Where does the name Al-Madrasatul Umariyyah came from?
Jerusalem
It all started with the story of the Maqdisiyyin or The People of Jerusalem. It starts at the 6th century of the islamic calendar (around 500 AH). The khalifah was centered in Baghdad and the first crusade had already begun led by Pope Urban II. French crusaders had invaded Levant, the area which is now modern-day Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan or known to the muslims as As-Shams.
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These crusaders have taken over Baitul Maqdis, established the Kingdom of Jerusalem and gave parts of Palestine to different crusader rulers. In this land, there was a town called Jama’in close to Nablus which is West Bank today. This town was ruled by the crusader by the name of Ibn Barisan (Belian of Ibelin). This man was a very tyranical person.
Balian of Ibelin
Not too long ago they made a movie about this man and painted him as a hero when in reality it was the complete opposite. He was the most evil among the other crusaders. He eventually will be the person who surrenders Jerusalem to Salahuddeen Al-Ayyubi. This person forces the muslim population to work on farmlands, would cut off the opposite hand & legs of the people so that they would not run away. He imposed taxes nearly 4 times the other crusaders.
In this town Jama’in, there was a great scholar by the name of Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Qudamah Al-Maqdisi. His lineage could be traced back to Salim ibn Abdillah ibn Umar. He left the town and traveled all over (Syria, Iraq, Egypy) to seek knowledge before coming back to his hometown and started to teach the people there. He would give very powerful Friday khutbahs that would move the people’s hearts so much that it started to affect their work.
Migration
News spread to Ibn Barisan about Sheikh Ahmad affecting the people so he ordered for the sheikh to be killed. Ibn Barisan had a minister named Ibn Taysir/Tuysir who was fond of the Muslims and Islam. Therefore he informed Sheikh Ahmad regarding the bounty on his head. This led Sheikh Ahmad to leave the city in 551 AH and settling in Damascus, a major center for the muslims at the time. He left most of his family except for his 2 nephews and his brother in law.
Damascus
Back then, masjids were controlled by the Madzhabs. Upon reaching Damascus, he settled in a Hanbali masjid named Masjid Abi Salih in the Eastern gate of the city. The masjid was founded by the name of Abu Salih Al-Hanbali that gave waqf for the masjid. He wrote a letter to his family asking them to follow after him. He quoted the ayah:
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His nephew and brother in law took the letter back. After reading this letter, his daughter Ruqayyah Al-Maqdisi said they only waited a single night before they got up and made their way to Damascus. It is said that there was about 35 people among whom are 3 sons, 4 daughters, and several small grandchildren. When the crusaders heard that the sheikh’s family was about to flee, they were sent to capture them. It was generally not safe for the sheikh’s family to travel through crusader’s territory, so they had to be careful and left during the night, sometimes they would get lost and had to find their way again.
They finally reached Damascus, but it was not safe place and there were many mosquitoes. It is reported that 28 of the family members. died of malaria in the Masjid. Seeing the sheikh’s family arriving in large number, the Al-Hanbali family, who was in control of the waqf became hostile and felt threathened and fearful that their position and role in managing the waqft of the masjid will be taken over. So they brought this matter to be discussed to the governor of the area at that time Noor Ad-Deen Mahmoud Zengi.
He was of Turkish descent and his father was a man that was inclined towards the Raafidhi Shia who had huge control of the muslim lands at that time. Unlike his father, he was a great sunni muslim leader. He was chaste and never took the people’s wealth. They said he joined between bravery and humility in the best way so much so that a poet said about him:
QUOTE
he joined between bravery and humility to His Lord what an excellent mihrab in the mihrab.
- The first mihrab means warrior and the second means the place where the imam prays.
His chief of justice (Qadir Qudha), the head of all the judges in Damascus, Sharaf Ad-Deen ibn Asroon (Ibn Abi Asroon) was a great shafi’i scholar and also the teacher to Sheikh Ahmad’s two sons, Abu Umar Al-Maqdisi and Ibn Qudamah Al Muwaffaq Ad-Deen.
Abdullah, narrates the story regarding Ibn Abi Asroon:
Quote
“When we came from the land of Jerusalem we used to regularly go to the judge ibn Asroon along with my brother (Abu Umar) we would listen to his class on comparative fiqh (ilaaf). Then we cut off from him because some people rebuked us for going to him. They said to us you have become Asharii. (The ashaaira are a deviant group from those that cut off from islam) so the judge met my brother one day and said to him, “why have you stopped being involved in the class?” my brother said to him, “they say you are ashaari”, he said, “I am not ashaari but if you keep yourself occupied with my teaching for a year there will be no one like you, [or he said] you will become an imam [or he said something similar to that.]
