Salam
I recall many years ago when reading through the chains of narration (asanid) of some contemporary scholars of hadith noticing the name of a scholar (Shaykh Ahmad Nur Sayf al-Muhairi) whose name did not seem familiar. He was mentioned as a Maliki, who taught in the Masjid al-Haram. Long accustomed to knowing of only Shaykh Muhammad Alawi al-Maliki I was intrigued to find out more, but could not find any further information to ease my curiosity. The years passed and other students who were asked about this scholar also could not provide much information.
Fast forwarding all those years I heard that the Shaykh was originally from the Emirates but was based mainly in the Hijaz. Finding myself in the country of his origin I set out to somehow find him, equipped with nothing except a name I wondered how Allah (the Exalted) would facilitate this meeting.
Sharjah Bookfair
Whilst browsing the bookfair in Sharjah I came across a stall wherein a tall Emirati was asking the stallholder about Sh. Wahbi Ghawji al-Albani, the fact he was asking about Sh. Wahbi was a sign that maybe this was someone who could be interesting to speak to. I went up to the brother and struck up a conversation, he turned out to be a Maliki student of knowledge was studying in Amman, we quickly exchanged details and information and it turned out that he knew of Shaykh Ahmad Nur Sayf whom I was looking for and passed me his number. He added that he was elderly and not in full health.
The Process
The bookfair was before Hajj, and I knew the chances of me meeting Shaykh Ahmad were not huge, added to this, travelling in the Emirates, especially when trying to find someone’s house is extremely difficult without having a car.
It took me sometime to get hold of a vehicle (which is the subject of a post in of itself), when I finally did, I felt that now I could make a serious attempt at meeting Shaykh Ahmad Nur Sayf.
I made a few calls to Shaykh Ahmad – no response – I tried again a few days later and this time received an answer. I explained who I was and was informed that Shaykh Ahmad’s schedule was busy and try ringing back in a few weeks would be best. Alhumdulilah, after a few persistent phone calls I was finally granted an audience
The Meeting
Street names and addresses aren’t used much it seems in the Middle East, you are often directed to a main road and then some landmark along with: “Then take a left, then a right, then a right, fourth left and then a right” (by which time you are totally puzzled and lost).
Alhumdulilah, I reached the area of the where Shaykh Ahmad resides whilst in the Emirates reasonably easily, and called him, he told me to wait and a few minutes later pulled up in his car to take me. I suggested that perhaps it would be best If I followed in my car so as to cause less inconvenience.
Shaykh Ahmad Nur Sayf al-Muhairi was in his 70’s I would say, in no particular order I asked him some questions, which he kindly enlightened me in answering as follows:
Al-Ahsa
I asked Shaykh Ahmad whether his family and himself had any association with the scholars of al-Ahsa. He praised the scholars of al-Ahsa and mentioned the blessing of the four madhabs existing within the city, and the active study scene that was in existence in the city. I mentioned Shaykh Muhammad al-Mulla, the father of Shaykh Yahya, who I thought might have been familiar to him due to his studies in the Haram al-Makki. Shaykh Ahmad Nur Sayf replied that yes, he had met him when he was quite young, but this was in al-Ahsa itself. Shaykh Ahmad recalled visiting the city, and the Ribaat of the Hanafis where students would resid. He added that many Balushi’s would stay there on their way to the Hijaz, whether they would also stay to study I didn’t ask.
Shaykh Ahmad Nur Sayf added Shaykh Muhammad al-Mulla was a member of a trio of brothers who were all well grounded scholars, namely Shaykh Muhammad, Shaykh Ahmad and Shaykh Abd al-Rahman, the latter passing away a few years ago. The fondness and happiness at recalling al-Ahsa and the scholars associated with it was evident in Shaykh Ahmad’s face and his words, you could almost sense him having flashbacks to the past and envisioning those images from yesteryear. He mentioned that it had been some time since he had visited al-Ahsa, and I described to him what I had seen when I had last visited and mentioned some things about how the area of al-Koot was.
The Trip to the Hijaz
Linking in with the discussion regarding al-Ahsa was the point that the route the Emiratis would take to the Hijaz was via the city. The Sheikh mentioned that in his youth ships would come from India and dock in Dubai where Shaykh Ahmad Nur Sayf would get onboard with his father, Shaykh Muhammad Nur Sayf al-Muhairi (who also taught in the Haram al-Makki). They would then sail to Bahrain where they would alight and take small boats for the short journey to the Saudi mainland, from there they would travel via dirt road tracks via al-Ahsa into the Hijaz, a journey which was tiring and exhausting.
The Scholars of the Haram al-Makki
Shaykh Ahmad Nur Sayf mentioned that he was Maliki in his fiqh, and that his main teachers were his father, Shaykh Alawi al-Maliki (father of Shaykh Muhammad), Shaykh Muhammad Amin al-Kutbi (Hanafi) and Shaykh Hasan al-Mashat (Maliki), he also took from Shaykh Yasin al-Fadani (Shafi).
When I asked him about the story regarding Shaykh Hasan al-Mashat, namely that he lived his life with difficulty and without wealth, Shaykh Ahmad Nur Sayf replied that actually this was the condition of many of the scholars he took from. These scholars were mainly employed in the Sawlatiyyah and al-Falah schools, where the highest wage they could receive after years of service was around 700-800 riyals a month, added to this in the time of King Abd al-Aziz they were offered around 4000 riyals a month for their teaching in the Haram which would take place outside of their teaching in the schools. Despite this massive wage increase the scholars refused, explaining that they would not accept money for teaching in the Holy sanctuary.
When I asked him if it was true whether he had a taught a circle in the Masjid al-Haram, he confirmed this, and mentioned that there was no limitation on the books of fiqh that he was allowed to teach. From the Saudi Hanbali scholars that he praised was Shaykh Abdullah bin Humaid, who was described as a person who had the utmost respect for other scholars, and was knowledgeable of the Hanbali school, this comment was interesting as I had also heard praise of Shaykh Abdullah bin Humaid from another madhab scholar from al-Ahsa.
Our discussion turned to other matters, but I thought the above would perhaps be of most interest to the average reader who may come across this post.
Wassalam