19 Facts About Al-Shawkani

Al-Shawkani's teachings played a major role in the emergence of the Salafi movement.

Al-Shawkani called for a return to the textual sources of the Quran and hadith.

Al-Shawkani opposed Sufism and mystical practices of Sufi orders, considering them to be an affront to Tawhid.

Al-Shawkani is credited with developing a series of syllabi for attaining various ranks of scholarship and used a strict system of legal analysis based on Sunni thought.

Al-Shawkani insisted that the ulama were required to ask for textual evidence, that the gate of ijtihad was not closed and that the mujtahid was to do ijtihad independent of any madhhab, a view which stemmed from his opposition to taqlid for a mujtahid, which he deemed to be a vice with which the Shariah had been inflicted.

Al-Shawkani asserted that the decline of the Muslim community was due to their distancing from the Scriptures, the principle sources of religion.

Al-Shawkani wrote the book Nayl al-Autar, a major reference in Islamic law.

Al-Shawkani wrote several treatises condemning various popular mystical practices which he viewed to be shirk.

Al-Shawkani praised the contemporary Arabian Islamic reformer Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab who had advocated for similar views and refuted his Yemeni theological opponents in correspondence.

Al-Shawkani made a powerful critique of Zaydism, arguing that many Zaydi theological and legal doctrines have no basis in Scriptures.

In contrast, Al-Shawkani supported the Quietist Sunni doctrine that necessitated obedience to rulers, even the unjust who lacked qualifications.

Hence, the ruling Qasimid dynasty of Yemen supported scholars like Al-Shawkani who legitimized their dynastic rule.

Al-Shawkani campaigned for the 1825 execution of the Zaydi scholar Ibn Hariwa who criticised Shawkani's Sunnification efforts and state policies.

Muhammad Al-Shawkani is widely regarded as one of the most prolific Hadith scholars of his time; whose ideas influenced later Salafi movements.

Al-Shawkani played a major role in the revival of the works of medieval theologian Ibn Taymiyya.

Al-Shawkani profoundly influenced the Ahl-i Hadith in the Indian subcontinent and Salafis across the globe.

Much of the Ahl-i Hadith literature condemning grave-visits, necrolatry and idolatry was modelled on the literature of Yemeni scholarship, most notably Al-Shawkani, who followed the works of Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn Qayyim.

Al-Shawkani completed his seminal Qur'anic commentary Fath al-Qadir in 1814, which demonstrated remarkable methodological similarities to Fawz al-Kabir, the Tafsir work compiled a few decades earlier by Shah Waliullah.

Al-Shawkani has been described as "an erudite, prolific, and original writer who composed more than 150 books ", some of his publications including:.