The family of Abu Salih Al-Hanbali discussed the matter they feared to Noor Ad-Deen Mahmoud Zengi, but Sharaf Ad-Deen ibn Asroon (Ibn Abi Asroon) defended Sheikh Ahmad’s family, mentioning their knowledge and righteousness and requested the governor to look after them. This led to Noor Ad Deen to decide to give all the rights of controlling the waqf to Sheikh Ahmad’s family. However the sheikh declined saying “I didn’t perform hijrah from my country to compete with the people in their worldly possessions.” He wasn’t in the slightest bit interested in having control over the masjid nor gaining any worldly possesion from the endowment money.
Moving to Qasiyoon Mountains
From the people who loved the sheikh was a name called Ahmad Al-Kahfi, he had land at the foothills of the Qasiyoon mountain outside of Damascus. This was a quite deserted place because there are not many people who lived here. People usually pass this place before going up to the mountains to bury the dead. The place is usually known where thieves and robbers would gather. He offered the sheikh if he preferred to move and live there. Upon seeing the place, Sheikh Ahmad was pleased since it appealed to him that this could be a place of his own. When Sheikh Ahmad stood on the land where he decided he would build the Masjid on, he made wudhu on the Yazid river and prayed. He said “this place is a place which has barakah in it”. And so in the year 555 AH, he moved there with his family.
Every day after that, the sheikh used to put a few stone on top of the other. Ibn Qudamah Al Muwaffaq Ad-Deen reported that actually one of the problems they faced was they did not have the strength nor the expertise to build anything. People in the area soon came to help them. They made small houses/rooms for the family to live in. Once the houses are built, he took the family outside of the Al-Hanbali masjid. One of the gems from this story is don’t belittle something small, even mountains are built out of pebbles. They had to take turns guarding their houses at night out of fear of robbers and wild animals until they were able to build a fence/walls around the settlement.
The houses were divided such that:
- Sheikh Ahmad lived in one
- Abu Umar lived in one
- Abdullah lived in one
- The rest of the family lived in the last house
Ruqayyah Al-Maqdisi, the daughter of the sheikh was a scholar in her own right. She was a person of great knowledge. She is the mother of Adh-Dhiyah Al-Maqdisi, who was a great scholar of hadith and was known all over As-Shams.
Eventually, the area became known as the As-Salihiyah or the district of the righteous people, the governor visited, people all over visited and brought gifts. However, Abu Umar Al-Maqdisi believed that the name came about because the family came from the Masjid of Abu Salih.
The Death of Sheikh Ahmad
As he got older, Sheikh Ahmad started to isolate himself from the people and spent more time alone in worship. He gave his eldest son, Abu Umar the responsibility of taking care of the family. He died at 558 AH at the age of 67 years old, 7 years after making the hijrah to Damascus.
Abu Umar & His Family
Abu Umar was passionate about teaching the Qur’an. He would sit after fajr up until Duha to teach the Qur’an and would lengthen his prayer until Duhr come close. When he ate something, he would give half his food to the people. In winter, he gave away all his clothes except for something small. He would say “you will not achieve righteousness unless you spend from what you love”. His family said he doubled the worship of his father. It is said he prayed 72 rakaat of sunnah prayers in a day. His family also likes to teach the people about how the early generations used to live.
During this time there were no printed copy of the mushaf, so when he found someone who didn’t know the Qur’an from memory or didn’t have their own mushaf, he would write it out with this own hands and give it out to the people. When he saw someone praying incorrectly, he would write Mukhtasar Kiraqi (a major book of fiqh in the hanbali madzhab) and gave it to them.
If he heard there was a jihad, he would write down his will and go. In total he participtated in 23 expeditions including many of the battles of Noor Ad-Deen Mahmoud Zengi and The Conquest of Jerusalem led by Salahuddeen Al-Ayyubi. If he heard there was a janazah, he would rush to bury it. He tried to give sadaqah every single day and if he couldn’t he would wait until Friday to give it to the people. It is also said he would only eat once a day, and even then he would share.
Some of Abu Umar’s quotes mentioned in his biography:
Quote
“If the person giving sadaqah doesn’t realize that they are more in need of the sadaqah than the person giving it then their sadaqah would not benefit them.” They said, “how is that?” He said, “if you don’t give sadaqah, nobody is going to give it on your behalf. As for the one who is asking, if you don’t give it yourself someone else will give it to them.”
During the final periods of his life, he would fast continuously and would only pause for Eid or when he was sick or when there was other valid excuse. He fasted so much to the extent that his family criticised him for it. When asked why did he do this, he said: “I’m only fasting to take advantage of the days I have left. If become weak I will be unable to fast, and if I die my deeds will cease”
From his poetry:
Poetry
“Indeed I say, so hear my explanation O group of my companions and beloved I advise you with justice an excellence and taqwa along with iman Hold onto obedience to the most merciful and keep away from the worship of the idols And keep away from the plots of shaytan, for he certainly commands transgression And disbelief and defiance and transgression immorally and slander He beautifies deception for mankind then his efforts end in failure Like his actions of the day the two armies met, and furthermore the worldly life has no importance to you Reject it in order to protect from the punishment of the Most Merciful For it is the abode of those of ranquel It has been disparaged in the unequivocal verses of the Quran Its moments of happiness turn grey because of sadness Indeed everything on this earth will perish True riches and poverty will only been known when profits and loss will be apparent after crossing the bridge and the way of your deeds”
He was also a person of regular dhikr. When he died he was moving his fingers and tongue making dhikr. This serves as a reminder for us.
