With heavy hearts, we announce the passing of our teacher, Shaykh Dr. Ahmad Taha Rayyan.
Shaykh Ahmad Taha Rayyan (b.1939) was the Shaykh of the Maliki scholars of Egypt and a member of the Council of Senior Scholars of the Azhar. He memorised the Qur‘an and the principles of the religious sciences in his village in Upper Egypt. Shaykh Ahmad graduated from the faculty of Shari‘ah (Azhar University) in 1966, and went on to obtain a Master’s degree in 1968, and a Doctorate in comparative fiqh in 1973. He was authorised to teach at the Azhar in 1974, where he matured in the ranks of scholarship over the years and became a distinguished and celebrated professor.
The Shaykh would give a regular lesson at the noble Azhar mosque after which he would take a simple Tuk-Tuk to the mosque of Imam ad-Dardir to give another lesson. No question was ever poorly received, and the Shaykh would always make his students feel special and loved. When there was a choice of answers (from the Shari’ah) to a problem or situation, the Shaykh would advise to take the path that was easiest for the people.
During his student years at the Azhar, he studied with Shaykh Salih al-Ja’fari and had a great love and respect for him. Once, after one of Shaykh Ahmad’s lessons at the Azhar, some of us had the honour of walking him from his seat to his awaiting Tuk-Tuk, just outside the mosque. We mentioned to our teacher that we were translating the works of Shaykh Salih under the name ‘Light of the Azhar’. The Shaykh stopped walking and he looked at us; and with a beaming smile, said one of his oft-repeated statements,
“Knowledge is not an abundance of transmissions but rather it is a light that Allah places in the heart of His slave,” he continued, “Shaykh Salih is the ‘Light of the Azhar’ and I ask Allah to give you success and blessings in spreading his religious and spiritual teachings in the west, which was the Qur‘an, the Sunnah, knowledge and immense love of the Prophet (salla Allahu ‘alayhi wa sallam). Allah give you success, my son! Deliver my salam to all the brothers in the west and to all the Muslims!”.
May Allah have mercy on our teacher, Shaykh Ahmad Taha Rayyan, and make his earthly grave, a garden from the gardens of Paradise and fill it with divine lights and untold blessings. May our teacher be rewarded with a station in the highest Paradise for his service to the religion and to all Muslims; and long may his knowledge continue to benefit the people, acting as a perpetual reward for him and his family. Ameen.
