Muhammad Uzayr Shams
- Died
- 1444 AH
- Born in
- Hind
Muhammad Uzayr Shams (1376–1444 AH / 1957–2022 CE) was an Indian Islamic scholar, bibliographer, and manuscript specialist based in Mecca, known for his critical editing and philological work on Islamic heritage manuscripts.
Early life and education
Muhammad Uzayr ibn Shams al-Haqq ibn Rida Allah was born in 1957 CE in the state of West Bengal, India. He completed his elementary education at Madrasat Fayd-e 'Amm in Mau, followed by a ten-year curriculum in Arabic and Islamic studies at institutions including Dar al-Ulum al-Ahmadiyya al-Salafiyya in Darbhanga (Bihar), Dar al-Hadith in Beldanga (West Bengal), al-Madrasa al-Rahmaniyya in Benares, and al-Jami'a al-Salafiyya in Benares, where he graduated in 1976 CE.
He then traveled to Saudi Arabia to pursue higher studies at the Islamic University of Madinah, graduating from the Faculty of Arabic Language in 1401 AH. He later earned a master's degree in 1406 AH from Umm al-Qura University in Mecca with a thesis on Arabic influence in the poetry of Altaf Husain Hali, and completed a doctoral dissertation on Arabic poetry in India that was not formally defended.
Teachers and licenses
Shams studied under numerous scholars in India, foremost among them his father, Shams al-Haqq al-Salafi (d. 1406 AH), with whom he read Sahih al-Bukhari and the Muwatta' Malik. His other instructors included Muhammad Ra'is al-Nadwi, Muhammad Idris al-Rahmani, Safi al-Rahman al-Mubarakfuri, and his uncle 'Ayn al-Haqq al-Salafi. He received transmission certificates (ijazat) from scholars across several countries, including Subhi al-Samarra'i of Iraq and Abu Muhammad 'Alim al-Din al-Salafi of Bangladesh.
Scholarly career
Shams cataloged and indexed manuscript collections at the Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library in Patna for four months, at the Islamic University of Madinah library for three years, and across multiple periods at Umm al-Qura University. He also taught subjects such as mathematics, logic, and prosody at various schools, and contributed scholarly articles in Arabic and Urdu to academic journals including Majallat al-Jami'a al-Salafiyya, Majallat al-Majma' al-'Ilmi al-Hindi, and the journal of the Arab Academy of Damascus.
Over decades of research, Shams established a reputation as a leading authority on manuscript philology, recognized particularly for his ability to decipher intricate Arabic cursive scripts and the unedited autograph drafts of Ibn Taymiyya. He prepared the critical edition of Ibn Taymiyya's multi-volume Jami' al-Masa'il (Compendium of Legal Issues) and co-compiled al-Jami' li-Sirat Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyya (The Comprehensive Collection of Ibn Taymiyya's Biography). He also produced Mu'allafat Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya (The Works of Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya), an extensive descriptive bibliography of the manuscript tradition and print history of Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya's writings.
Death
Muhammad Uzayr Shams died in 1444 AH (2022 CE).
Answer updated
List of Works
This biographical sourcebook compiles accounts of Ibn Taymiyya gathered from historical chronicles, general biographical dictionaries, and annals spanning seven centuries. Serving as a centralized reference of material recorded across general sources, it arranges complete biographical entries chronologically by their authors' death dates, with source annotations and scholarly indices.
This bibliographical reference work catalogues the extant manuscripts, printed editions, abridgments, and translations of the works of Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya. Based on a wide survey of international library collections and print records, it classifies the associated corpus into authentically attributed surviving titles, extracted treatises published separately, and inauthentic attributions.