Azhar .
Later, al-Sayis was appointed secretary of the Islamic Research Academy (Majmaʿ al-Buḥūth al-Islāmiyyah) . He formally reached the statutory retirement age of sixty-five on 16 August 1964 . In 1950, he had been appointed a member of the Senior Scholars Association (Jamāʿat Kibār al-ʿUlamāʾ), and following its dissolution, he was appointed to the Islamic Research Academy on 5 July 1961 . He also served on the Supreme Council of al-Azhar from 18 February 1954 until the end of his life, with his membership renewed every three years .
Scholarly Activity and Standing
Al-Sayis supervised and evaluated numerous graduate dissertations at al-Azhar, among them those of scholars such as Muhammad Husayn al-Dhahabi and Yusuf al-Qaradawi . He also participated in scholarly discussion circles in the Muhammad Abduh Hall at al-Azhar alongside figures such as Sheikh Abd al-Rahman Taj .
In scholarship, al-Sayis produced works on jurisprudence and legal history, notably Tārīkh al-Tashrīʿ al-Islāmī (History of Islamic Legislation) . He is also widely associated with Tafsīr Āyāt al-Aḥkām (Interpretation of the Verses of Legal Rulings), an exegesis of legal Quranic verses that early editions issued anonymously, while later editions credited al-Sayis with supervising its revision and correction .
Death
Al-Sayis died at the age of seventy-seven at dawn on Wednesday, 1 Dhu al-Hijjah 1396 AH (24 November 1976 CE) .
Answer updated
List of Works
Tafsir Ayat al-Ahkam (Interpretation of the Verses of Legal Rulings) is a modern Arabic work of legal Quranic exegesis. Structured around the Quranic text, the book surveys the majority of legal verses across the Quran and elucidates the substantive Islamic legal rulings and jurisprudential implications derived from them.