Muhibb al-Din al-Khatib

Muhibb al-Din al-Khatib (1303–1389 AH / 1886–1969 CE; also reported born in 1305 AH) was a Syrian-born Islamic writer, journalist, editor, and political activist based in Cairo, known for founding the Salafi Press and authoring the polemical treatise al-Khutut al-Arida (Broad Outlines) al-Alam lil-Zirikli+1.

Lineage and Early Life

He was Muhibb al-Din ibn Abi al-Fath Muhammad ibn Abd al-Qadir ibn Salih ibn Abd al-Rahim ibn Muhammad al-Khatib, whose lineage is traced to Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani and back to the Hashemite line of Ali ibn Abi Talib al-Alam lil-Zirikli+1. He was born in the al-Qaymariyya quarter of Damascus in July 1886 CE (1303 AH; other accounts state 1305 AH) al-Alam lil-Zirikli+1. His mother, Asiyah al-Jallad, died of a desert windstorm between Mecca and Medina during the return journey of the Syrian Hajj caravan while he was still a small child in her lap al-Mujam al-Jami fi Taraj….

Al-Khatib received his elementary education at Madrasat al-Taraqqi al-Namudhajiyya in Damascus and then entered the Maktab Anbar school al-Mujam al-Jami fi Taraj…. Following his father's death, he temporarily left school until the Syrian reformer Tahir al-Jaza'iri took him under his mentorship al-Mujam al-Jami fi Taraj…. Al-Jaza'iri assigned him to copy classical manuscripts at the Zahiriyya library—including the writings of Ibn Taymiyyah—and encouraged him to return to Maktab Anbar al-Mujam al-Jami fi Taraj…. During this period in Damascus, al-Khatib also frequented the circles of scholars such as Ahmad al-Nuwaylati, Jamal al-Din al-Qasimi, and Muhammad Ali Muslim al-Mujam al-Jami fi Taraj….

Political and Scholarly Activism

After completing secondary school in 1906, al-Khatib moved to Istanbul, where he enrolled in the faculties of arts and law before focusing on law al-Mujam al-Jami fi Taraj…+1. Concerned by Arab students assimilating into Turkish language and culture, he co-founded the Arab Renaissance Society (Jam'iyyat al-Nahda al-Arabiyya) alongside figures such as Amir Arif al-Shahabi and Salah al-Din al-Qasimi al-Alam lil-Zirikli+1. Under mounting Ottoman surveillance, he traveled to Sana'a, where he translated from Turkish and taught in local schools al-Alam lil-Zirikli+1. Following the declaration of the Ottoman Constitution in 1908, he returned to Damascus, spent time in Beirut and Istanbul, and relocated in 1909 to Cairo, where he wrote for the newspaper al-Mu'ayyad al-Alam lil-Zirikli+1. In 1913, he became assistant secretary of the Ottoman Decentralization Party (Hizb al-Lamarkaziyya al-Uthmani) in Cairo, served as a representative for the Young Arab Society (al-Arabiyya al-Fatat), and taught geology at Rashid Rida's Madrasat al-Da'wa wa-l-Irshad al-Mujam al-Jami fi Taraj….

At the onset of World War I, Arab nationalist groups dispatched him to contact rulers in the Arabian Peninsula; he traveled through Aden and Bombay before being arrested by British authorities in the Gulf region and detained for seven months (another report states nine months) al-Alam lil-Zirikli+1. Upon the outbreak of the Great Arab Revolt in 1916, he went to Mecca at the invitation of Sharif Husayn, where he established the government printing press and edited the official journal al-Qibla, prompting Ottoman authorities to sentence him to death in absentia al-Alam lil-Zirikli+1. Following the entry of the Arab army into Damascus in 1918, he returned to edit the official newspaper al-Asima and sat on al-Fatat's central committee al-Alam lil-Zirikli+1.

Cairo Years and Publishing

When French forces occupied Damascus in 1920, al-Khatib fled to Cairo and settled there permanently al-Alam lil-Zirikli+1. He worked as an editor for al-Ahram for approximately five years and established the Salafi Bookstore and Press (al-Maktaba al-Salafiyya wa-Matba'atuha), through which he edited, annotated, and published numerous classical texts Muhibb al-Din al-Khatib+1. Among his notable editorial contributions were his extensive historical and critical annotations on al-Awasim min al-Qawasim by Abu Bakr ibn al-Arabi Majallat al-Jami'a al-Isl…. He also compiled al-Hadiqa (The Garden), a multivolume anthology of Islamic literature and wisdom al-Mujam al-Jami fi Taraj…+1.

Al-Khatib founded and directed the monthly literary-social journal al-Zahra', which ran for five years, and the influential weekly Islamic journal al-Fath, which appeared for more than two decades Muhibb al-Din al-Khatib+1. He also served as editor-in-chief of Majallat al-Azhar for six years al-Alam lil-Zirikli+1. In addition to his publishing activities, he was a co-founder and secretary of the Young Men's Muslim Association (Jam'iyyat al-Shubban al-Muslimin) in Cairo al-Alam lil-Zirikli+1. During this time, he was imprisoned for one month following the publication of an article titled al-Hurriyya fi Bilad al-Atfal (Freedom in the Land of Children), which criticized the King of Afghanistan and Mustafa Kemal Atatürk al-Mujam al-Jami fi Taraj…. He was proficient in Arabic, Turkish, Persian, and French Majallat al-Jami'a al-Isl….

Death

Al-Khatib resided in his later years on the island of al-Rawda in Cairo, surrounded by his personal library, which contained approximately twenty thousand volumes Muhibb al-Din al-Khatib+1. He died in Cairo in December 1969 CE (1389 AH) al-Alam lil-Zirikli+1.