Muhammad 'Awwamah
Muhammad 'Awwamah is a Syrian-born Turkish Islamic scholar specializing in ḥadīth studies.
Early training
Muhammad 'Awwamah was born on 25 January 1940 in Aleppo, Syria. His full name is Abu al-Fadl Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Abd al-Qadir ibn Umar ibn Ali 'Awwamah al-Nuaymi al-Husayni, and he comes from a Sharif family on both paternal and maternal sides, tracing his lineage to Husayn ibn Ali, the son of Fatima. He began his early education under Muhammad al-Salqini and graduated in 1952 from the Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz Primary School. In 1953, on al-Salqini’s recommendation, he enrolled at al-Madrasah al-Sha'baniyyah in Aleppo, where he studied hadith, fiqh, and adab under Abdullah Siraj al-Din. When the government closed al-Madrasah al-Sha'baniyyah in 1959 and merged its students into al-Madrasah al-Khasruwiyyah, Siraj al-Din and Abd al-Fattah Abu Ghudda established a study circle in the Great Mosque of Aleppo for selected students, including 'Awwamah, which continued for a year. He briefly traveled to Egypt to study at Al-Azhar University but faced difficulties and returned to Syria after two months, where he met several scholars before completing his education at al-Madrasah al-Khasruwiyyah and graduating in 1962.Following this, 'Awwamah enrolled in the Faculty of Sharia at the Damascus University in 1962 and completed his higher studies in 1966. At the Damascus University, his instructors included Abd al-Fattah Abu Ghudda. Muhammad ibn 'Abdullah Al Rasyid, a student of Abu Ghudda, conferred upon him the title al-‘Allāmah al-Muḥaddith al-Faqīh al-Naqīd. In addition to his formal education, 'Awwamah received ijazah from numerous scholars. The most detailed record of his ijazah is preserved in the document he granted to Yusuf al-Qaradawi, listing 57 scholars, including Zakariyya Kandhlawi, Habibur Rahman Azami, Abul Hasan Ali Hasani Nadwi, Mujahidul Islam Qasmi, and Abdul Rasheed Nomani.
Position
After completing his studies in Syria, 'Awwamah began his career in 1961 as both a teacher and librarian at al-Madrasah al-Shabaniyyah. He later taught at Masjid al-Rawdah, a recognized center of learning, where he delivered lessons on al-Adab al-Mufrad until the Hama events of 1980. After nearly eighteen years of service at al-Madrasah al-Shabaniyyah, he relocated to Medina. Between 1985 and 1987, he taught in the graduate section of Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University’s Medina campus and proposed the verification of Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani’s Ithaf al-Maharah. Although manuscripts were collected and a publication plan was initiated, the project was suspended following an objection related to his earlier verification of Musnad Umar b. Abd al-Aziz, which brought his work with the university to an end. In 1985, under the administration of Muhammad Abduh Yamani at Dar al-Qibla publishing house, he established Maktab Tahqiq al-Turath, an office for textual verification that trained students and produced research. From 1988 to 1992, he also taught at the Faculty of Education at King Abdulaziz University in Medina.'Awwamah later directed Dar al-Hadith al-'Awwamiyyah, which expanded to more than 170 branches in fourteen countries. Initially founded as the Dar al-Hadith Research Center under the methodology of Yusuf Banuri, it focused on the study of the Sunnah. During a visit to South Africa in 2012, he emphasized the importance of specialization in Islamic sciences, and his students, including Mufti Muhammad Ishaq Bhana, Mufti Bilal Sabir and Muhammad b. Harun, were involved in strengthening its activities there. The institution was formally established during his return in 2014. He lived in Saudi Arabia for nearly four decades but encountered difficulties after the state introduced its Moderate Muslim program. In 2016, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan invited him to Turkey through then–Religious Affairs head Mehmet Görmez. That same year, he joined Ibn Haldun University as a hadith scholar, received Turkish citizenship along with his family, and oversaw the establishment of the Dar al-Hadith building at the university’s Suleymaniye campus, where he was also appointed advisor to the rector.
In addition to these roles, 'Awwamah served in consultative positions for several institutions, including Markaz al-Turath lil-Barmajiyyat in Amman, Jamiyyat al-Maknaz al-Islami and al-Sharikah al-Arabiyyah li-Taqniyat al-Malumat in Cairo, and Shabakat Manarat al-Shariah. He also worked as a visiting faculty member at the Islamic Fiqh Academy in India. On 20 January 2024, at a ceremony held at the Süleymaniye Mosque in Istanbul, he was awarded a medal inscribed with the Asma al-Husna by President Erdogan. The event was attended by senior officials including Ali Erbaş and members of Ibn Haldun University, and was reported to mark the completion of two hadith-related research projects under the university’s auspices.