Muhammad ibn al-Mubarak al-Jazairi
- Died
- 1330 AH
- Born in
- Beirut
Muhammad ibn al-Mubarak al-Jazairi (1263–1330 AH / 1847–1912 CE) was an Algerian-descended Maliki scholar, linguist, and man of letters based in Damascus.
Lineage and upbringing
He was Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Mubarak al-Hasani al-Dillisi al-Jazairi al-Dimashqi. His family belonged to Algerian Arabs who had settled in Dellys among the Berbers to provide religious guidance and spiritual instruction, learning their language and intermarrying with them. His father, Muhammad al-Mubarak al-Hasani (1242–1319 AH), was a Maliki jurist and Khalwati Sufi who took part in resisting the French colonization of Algeria before migrating to the Levant. His family relocated to Damascus alongside Amir Abd al-Qadir al-Jazairi.
He was born in Beirut in 1263 AH (1847 CE) and was raised and educated in Damascus, where his teachers included Shaykh Tahir al-Jazairi.
Scholarly career and standing
He studied literature, Quranic exegesis (tafsir), hadith, prophetic biography (sira), and Sufism. He was recognized as an ascetic scholar, linguist, and stylist, noted for his proficiency in literary disputations and poetic exchanges. His practice of Sufism centered on ethical conduct and adherence to the Sunnah, shunning practices not grounded in Islamic law. Among the texts he read and taught to his students were al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya ("The Meccan Illuminations") by Ibn Arabi and Qawa'id al-Tasawwuf ("Principles of Sufism") by Ahmad Zarruq.
His students included Shaykh Abd al-Baqi al-Jazairi, the Maliki mufti of Damascus, and Muhammad al-Sharif al-Ya'qubi, as well as his son Abd al-Qadir al-Mubarak, who became a literary scholar and member of the Arab Scientific Academy in Damascus. His literary compositions included Nadrat al-Bahar fi Muhawarat al-Layl wa al-Nahar ("The Freshness of Blossoms in the Dialogue of Night and Day"), an allegorical debate between Night and Day, and al-Maqamat al-Ashr li-Talabat al-Asr ("The Ten Maqamas for the Students of the Age").
Death
He died in Damascus in 1330 AH (1912 CE), though an alternative report records his death in 1313 AH.
Answer updated
List of Works
Nadrat al-Bahar fi Muhawarat al-Layl wa al-Nahar is an allegorical literary work in the form of a maqama and debate that interweaves rhymed prose and verse. Cast as a disputation between the personified figures of Night and Day, each boasting of its virtues and primacy through rhetorical devices, proverbs, and scriptural citations, the rhetorical contest ultimately transitions into a panegyric dedicated to a ruler.