Hadith
من عاش على شيء مات عليه ومن مات على شيء بعث عليه Whoever spends his life doing something will die doing it And whoever dies doing something will be raised doing it
Abu Umar died 607 H and aroud 20.000 people were at his janazah, Damascus became crowded. It is said he experienced many miraculous gifts (karamah) from Allah during his lifetime. He died without leaving behind any wealth except for Al Madrasatul Umariyyah.
He had many children, but one of his daughter, Aminah Al-Maqdisi, was a famous reciter of the Qur’an, and learned all the qira’at. She would teach the women. She was a great scholar of hadith and took knowledge directly from Abu Fath (Muhammad ibn Abdul Baqi).
Another scholar from the family, Imam Fakhar ibn Al Bukhari, took knowledge from here. It is said that he had the shortest chain of narration compared to anyone else during his time.
Ad-Dhahabi mentioned that the house would be packed to the point people would hang onto the windows to take knowledge from her. Her daughter, was married to the son of Ruqayyah Al-Maqdisi, Adh-Dhiyah Al-Maqdisi.
Quote
“I do not know that I ever saw a woman or a man as good as her, I traveled with her to Mecca and I don’t think that the two angels that were writing wrote any sin for her and I do not know that she ever committed a sin. She was a person who used to give a great deal of charity.”
This family is full of people of knowledge. The knowledge is not restricted to the men in the family rather the woman were also known for their knowledge and that men actually sought out knowledge from these women intensely.
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Aminah used to speak to people privately to give charity. Adh-Dhiyah Al-Maqdisi mentioned that one day he came and she was in the middle of giving the charity and shec cried so much because she felt that she showed off. She was known to be a person of dhikr.
Al Madrasatul Umariyyah (Abu Umar’s Madrasah)
He decided that there should be a place for people to learn, to seek knowledge around the area that they lived in. There were classes in all sciences of Islam. The madrasah started very small but it kept getting bigger. It was so big to the point that there was 300 awqaf that were taking care of the masjid & madrasah. Around 100,000 students passed through it.
Abu Umar’s brother, Ibn Qudamah Al Muwaffaq Ad-Deen wrote his famous books in that madrasah and they were taught as part of the syllabus. Jamaluddeen Al-Ansari said about Abdullah:
“In our time al Muwafaq was an authority in his precise a scholar of principles relied upon. He sufficed the people with al- Kaahfi, and convinced his students with al- Mugni in fiqh rather than another long volumes book. He enriched with al- Mughni al Fiqh and his Umda, whoever depends upon it will achieve. His rawdah containing principles is like a garden which produced value and variation. It shows you what is understood from word with the strongest of evidences and it interprets from what is meanings with the best of interpretations.”
The author used the title of his various books, for example
- Al- Kahfi: that which is enough that which suffices you, “He sufficed the people with al- Kahfi” (That which is sufficient)
- He convinced the student with al- Mughni: that which gives you conviction
- He enriched the people with al- Mughni: that which Enriches you
- Ar-Rawdatu Nathir: the garden, but its a book of fiqh that he wrote
- Umdatul Fiqh, Umda: that which is the main thing which people rely upon
Al Muwaffq, wrote syllabus of books which is used today in the Hanbali fiqh, and said to be the best of books to be used. He later went with his cousin, Abdul Ghani Al-Maqdisi, they both studied under Abdul Qadir Al Jaylani, a great scholar who is upon the belief of ahlusunnah wal jamaah. It is unfortunate that the Sufi exaggerated regarding him to the point that they started worshipping him.
Many of the imams (over 200) whose books we still read to this day either studied at Al Madrasatul Al Umariyyah or spent some time there. Among them are:
- Abdul Ghani Al-Maqdisi - Ummdatul Ahkam
- Abu Amr Ibn Assalah - Al-Muqadimah
- Imam An-Nawawi - 40 Hadith of Imam An-Nawawi, Riyadussalihin
- Ibn Taymiyyah
- Alamaud-deen Birzani
- Jamaluddeen Al Mizi
- Shams Ad-Deen Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Abdul Hadi
- Ibn Qayyim
- Ibn Kathir
- Zayn Ad-Deen Al Iraqi - the teacher of Ibn Hajr Al-Asqalani
- Jalaluddeen As-Suyuthi
Al Madrasatul Umariyyah started small with sincerity. Those few rocks that were put one after the other ended up becoming a place of huge barakah. Whatever you achieve with or in your studies or life will be in line with your own personal actions. Wanting to leave a legacy is not enough, you have to have the actions to do so.
Ustadh Abdurrahman Hasan established this online Madrasatul Umariyyah as a small personal project, inspired by Sheikh Ahmad’s life.