It is with profound sadness that we mourn the passing of Dr. Taha Jabir Al-Alwani. With his passing, the ummah has lost an exceptional leader and scholar of Islam. We at KARAMAH were blessed to have Dr. Al-Alwani serve on our Fiqh Council. He generously shared his advice, his scholarship, and his friendship with us-we were among the blessed who knew him and learned from him.
The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said: “When a human being dies, all of his deeds cease except for three kinds: an ongoing sadaqah, scholarship (of Islam) from which others benefit, and a righteous child who makes du’a for him.” Dr. Taha has left behind him an ample amount of such ongoing good deeds. Dr. Al-Alwani will be remembered for the rich scholarly legacy he left behind. He wrote and published more than thirty books on a wide variety of Islamic issues. With his deep knowledge of Islam and critical mind, Dr. Taha was able to develop groundbreaking jurisprudence and other Islamic scholarship that contributed significantly to the reformation of Islamic thought.
Dr. Al-Alwani was keen on preserving the unity of the ummah. He wrote his important treatise on the ethics of disagreement in Islam, hoping to inspire us to live by the genteel model adopted by previous Muslim scholars. He wrote on the Islamization of knowledge, hoping to help Muslims around the world understand how to integrate the modern world into their faith. He argued in favor of new Ijtihad that takes new circumstances into account, and revived the Maqasidi approach to Shari’ah (Objectives of Shari’ah) to help us reach answers that benefit the ummah. Dr. Al-Alwani also revived and developed the old scholarship of fiqh al-nawazil to produce fiqh al-aqalliyyat , a modern Islamic jurisprudence which takes into account the fact that many Muslims today live as minorities in non-Muslim countries.
Another wonderful legacy left to us by Dr. Al-Alwani is his children. Zainab, Ruqayyah and Ahmed. Dr. Zainab Alwani is an esteemed and long-time member of the KARAMAH Board of Directors. She is also a serious Islamic scholar in her own right. The same is true of her sister Dr. Ruqqayyah Alwani who lives abroad. It is a tribute to Dr. Al-Alwani that he left behind two daughters each of whom is fully capable of continuing his scholarly legacy.
Dr. Ahmed Alwani is also following in his father’s footsteps. He is continuing his father’s educational legacy and using his methodology to help uplift thisummah through authentic knowledge of Islam. Indeed, Dr. Taha’s good deeds will not cease with his passing.
On behalf of the KARAMAH staff and members of its Board of Directors, we wish to extend our deepest condolences to Dr. Al-Alwani’s family and the ummah at large. May God reward Dr. Al-Alwani for his good deeds and forgive him any shortcomings. May God raise his rank, exalt his status, make his grave one of the gardens of Paradise, and may He grant him an abode in Paradise! Ameen.
Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’oun. (From God we come and to Him we return).
– The KARAMAH Family
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