The late Muhaddith of Hijaz; Shaykh as-Sayyid Muhammad ibn ‘Alawi ibn ‘Abbas ibn ‘Abd al-’Aziz al-Maliki al-Hasani al-Makki (rah) was a descendent of the Prophet Muhammad (uwbp). He was the first “Saudi” to receive a PhD. from Sunni Islam’s foremost seat of learning, Al Azhar. He held over 200 Ijazah’s in Hadith, Aqedah, Fiqh, Usool etc. Shaykh Muhammad ibn ‘Alawi’s family taught in the Haram in Makka Al Mukkarama as did the Shaykh himself, from the age of 15.
He was titled ‘Shaykh al-Islam fil-Balad al-Haram’, the educator of Ahl al-Sunna and light of the House of the Prophet in his time, a major contemporary Scholar of Hadith, commentary of Qur’an, Law, doctrine, tasawwuf, and Prophetic biography (sira), the most highly respected authority of Ahl al-Sunna in the Mother of Cities, and passed away in 1425/2004.
Ijazahs from both the Deobandis and Barelawis
Shaykh al-Islam fil-Balad al-Haram received Ijazahs in hadith from the following ulema from the Indo-Pak subcontinent, who came from both the neo-Wahabi Deobandi school as well as the Sunni Barelawi school:
1.) Shaykh Abu-al-Wafa al-Afghani al-Hanafi,
2.) Shaykh Abd-al-Mu‘id Khan Hyderabadi
3.) al-Imam al’Arif Billah Mustafa Rida Khan al-Barelawi, Mufti of India
4.) Mufti Muhammad Shafi’ al-Deobandi, Mufti of Pakistan
5.) Muhammad Zakariyyah al-Kandahlawi, Imam of Hadith
6.) Zafar Ahmad Thanawi
7.) Shaykh al-Muhaddith Habib-al-Rahman al-‘Azami
8.) Syed Abu-al-Hasan Ali al-Nadawi