Muhammad Mustafa al-Zuhayli
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Muhammad Mustafa al-Zuhayli is a contemporary Syrian scholar of Islamic jurisprudence and legal theory (usul al-fiqh) .
Education and Academic Career
Al-Zuhayli pursued his advanced Islamic studies at al-Azhar University in Cairo, where he prepared his doctoral dissertation under the supervision of Mustafa Abd al-Khaliq . In 1391 AH (1971 CE), he earned his doctorate with first-class honors for his thesis titled Athar al-ikhtilaf fi al-qawa'id al-usuliyya fi ikhtilaf al-fuqaha' (The Impact of Disagreement on Legal Principles upon Juristic Divergence), a treatise that subsequently became a textbook taught to postgraduate students across several universities .
Following his doctoral studies, al-Zuhayli taught in Syria at Damascus University across both the Faculty of Sharia and the Faculty of Education . He was also seconded to Saudi Arabia to teach at Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh, serving in its Faculty of Sharia and Faculty of Arabic Language, where he supervised numerous master's and doctoral dissertations .
Academic Administration and Contributions
In Damascus, al-Zuhayli served as Vice Dean for Scientific Affairs at the Faculty of Sharia of Damascus University . He also directed the comparative jurisprudence division within the postgraduate studies program at the Abu al-Nur Islamic Complex .
Beyond individual research, al-Zuhayli participated in collaborative scholarly projects aimed at modernizing the presentation of classical disciplines. Among these collaborative works, he co-authored al-Fiqh al-Manhaji 'ala Madhhab al-Imam al-Shafi'i alongside Mustafa al-Bugha and Ali al-Sharbaji, offering a structured handbook of Shafi'i jurisprudence . He also collaborated with al-Bugha, Muhyi al-Din Mistu, Ali al-Sharbaji, and Muhammad Amin Lutfi on Nuzhat al-Muttaqin, a multi-volume contemporary commentary on al-Nawawi's hadith collection Riyad al-Salihin .
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List of Works
al-Wajiz fi Usul al-Fiqh al-Islami (The Concise Guide to Islamic Legal Theory) is a modern two-volume treatise on Islamic jurisprudence (usul al-fiqh). Written as an accessible manual covering the core themes of legal theory, the work synthesizes classical and contemporary methodologies.
al-Qawaid al-Fiqhiyya wa Tatbiqatuha fi al-Madhahib al-Arbaa (Legal Maxims and Their Applications in the Four Schools) is a contemporary two-volume work on Islamic legal maxims (qawaid fiqhiyya), published in Damascus in 1427 AH / 2006 CE. The book presents the major and subsidiary legal maxims of Islamic jurisprudence along with their practical applications across the Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i, and Hanbali schools of law.