Ijazat al-Shaykh al-Allama Abd al-Latif ibn Abd al-Rahman Al al-Shaykh
- Author died
- 1293 AH
- Editions
- Dar al-Basha'ir al-Islamiyyah lil-Tiba'ah wa-al-Nashr wa-al-Tawzi'
Ijazat al-Shaykh al-Allama Abd al-Latif ibn Abd al-Rahman Al al-Shaykh (The Scholarly Transmission Licenses of Shaykh Abd al-Latif ibn Abd al-Rahman Al al-Shaykh) is a compilation of two formal transmission certificates (ijāzahs) granted by the Najdi scholar Abd al-Latif ibn Abd al-Rahman Al al-Shaykh (1225–1293 AH / 1810–1876 CE) to the Najdi jurist Ahmad ibn Ibrahim ibn Isa and the Bahraini Maliki scholar Rashid ibn Isa al-Maliki.
Background and Context
During his thirty-one-year stay in Egypt after leaving Najd in 1233 AH, Abd al-Latif studied under his father Abd al-Rahman ibn Hasan Al al-Shaykh and other Najdi scholars, as well as prominent Egyptian and Maghrebi authorities residing in Egypt. Through the Hanafi mufti of Alexandria, Muhammad ibn Mahmud al-Jaza'iri, he received authorization in the major hadith collections and other classical texts. Upon returning to Najd, he issued formal transmission licenses connecting his students to these elevated chains of transmission (asānīd).
Contents and Structure
The published text consists of two separate transmission documents:
The License of Ahmad ibn Isa
- Formal Request (Istidʿāʾ): Written in the hand of Ahmad ibn Isa on 1 Muharram 1287 AH, petitioning Abd al-Latif for a general authorization covering all transmitted and rational sciences (al-manqūl wa-al-maʿqūl) and all core texts and derived branches (al-uṣūl wa-al-furūʿ) that Abd al-Latif received from his Najdi and Egyptian masters.
- Certificate of Authorization: Dictated by Abd al-Latif to a student on 2 Safar 1287 AH. In it, he documents his chains of narration back to Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, the Six Books, Musnad Aḥmad, Musnad al-Shāfiʿī, and the narrations preserved in the Muʿjam of Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani through Muhammad ibn Mahmud al-Jaza'iri (who authorized him at his home in Alexandria in Jumada al-Akhirah 1247 AH). He provides an elevated chain containing twelve intermediaries between himself and al-Bukhari, recording the three-narrator hadith ( من يقل علي ما لم أقل فليتبوأ مقعده من النار , "Whoever attributes to me what I did not say, let him take his seat in the Fire") with sixteen intermediaries to the Prophet ﷺ. He also transmits the works of al-Suyuti, legal texts received from Najdi teachers—including his father Abd al-Rahman ibn Hasan, Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, Ahmad ibn Rashid al-Hanbali, and Abd al-Rahman ibn Abd Allah—and rational sciences transmitted from the rector of al-Azhar, Ibrahim al-Bajuri, Ahmad al-Sa'idi, and Mustafa al-Bulaqi. He concludes with an admonition toward piety, sincere learning, and avoiding the exploitation of religious knowledge for worldly gain.
The License of Rashid ibn Isa al-Maliki
Dictated by Abd al-Latif on 17 Dhu (Dhu al-Qi'da or Dhu al-Hijja) 1283 AH in response to a request from the Bahraini jurist Rashid ibn Isa al-Maliki. It authorizes him in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, and the remaining Six Books via Muhammad ibn Mahmud al-Jaza'iri (dating to 1248 AH in Alexandria), providing the same elevated chain to al-Bukhari and concluding with an exhortation to adhere to the creed of the early generations (al-salaf al-ṣāliḥ) regarding divine attributes and rights.
Manuscripts and Publication
The text rests on two primary holographic and contemporary manuscript witnesses:
- A two-folio manuscript containing Ahmad ibn Isa's original request written in his hand and the license dictated by Abd al-Latif in 1287 AH, preserved in the private library of the editor, Muhammad ibn Nasir al-Ajmi.
- A single-folio manuscript of the 1283 AH license to Rashid ibn Isa, held by his descendant Abd al-Aziz ibn al-Shaykh Muhammad ibn Isa in Muharraq, Bahrain, a facsimile of which was supplied by Nizam Ya'qubi.
The work was edited by Muhammad ibn Nasir al-Ajmi and published in a single volume by Dar al-Basha'ir al-Islamiyyah in Beirut in 1422 AH / 2001 CE as the twenty-seventh release in the series Liqāʾ al-ʿAshr al-Awākhir bi-al-Masjid al-Ḥarām.
Answer updated